Loui Eriksson got injured at exactly the right time.
At the trade deadline, Jim Benning made it almost clear that the playoffs are not in the cards for the Canucks this season; I say “almost” because he and Trevor Linden have studiously avoided the word “rebuild,” so there’s still some ambiguity.
But the Canucks trading Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen didn’t suddenly dull the competitive spirit of the rest of the Canucks’ lineup. Frankly, I wouldn’t want the team to go quietly into that good night; it speaks well of the team that they’re still competing for every point.
That has included Willie Desjardins as well, whose lineup decisions, as sometimes infuriating as they may be, still seem to be aimed at winning games. Some of his decisions may actually run counter to that goal, but that seems to be the intent.
But at some point, if the Canucks are truly rebuilding, the head coach needs to be on board.
That’s where Eriksson’s injury comes in handy. Suddenly there’s an easy reason to get Nikolay Goldobin into the top-six alongside Bo Horvat. It’s easy to bump Brendan Gaunce up from the fourth line to the third line alongside Brandon Sutter. Reid Boucher can get back into the lineup so the Canucks can assess if he should be part of the team next season.
But there’s more that Willie Desjardins needs to do.
Frankly, we’ve seen enough of Jayson Megna on any line but the fourth. He’s 27 and essentially is who he is; there’s nothing more to assess there. If the Canucks like what they saw of him this past season, he’ll be back. If not, he’ll go the way of Matt Bartkowski.
Alex Biega, as well, is who he is. He’s an okay guy to keep around as a seventh defenceman or press-box fodder, but if the Canucks can make it work with the roster limit, it would be great to see one of the Canucks’ young defenceman like Evan McEneny or Jordan Subban get a few more games this year. With Andrey Pedan on an expiring contract, it might be nice to get a read on him as well.
The Canucks have one of the worst power plays in the league; would it be so bad to experiment with the personnel? Getting Brandon Sutter off the first power play unit is something that should have happened months ago, so why not try one of the Canucks young players in that spot, even if they don’t possess the much-coveted right-hand shot?
Brendan Gaunce has been a good soldier all season long, grinding away on the fourth line and playing some sound defensive hockey. Why not reward him with some power play time, which would also give the Canucks a chance to assess his offensive instincts with the man advantage? Maybe Nikolay Goldobin or Reid Boucher would thrive in that situation, which would give the Canucks valuable information moving forward.
Maybe Goldobin and Boucher could use a dose of the same Linden Vey treatment that Markus Granlund received this season, being put in offensively advantageous situations to make the most of their particular set of skills.
But Desjardins has made it clear: the Canucks young players need to “earn it” the same way guys like Megna have earned it. Play “the right way” and you’ll get more ice time in more situations, even if you’re not a good enough hockey player to excel in those situations. It’s a coaching philosophy with which I fundamentally disagree, but that’s a post for another time.
At this point in the season, the Canucks don’t need to know how well Jayson Megna and Michael Chaput will perform late in the third period when down by a goal. Chaput’s goal against the Montreal Canadiens notwithstanding, we have a pretty good idea of how well they’ll perform: poorly.
It would be more useful for management, and more fun for the fans, to see how Nikolay Goldobin performs late in the third period when down by a goal.
Perhaps Desjardins and Benning are, in fact, on the same page. Maybe they like the way Desjardins has brought along the Canucks young players and don't mind seeing Megna and Chaput get ice time in key situations. Maybe they really do think that Sutter is great on the power play and, as a "foundational player," needs to get that ice time with the man advantage.
But when Goldobin gets replaced on Horvat’s line by Joseph Cramarossa — another player the Canucks need to assess, but not in a top-six role — it’s incredibly frustrating. It gets worse when you consider what Desjardins said about Goldobin after the game:
“I don’t think he’s confident yet. There’s still a lot of new things going on for him. You play him with Horvat’s line and all of a sudden, that line has to score for you.”
I agree with Jason Botchford’s assessment of this quote: if you wanted Goldobin to be confident, maybe you shouldn’t have benched him after he scored a goal in his Canucks debut. There’s a time and a place for teaching a lesson about defensive responsibility and there’s a time and place for embracing a player’s offensive instincts.
The Canucks will need goalscoring in the future and, if the Canucks are rebuilding, guys like Goldobin will need their offensive creativity nurtured, not stifled. The Canucks’ youth will need opportunity, not fourth line minutes. And if the team is rebuilding, it would be advantageous to give them that opportunity now, so they'll have that experience in the future.
So give Gaunce a bigger role and see what he can do. Give Boucher an opportunity in an offensive role. Or any opportunity. Pump up the minutes of Bo Horvat’s power play unit. Rotate some guys from Utica into the lineup.
And for Pete’s sake, give us more Goldobin.
