The New Year is here and the time for the Vancouver Canucks to figure out what they’re going to do with the rest of the season (and beyond) is upon us.
As 2016 kicks off, the Canucks are 14-15-7, sitting in 10th place in the Western Conference, six points out of a playoff spot and just four up on the Edmonton Oilers, who still live in the basement, as they have for the last few years because no one likes moving.
In case it wasn’t clear, that means they’re closer to finishing last than they are to making the playoffs and getting bounced in the first round, like they did last year when they lost to Calgary.
That means club president Trevor Linden and general manager Jim Benning need to make a decision: do they play for a quick playoff exit or look to the future?
Glancing at the roster and its current output, what they should do is pretty clear: Vancouver has just nine players with 10 points or more, with only Daniel Sedin, Radim Vrbata and Jannick Hansen having double-digit goals despite the season nearly being at the halfway point.
The Sven Baertschi Experiment has yielded 11 points. Bo Horvat’s development has stalled. Brandon Sutter hasn’t played since November 10. Ryan Miller has struggled and Jacob Markstrom hasn’t been any better.
There is no reason to believe that this group, as currently composed, has the ability to string together enough wins to (a) get into the playoffs and (b) make any kind of noise if they happen to get there, which means Linden and Benning should start placing calls around the league to see who is interested in taking some of Vancouver’s veterans off their hands and what they will give up in return.
If you don’t want to move “The Twins,” that’s cool; every game they’ve ever played in the NHL has been in a Canucks jersey, they’re still producing and no one is going to give you that much for a pair of 35-year-old forwards. And they’d probably have to be moved together too, so that would only make things more difficult.
But everyone else? Ship’em out, take what you can get and start giving the kids as much ice time as possible without being completely non-competitive.
Plenty of Canucks fans will hate this idea, but that’s largely because they enjoy fooling themselves into believing that making the playoffs – or trying to – is a better course for their favourite club to take. It’s not; bottoming out is the way to go, 100 percent.
Part of that hesitation likely comes from the fact that Vancouver has come out on the wrong side of just about every deal they’ve made in the last few years. Many of those missteps came during the Mike Gillis era, but Benning hasn’t exactly done anything to write home about since taking over either.
But here’s the thing: there are solid prospects in the system in addition to the youngsters that are already up with the big club, so clearing a path for some of those player now and into next year makes a whole lot of sense.
Horvat and Jared McCann need to play in top line situations like they’re expected to in the future. Give Jake Virtanen, Brendon Gaunce and Hunter Shinkaruk the ice time being afforded to Alex Burrows, Chris Higgins and others that aren’t contributing and won’t be part of the future.
Try to get as high a draft pick this year (and score a couple mid-round selections in deals) and aim to be back in the playoff mix in 2017 or 2018, whenever the kiddie corps comes of age.Bite the bullet and build for tomorrow; that’s the smart choice, now let’s see if the Canucks make it.
