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Canucks continue blue-line makeover by declining to qualify Derrick Pouliot |
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In Travis Green's first year behind the bench in 2017-18, the Vancouver Canucks finished 26th in goals against, allowing 3.16 goals per game. The blueliners didn't contribute much offensively, either, scoring just 21 goals between them in a year where league-leaders Victor Hedman, Dougie Hamilton and Ivan Provorov each had 17 on their own. Alex Edler led the Canucks' defensemen with 34 points that year, which tied him for 40th in the league with Mattias Ekholm, who was third in scoring by defensemen in Nashville behind P.K. Subban (59 points) and Roman Josi (53 points).
Given that the defense was not a strength, it was a surprise to all of us that the Canucks ended up coming back with the same eight guys on their opening-night roster to start the 2018-19 campaign.
But some changes were made over the course of the season and as a result, in a year where scoring increased leaguewide, the Canucks improved to tie with Washington for 17th defensively, giving up 3.02 goals per game.
They also improved to 27 goals as a group, when Morgan Rielly led the league with 20. But once again, Alex Edler led the crew with 34 points, tying him for 42nd in the league with T.J. Brodie of Calgary, who was second on his team behind Norris Trophy finalist Mark Giordano (74 points).
Over the course of the year, Michael Del Zotto and Erik Gudbranson moved on while Quinn Hughes came in, Luke Schenn is likely to return, and we got a teaser of young prospects Ashton Sautner, Guillaume Brisebois, Brogan Rafferty and Josh Teves at the end of the year. Add in the possibility that a healthy Olli Juolevi will push for a job next season and things are starting to look crowded, especially on the left side.
So—not a surprise to see this news come out on Tuesday.
Originally drafted eighth overall by Pittsburgh after playing for Travis Green in junior with the Portland Winterhawks, Derrick Pouliot was acquired by the Canucks just before the beginning of the 2017-18 season, in exchange for Andrey Pedan and a fourth-round pick in 2018. After spending one more year in the minors, Pedan decamped for the KHL last summer. Pittsburgh added the pick, 99th overall, to the package that sent Ryan Reaves to Vegas in exchange for Derick Brassard at the 2018 trade deadline. The Golden Knights selected American defenseman Slava Demin from the Wenatchee Wild of the BCHL.
Pouliot played 71 games in his first season with Vancouver, collecting 22 points and averaging 17:51 per game. He had a few heroic moments, as all three of his goals that season were game winners, but also tied with Michael Del Zotto for the team lead with 67 giveaways, in significantly less ice time.
By last season, the giveaways had become Pouliot's signature play. As a team, the Canucks improved in this department but Pouliot was still the leader among Vancouver defensemen with 39, despite having been healthy scratched 20 times, appearing in just 62 games, and seeing his average ice time dropped to 17:10 per game. Pouliot's offense also dropped to just 12 points. He did score three goals again but his remarkable streak came to an end—just one of his goals last season was a game winner.
Last summer, the Canucks chose not to give Pouliot a qualifying offer off the one-year contract for $800,000 that he'd signed with Pittsburgh—because they wanted to avoid giving him arbitration rights. In exchange for foregoing that negotiating tool, Pouliot got a decent raise, to $1.1 million.
This year, the language surrounding Vancouver's decision not to qualify the 25-year-old is different. This time around, it sounds like Jim Benning and company are looking to move on from Pouliot—yet another defenseman who failed to stick.
By the way—the only ex-Canuck still standing in the Stanley Cup playoffs is now Michael Del Zotto—who's on to the Western Conference Final with the St. Louis Blues as a Black Ace. He hasn't dressed for a game with the Blues since March 23.
As for Pouliot's immediate replacement, Quinn Hughes is now on his way to Slovakia after Team USA's 5-2 win over Germany in their World Championship pre-tournament game on Tuesday. In this piece, he talks about how the 2018 Worlds helped prepare him for the NHL and how he hopes the experience will be the same for his brother Jack, who is also on the American squad this year.
Quinn was held off the scoresheet on Tuesday, while Jack had one assist. Alex DeBrincat was the player of the game for the Americans, with a goal and two assists. Cory Schneider played the first two periods, allowing both German goals, and Thatcher Demko stopped all eight shots he faced in the third.
As for Team Canada, they pulled out a wild 7-5 win over Austria in Vienna on Tuesday. I couldn't find a full stat sheet from the game, but Troy Stecher did start the game on Canada's third pair with Shea Theodore, as they'd been practicing. Stecher didn't factor into any of the scoring.
The round robin portion of the World Championship kicks off on Friday, with Canada taking on Finland at 7 a.m. PT and the U.S. playing Slovakia at 11 a.m., both in Kosice. In Group B action in Bratislava, Sweden takes on the Czech Republic on Friday at 11 a.m. All games are on the TSN family of networks.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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