Canucks Army Post-Game: Home Disadvantage

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Highlights

Quick Hits

• The Canucks were clearly outmatched, but that’s not exactly a new development. This is a team that, on the best of nights, is always going to find itself on the wrong side of a talent chasm between them and their opponent. Damned if the Canucks didn’t work their asses off tonight. That’s about all you can ask from the players. The roster is objectively terrible. If they play relatively well and make the games competitive while still ultimately losing, that’s fine with me.

• I have to admit, I’m decidedly less happy with the coaching. The Canucks are, for all intents and purposes, out of the playoffs. There isn’t a person outside that locker room that has a notion to the contrary. This is the exact time when Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins should be showcasing his ability to work with and develop young talent. There’s nothing to lose here. In fact, one might argue that the best thing he could do to keep his job would be to show he’s a force for, instead of an impediment of, a developing young core. When Desjardins makes decisions like benching Nikolay Goldobin for a chunk of the third period for Joseph Cramarossa, it’s nothing short of maddening. I shouldn’t have to explain why. It’s obvious to almost everyone. Then there’s the fact that the Canucks are playing Brandon Sutter close to 20-minutes a night, in all situations, with one working arm. Or that Jayson Megna is playing close to 14-minutes. This isn’t usually how a rebuilding team operates. It’s not even like these are decisions that make sense for a team trying to win in the present.
• Speaking of Goldobin, I thought he looked good in the rare instances when he played. There were a few sequences where the young Russian generated ten-bell chances in close, only to run out of space or get robbed by Price. There are signs of serious offensive potential here. Goldobin had one bad giveaway in the second, but it happened in the offensive zone and didn’t result in a goal or even a scoring chance against. He was also a +1 Corsi For, which indicates he held his own territorially at even strength.
• Markus Granlund is working surprisingly well with the Sedin twins. His addition seems to have helped stop the bleeding of shot attempts at even strength, and the line is even starting to generate the odd scoring chance. Tonight, all three were in the top five Canucks players for Corsi For and none of them controlled less than 60% of shot attempts at even strength. I tend to think the goals will start coming if the Canucks stick with this.