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Simmering Sedin Saga Heating Up |
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I’ve long been spewing that the decision facing new GM Mike Gillis in regards to whether he wants to re-sign the Sedins or not is the biggest fork-in-the-road facing this organization, and as November appears on the immediate horizon things are starting to heat up Sedin-wise in VanCity.
After the twins exploded out of the gate in the back-to-backer with the Flames it looked like Gillis might be literally burning cash by not getting their signatures on paper, but now 7 games further into the season it’s the Sedins who are seemingly torching the bills in their wallet as if they don’t need them.
The debate started from Day One under the Gillis regime when he not-so-subtly stated something to the effect that he wasn’t sure if the Sedins were “front-line players or not.”
It took Gillis upwards of 2 months to publicly try and clarify exactly what those words supposedly meant, and the real question that comes from that fact is why so long? If the "front-line stuff" was being misinterpreted, which apparently it was based on public comments made 60-or-so days later, why wouldn't you want to nip that kind of stuff in the bud pretty quick-like, as soon as you said it?
It’s not like he’s not smart enough to know that waiting months to change your tune or justify your comments after saying something like that doesn’t exactly sound convincing. In fact, one could easily argue that it sounds more like you couldn’t get what you wanted for them in trade and you’re reconsidering your options than it does anything else.
Over the last couple decades or so the Canucks have been a pretty closed shop as far as how things are done under the Quinn/Burke/Nonis/Tambellini Family Tree. Now the Franchise is being run by a former agent who approaches everything from an angle that many might politely describe as slightly askew.
The 08/09 season is the first of a new regime, and the organization as a whole is heading in a new direction and the difference between a team that has the Sedins is very different than one that doesn’t. That’s a Captain Obvious Statement but they play a unique style; a style that has proven very difficult for potential triplets to mesh with, and the most recent one of those, also known as the best-fit-on-paper-ever in Steve Bernier, is looking less and less like a legitimate triplet as every game goes by.
It’s not like he’s not trying. He’s using his size pretty well both along the boards and getting in front of the net creating screens, but it just seems to me that doing that is not enough to make the line click. This is one of the biggest problems with the twins occupying 33% of your top-6 because it actually is two guys coming close to taking up 50% of the top-6, based on their unique style and the fact that they must play together.
9 games in I’m seeing the Sedins cycling less in both quantity and quality. Bernier doesn’t seem to be able to fit that circling, grinding, to and fro along the boards and as a result, #’s 22 and 33 seem to be doing it less than they have in the past. I can only remember one sequence so far where that line had any sort of prolonged cycling on a shift with all three involved.
It appears that all 3 of them are trying to adjust and no one is playing the style of game that suits them best individually, and I think last night’s 1-0 loss to Tim Thomas’ Bruins (with all due respect to the other players wearing a B on their jersey) at GM Place might be the last time we see Bernier on their wing for a while.
Jason Krog has been getting power play time with them and has looked semi-decent in the few opportunities he has had, and he even got some even strength shifts with them last night. Taylor Pyatt, who everyone and their mother knows is struggling big-time to find his way, also saw a little reunion time with the boys last night.
At the (severe) risk of (severe) criticism from a certain regular in the thread to this Blog, I wouldn’t mind seeing Pyatt back with the twins before we all give up on him completely. Say what you want about the big guy who is too slow and too soft, but I can remember a ton of shifts over the last couple of years where he was completely involved in a dominant cycle with the Sedins and I think they have to have someone who is at least comfortable chipping in on the cycle every now and then.
When the Sedins have been at their best they have done it off the cycle. The two guys who have had the most consistent runs with those guys are Pyatt and Anson Carter, and both of them were able to contribute to that style at least on occasion.
Have the Sedins tried too hard to make Bernier fit versus just playing their own game? I dunno, but it looks like we’re about to see if someone else can give them the support they need, and it’s safe to say that whatever happens will go along ways to helping Gillis make that monumental decision that is sitting on his plate.
The Grades …
B … Luongo, Bieksa, Kesler, Burrows, Hansen, Raymond
C+ … Mitchell, Ohlund, O’Brien, Edler, Johnson, Krog
C … Henrik, Daniel, Pyatt, Hordichuk
C- … Salo, Bernier, Wellwood
Tomorrow it’s against the Kings in LA, a team that dominated the Canucks last year while finishing in the West’s cellar (Sedins had a combined 1 assist in those 4 games). Following that game they head down the road (is it up or down the road?) to Anaheim on Friday before returning home to start a 6 game home stand on Sunday against Detroit.
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