Jim Benning has overseen a significant overhaul of the Canucks’ defence over the last couple years. When Benning came in, we had Jason Garrison, Kevin Bieksa, and Frank Corrado. Now we have no cash, no jobs, and no hope.
Garrison and Bieksa were the top scoring defencemen on the 2013-14 Canucks, but that didn’t prevent Benning from shipping Garrison out for a second round pick as soon as he was hired and Bieksa for the same return a year later. It’s hard to argue with either trade, but when their replacements in the lineup have been Luca Sbisa and Matt Bartkowski...well, let’s just say there’s room for improvement.
And the Canucks’ defence badly needs to improve, particularly when it comes to their contribution to the offence. Only the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers got fewer points from their blue line than the Canucks last season and only the Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets had fewer goals from their defencemen.
Ben Hutton, in his rookie season, led all Canucks defencemen in points with 25 points, but he had just one goal. That placed him 65th in the NHL among defencemen. Alex Edler and Matt Bartkowski tied for the most goals with a measly six.
The Canucks’ offensive production from their defencemen was the worst it’s been in two decades. It’s a pretty bleak picture.
To Benning’s credit, he clearly recognizes that the defence was a problem last season and next season’s defence will have a different look. But few of the changes actually seem to address the issue of scoring from the blue line.
Who on the Canucks defence is going to put up points?
Alex Edler is capable of more, considering he has two 40+ point seasons under his belt, but he’s been tasked with tough minutes alongside Chris Tanev. If he continues to play a shutdown role, he’ll struggle to produce unless the power play is far more effective next season.
Speaking of Tanev, he’s not going to score. I remember heading into last season there were suggestions that Tanev was going to somehow find another gear in his game and add offence to his game, but it's just not going to happen.
New acquisition Erik Gudbranson had a career high 13 points a couple seasons ago. He can’t be expected to put up points, even if he ends up with easier minutes behind Tanev and Edler.
Nikita Tryamkin didn’t put up points in the KHL and it doesn’t look like he’ll do so in the NHL either. Luca Sbisa? Andrey Pedan? A returning Dan Hamhuis? Not a lot of offence there.
The defenceman prospects in the Canucks system with offensive upside, like Jordan Subban, Tate Olson, and Carl Neill are not likely to be ready for the NHL next season. Troy Stecher has potential, but I think he’s unlikely to make the jump directly to the NHL from college and is more likely to spend the majority of next season in the AHL.
That leaves two sources of offence for the Canucks’ blue line: Ben Hutton and Philip Larsen.
There’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about Hutton, who will get plenty of opportunity and probably power play time to build on his surprising rookie year. If all goes well, he’ll also have a consistent defence partner in Gudbranson, whose stay-at-home defensive play, it’s thought, will give Hutton freedom to jump up in the play and get creative.
That’s if all goes well. Cynics might point to Gudbranson’s complete lack of offensive game and weak possession numbers and suggest he might drag Hutton down rather than enable him to reach higher heights. Then there’s the dreaded spectre of the sophomore slump.
Finally, there’s Larsen, who I suspect many Canucks fans have already forgotten about completely.
The Canucks traded a fifth round pick for Larsen’s rights back in February. He’s a power play specialist who loves to shoot the puck and reportedly rounded out his game defensively over the last couple seasons in the KHL, while still producing offensively, finishing fifth in scoring among KHL defencemen last season.
If you want to be optimistic about Larsen, I would advise ignoring that Cam Barker led all KHL defencemen in scoring last season.
The real concern might be whether Larsen wants to return to the NHL. The Canucks still haven’t signed Larsen to a contract, though there’s still plenty of time to do so. You have to wonder if the Canucks’ blue line is starting to look a little more crowded than Larsen might like, but there’s still room for his skillset, particularly on the right side, where Tanev, Gudbranson, and Tryamkin (sort of) won’t be putting up points.
