Speed, smarts and scoring: Young Rathbone looks to be just what Canucks need on defence
Jack Rathbone has more than made his point this season.
The highly touted Vancouver Canucks' prospect relied on speed, smarts, scoring and remarkable resolve with the AHL affiliate in Abbotsford. It reminded the parent team that he's more than capable of making a permanent leap in the fall as a left-shot defensive fit — and the Canucks are on-board with the concept.
Rathbone checks a lot of boxes for Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, who has been refreshingly frank about his back-end concerns.
Rathbone is fast. He exits the zone without a map. He jumps into the play and piled up 40 regular-season points (10-30) in 39 AHL games. His 1.03 points-pergame production and 19 power-play assists were fifth among league defenders. He was named to the AHL all-rookie team.
This screams future NHL second power-play unit quarterback for the feisty defender, who had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick — goal, assist and fight — this AHL season.
Rathbone also suffered several setbacks in his shortened regular season. He was removed on a stretcher and briefly hospitalized after absorbing a devastating check Feb. 16 in Bakersfield, Calif. He was sidelined for five weeks with a shoulder injury and also had a COVID-19 diagnosis.
However, his ability to handle adversity didn't go unnoticed.
Rathbone needs to work on defending, but is getting better at that rite of NHL passage. The 5-11, 190 pound West Roxbury, Mass., native, who has played 17 games with the Canucks over the past two seasons, including nine pointless outings this campaign, knows that.
He has the skill and will to angle off forwards and use proper stick positioning, just like Quinn Hughes has in continuing to grow his dynamic game. Can Rathbone add that dimension here?
“He has improved dramatically in his reads in the D-zone with time and space, and being able to defend in all situations to give him a chance to be adaptive,” said Ryan Johnson, the Canucks' senior director of player development who doubles as Abbotsford's general manager.
“He's a competitor. He has faced everything with a smile on his face and he keeps coming back stronger. I don't think we're anywhere near his ceiling yet.”
That should resonate with Rutherford. So should the fact that Rathbone can be like Hughes to add a critical element as another get-out-of-jail-free card with mobility, puck management and pinpoint passing.
“It's the structure of the team and how we're going to play to give players a chance when they get in trouble,” Rutherford stressed at his year-end address Tuesday. “Our exits from our defensive zone are not good, probably one of the worst in the league.
“Defencemen are getting into trouble all the time. There's puck pressure, and I'm not saying we have the best defence by no means in the league, but we have defencemen who are certainly capable of playing better if they had that structure.
“When they're in trouble, it's, `What am I supposed to do with the puck?' They bang it off the boards, and they keep it in our zone, and bang, it's in our net. It's something that's very fixable, but something we have to do if we're going to be a consistently good team and not have to rely on our goalie in most games.”
All that could be considered a shot across the bow of the current and past coaching staffs, and a message to players that off-season adjustments to the roster are necessary and expected.
“We don't need to make major changes, but obviously, we want to get better,” Canucks GM Patrik Allvin said. “We're open for discussions with other teams and free agents. I don't want to get rid of players just to create cap space — I want us to improve next year. I don't want to take a step back.
“You always want to get better. I hope we find ways to improve our team and we need to find ways to get younger.”
Rathbone also is a cap fit because his expiring entry-level deal means he lacks pro-seasons-accrued (three) when he signed to become a Group 2 restricted free agent. He's now a 10.2 (c) player and only eligible to negotiate and sign with the Canucks, and is also not eligible for an offer sheet or arbitration.
Rathbone, a fortuitous fourthround pick in the 2017 draft, is a product of his wide-ranging hockey environment.
Being paired with Adam Fox at Harvard University, where Rathbone served as club captain, helped put his progress on fast-forward. Fox had 42 points (8-34) in his rookie season with the New York Rangers and finished fourth in Calder Trophy balloting in the 2019-20 season.
“Everyone knew he was going to be a very special player and I've never seen a guy with a better hockey IQ to think the game the way he does,” Rathbone said. “We also had Johnny Marino, who's with the Pittsburgh Penguins, so just being around that environment was huge for my development year.”
Rathbone skates with Canucks winger Conor Garland in the off-season, and for two smaller players with big offensive upsides, they share that chip-on-the-shoulder drive to quiet the critics. For Garland, it was proving he could play and produce in traffic. For Rathbone, it's going to be that and defending at the NHL level.
“Skating against a guy like that (Garland) in the summer is great because you really can't turn it off,” Rathbone said. “You only get better. There's an excitement and drive around where my game is right now.”