Thus far, all of the Canucks training camp cuts have been unsurprising and uncontroversial, unless you were shocked by Reid Boucher, Jordan Subban, and Evan McEneny getting sent to Utica. With one game remaining on the Canucks’ preseason schedule, however, it’s time for some more contentious cuts.
According to a report from Rick Dhaliwal, the first of those cuts comes to Nikolay Goldobin.
Agent Igor Larionov tells me Nikolay Goldobin has been cut and is on his way to Utica. #Canucks
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) September 29, 2017
Dhaliwal spoke to Igor Larionov, who is Goldobin’s agent, who reports that Goldobin is already on his way to Utica for the Comets training camp. Also, Goldobin is upset about it.
Good. Frankly, I would be more worried if Goldobin wasn’t upset. If he accepted getting sent to the AHL without emotion, that would be cause for concern.
It’s certainly a tough cut to take: Goldobin showed flashes of elite skill with the Canucks last season, even if he only had 3 goals and no assists in his 12 games. Part of that was usage: Willie Desjardins had Goldobin playing minimal minutes and was quick to bench him. Even still, he also got minutes with the Sedins.
Goldobin entered the preseason likely thinking that he had a good shot of sticking with the Canucks out of camp, but he had a tougher task ahead of him than maybe he realized. Even before the Canucks’ signed Thomas Vanek, Goldobin was in tough to make the team. The additions of Sam Gagner, Alex Burmistrov, and Brock Boeser, as well as the returns of Derek Dorsett and Anton Rodin from injury made for wings more crowded than a full-cast performance of Les Miserables at Teatro Della Concordia.
And then Jake Virtanen Shirokov’ed the preseason.
I’m not saying Virtanen has made the Canucks for sure, but he certainly outplayed Goldobin in the preseason. It wasn’t just points, though Virtanen’s 5 points in 5 games speaks pretty loudly, but the way they were scored. Virtanen has been creating scoring chances and goals where none previously existed, while Goldobin has been more passive. Even the lone goal he scored was a tap-in, albeit a diving one, of a puck that was already going in.
Goldobin did, however, look like he was working to address the defensive deficiencies that saw Desjardins repeatedly bench him last season. His play away from the puck was significantly improved and you could see him make a conscious effort to stay with his man and on the right side of the puck.
That’s part of the problem: it still looks like a conscious effort and Goldobin needs to trust his instincts to be an effective offensive player. Getting a chance to play first-line minutes in Utica should help him get back into the groove and find his confidence: he was dominant in a brief 3-game stint with the Comets last season, scoring 4 goals in 3 games.
With potential linemates like Reid Boucher and Jonathan Dahlen, Goldobin should have no problem putting up points with the Comets and earning a quick call-up if the Canucks face injuries in their top-six. Considering the Canucks’ injury history — heck, Bo Horvat already got injured in the preseason and Sven Baertschi missed most of Thursday’s game with a mysterious illness — Goldobin will likely be back in Vancouver before too long.
