A quiet confidence seems to be surrounding the opening of the Vancouver Canucks' blink-and-you'd-miss-it training camp for the 2020-21 season.
The players hit the ice for the first time on Monday, in two groups, and everybody seemed pretty loose and relaxed in their media availabilities.
When asked if the short duration of training camp meant that we could read more into line deployments than usual, coach Travis Green could barely restrain his chuckles.
"I'm trying to remember who we had on the ice today and what the lines were," he said. "But you probably saw Petey with Miller, and Boeser. You might see that at times during the season."
Green and Jim Benning also seemed well aligned during their availability on Sunday. And as Elliotte Friedman points out in his new
31 Thoughts, the Travis Hamonic signing is another indication that Green's words are having impact within the organization.
"Travis Green is a gambler," Friedman writes. "He’ll bet on himself. It’s a good omen for his relationship with the Canucks that they added Travis Hamonic, because that’s something Green desired. He’s got a good relationship with Jim Benning. But he has a sense of his market, and he’ll bet on himself to get it."
He elaborated a bit on the new edition of the '31 Thoughts' podcast, saying that Green likely has a dollar value and a term in mind for his new coaching contract — what he thinks he's worth. The gamble, of course, is that he's counting on being able to deliver a hot start from his group — and, presumably, a playoff berth — in order to justify that number.
If things go south before he signs a new deal, then the Canucks can easily choose to go in another direction without being on the hook for a big ticket for years to come. For the folks who write the cheques, I'm sure there's still a pretty sharp memory of paying out John Tortorella for years after just one disastrous season behind the bench.
On the podcast, Friedman also points out that the Canucks have made pretty deep organizational cuts on their business side, to help reduce costs during the pandemic. Like most sports organizations, there were also salary cuts across the board early on for the staffers who remained. So there are some optics involved as well: how much can they give Green without it leaving a bad taste in the mouths of other folks in the organization?
If you're looking for a precedent, don't forget that the Canucks waited a long time before they extended Jim Benning on his most recent deal, well before Covid added all these extra complications.
Also, Green isn't alone. The list of other coaches around the NHL who are in the last year of their deals includes Bruce Cassidy in Boston, Rod Brind'Amour in Carolina, Rick Tocchet in Arizona, and others. The only coach who has gotten an extension since the playoffs wrapped is Rick Bowness in Dallas — who's kind of in a class all his own.
I think Green's situation is important to think about as camp begins, because it speaks volumes about what his mindset will be. And I do agree with those who have said that it'll be important for teams with playoff aspirations to get off to hot starts — to bank some points, obviously, when every game is going to be a four-pointer, and also to gain a mental edge over clubs that they'll see again and again...and again.
How much would it mean, for example, for the Canucks to win their first game of the year in Winnipeg on Jan. 30? That would break a long stretch of futility, and potentially give the group a better mindset when they face the Jets going forward this season.
As for camp itself, here's how the two groups broke down for Day 1 on the ice on Monday:
The big item to note, of course, is Nils Hoglander slotting onto the right side with Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson. That's a big opportunity for the rookie, whose big advantage over most of his teammates is that he is coming into camp with 23 games already under his belt in the Swedish Hockey League this season. And Hoglander seemed to be really hitting his stride with Rogle just before he left to head to Vancouver, with five goals and 14 points in total — he had 16 points in 41 games last year.
"Obviously, Pearson and I have played together for a while now, and we have some good chemistry," said Horvat on Monday. "No matter who steps up on the right wing, we've got to start getting chemistry right away.
"It's a short season. It's a lot of games logged in a short amount of time. But as of today, we felt pretty comfortable there with Hogs, and hopefully, we'll continue to keep playing together."
The line is intact for Tuesday's morning session on Day 2.
On the blue line, we're seeing Olli Juolevi with Tyler Myers, Alex Edler with Nate Schmidt, Quinn Hughes with Jalen Chatfield and Jack Rathbone with Jordie Benn.
Schmidt spoke highly of Edler, and said that he felt the two of them were starting to read off each other right away on their first day together — they'd been in different groups during the informal skates. Juolevi/Myers makes some sense, too. But of course, all the D pairings will presumably be thrown in the blender when Travis Hamonic arrives. And Travis Green was pretty flexible with his pairings last season, even within games. I imagine the blue line will stay pretty fluid.
To wrap up today — tough night for Russia, which got crushed 5-0 by Team Canada in the first semifinal on Monday at the World Junior Championship.
Vasily Podkolzin did everything he could to try to exhort his teammates to push back after falling behind early, but the hockey gods were having none of it. Even a Russian goal in the second period that could have helped trigger another one of those legendary World Juniors comebacks didn't stand up, called back on a by-a-hair offside challenge.
I always find it so hard to watch the losing players in these one-and-done medal-round games. Podkolzin took no comfort in being named Russia's player of the game.
He also joined Canucks prospect Arvid Costmar in being named one of the best three players on his team in this tournament.
And Russia does still play one more game. They'll face Finland for bronze at 2:30 p.m. PT, followed by Canada/USA for gold at 6:30.
I've spent most of the tournament working on a story for The New York Times about some players who have taken less-traditional developmental roads to World Juniors. Really enjoyed talking to Canada's Dawson Mercer about his decision to leave his small hometown in Newfoundland to go to an under-the-radar prep school in Quebec, and to Team USA's Cam York and Brendan Brisson about the coaching they received from legends like Scott Niedermayer and Rob Blake when they were growing up in California, skating for the Junior Ducks and Junior Kings.
Take a look while you're getting ready for the gold-medal game:
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