After my grousing yesterday about the skewed national perspective of the Vancouver Canucks and, in particular, the Sedin twins, I'm happy to see a much more balanced portrayal with the Canucks in the spotlight today as part of the "30 in 30" series at NHL.com.
Local writer Kevin Woodley carries most of the load for the package, with four articles.
In the main piece
here, Woodley runs through the offseason changes and identifies Jim Benning's overall guiding mantra:
I'm OK if we take a little bit of a step back in the regular season to make our team better in the playoffs. That was the intent of what we were looking at when we made the moves we made.
The Canucks finished last season with 101 points. The bottom team to qualify in the Western Conference was Calgary, with 97. Benning had better hope that "step back" is quite small indeed if he hopes to test his new roster in a playoff setting in 2015-16.
Here's how Woodley sums up the plan going forward:
The bigger focus is finding the right balance between the skilled prospects on the way and the right kind of veteran presence to guide them.
"I want to be competitive and I want our young guys to learn from our older guys the things they have to do to play the right way to win," he said. "It's invaluable to have veterans that can teach our young players what it means to be a Vancouver Canuck."
Next up, Woodley identifies
four reasons for the Canucks and their fans to be optimistic heading into the new season:
• Bo Horvat's emergence during the second half of 2014-15
• Prospect depth: Woodley says Jake Virtanen will get a "real chance" to make the team this year. He cites Sven Baertschi and Frank Corrado as minor-leaguers who will make the jump and suggests that we might even see a bit of Cole Cassels or Hunter Shinkaruk during the year.
Shinkaruk is currently in Vancouver. He did the Grouse Grind with fellow prospects Ashton Sautner and Ben Hutton on Saturday:
• Daniel and Henrik Sedin aren't done: further to yesterday's conversation, Woodley highlights the twins' resurgence last season and suggests that "their patient, pass-happy style of play might allow them to be productive in the final stage of their career."
• Bounce-back from Alex Edler: Woodley credits Edler for turning things around last season after his disastrous campaign under John Tortorella
Next, Woodley looks at the Canucks
top five prospects.
He projects that Jake Virtanen will arrive in the NHL this season, No. 4 Cole Cassels in 2016-17, No. 2 Jared McCann in 2017-18 (no update on his health after the head hit at the Summer Showcase), and No. 3 Brock Boeser and No. 5 Thatcher Demko in 2018-19. That seems like so long to wait!
Finally, Woodley muses on the
questions facing the team ahead of the upcoming season.
To summarize—goaltending, scoring and defensive depth.
Woodley mentions that Ryan Miller says he "was cutting himself 'some statistical slack'" early in the 2014-15 season in hopes that the changes he was making to his playing style with goaltending coach Rollie Melanson would pay off late in the season. Of course, after his February knee injury, we never got the chance to find out.
Last season was a big adjustment for Miller—it'll be interesting to see if he starts the season stronger than he did last year.
I, for one, am excited to see what Jacob Markstrom brings to the table. As I wrote in
this piece for Bleacher Report yesterday about the NHL's most-improved goaltenders for 2015-16, "It wouldn't be Vancouver without a goaltending controversy. Expect Markstrom's strong play to put pressure on starter Ryan Miller before too long."
Woodley pinpoints Sven Baertschi and possibly Jake Virtanen as the players who will need to pick up the scoring slack for the departed Shawn Matthias and Zack Kassian, particularly at even strength. And he suggests that "Bulldog" Alex Biega could be a useful call-up if the Canucks find themselves lacking in depth on the blue line.
Finally, for you fantasy fans,
Pete Jensen offers up his assessment. He gives high marks to Daniel Sedin and calls Radim Vrbata "undervalued," but believes Henrik Sedin is overvalued due to his low shot totals and advises poolies to stay away from Vancouver's goalies. As far as sleeper picks, I think Jensen offers some good advice when he recommends Bo Horvat and Yannick Weber as two players who could put up good numbers next season.
Kings Sign Ehrhoff
One other quick note to wrap up today. This just in—Christain Ehrhoff returns to the Western Conference:
A good value signing, for sure—but Ehrhoff's value sure has dropped from the $4 million deal he signed last year in Pittsburgh.
I wonder if we can read anything into this signing about Slava Voynov's future with the Kings? Voynov was released from jail last Thursday after his domestic violence incident.
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