Canucks Need More GRIT If They Want to Get Anywhere. #MyColumn

For year,s folks have been complaining that the Canucks are too soft, and they’ve been damn right to do so. With no push back, you won’t get any respect around the league, and with no respect, how could you ever expect to get wins?!

Since Jim Benning has come to power, though, there’s been a little more focus on what really matters: will, heart, and above all, grit.

The fancy stats flag wavers have always complained that grit can’t be quantified, and therefore, should be ignored. Well, those days are over, as someone has finally gone and done the world a service and invented a stat to track grit – so let’s see which of these Canucks really have the will to win and which ones are along for the ride.

First, some background. While all those analytics folks have been wasting their time counting up how many times some guy’s winger shoots a shot into someone’s shin pads and acting like they’re tipping the scales of momentum, one man actually came up with something useful.

Greg Sinclair, a man who actually knows a thing or two about real hockey, has blessed us with the GRIT score. I’m not gonna bore you with the methods, but you can take my word for it that he has used some complex statistical analysis to pump out a magic number with important parameters like hits, blocked shots, and, most importantly, a few good punches to the jaw. It’s all very scientific.

Enough about methods, let’s check out which Canucks are truly worthy of respect.

As you can clearly see, old Deputy Dan still has it. He’s been doling out justice and playing with some real emotion out there on the ice. His 1233 GRIT score leads all Canuck defencemen, and he hasn’t even had to fight anyone yet; though that’s probably because no punk kids like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have pissed him off yet.

Alex Edler is real gritty for a Swede. He gets in the way of pucks and he punishes enemy forwards who encroach on his territory. 1165 is an excellent GRIT score though I feel like he should get a little bonus for that time he nearly decapitated Drew Doughty – grittiness like that doesn’t fade.

Here you can clearly see why management sees Luca Sbisa as a top four defenceman – he’s top four in GRIT! Who cares if he gives the puck away from time to time. Nobody’s perfect. I’d trade a few giveaways up the middle for a boatload of big hits any day of the week. That’s what hockey is all about.

Meanwhile, that Bartkowski deal is lookin’ like a home run – this kid plays the right way. It’s top four or bust for this guy – that’s the Boston model in action.

Chris Tanev is a special case. He blocks a hell of a lot of shots, but after that he doesn’t contribute much. If you don’t score goals and you don’t add GRIT, then what are you? Every team needs six defencemen though, so Tanev sneaks in as a shot-blocking specialist.

For all that we’ve heard about Ben Hutton, he sure doesn’t play with a lot of heart. Maybe it’s because he’s always laughing. Maybe he’s confused because he’s a good Canadian kid that went and played at an American school instead of for the CHL – obviously there’s an adjustment period here. But hey, at least he’s better than Yannick Weber.

Yannick Weber is lucky to even be here right now. With his woeful GRIT score of 42, I’m surprised he isn’t on a plane back home to play in some Swiss league. Now we know why Willie Desjardins has been so resistant to playing Weber – he’s got no grit.

Derek Dorsett is a gift from the Heavens. He hits, he blocks shots, and he fights. He traded blows with that wild animal Ferland in game one, setting the tone for one hell of a gritty season. Dorsett puts all others to shame – no wonder he’s making the big bucks now.

Brandon Prust was acquired to assist Derek Dorsett with some of his grittier duties, and so far he’s done just that. Sure, his fights have been a little more staged than Dorsett’s and lack the ultimate raw emotion, but that will come. For now, Prust is playing the right way and showing his opponents that these Canucks are here for more than just scoring goals.

Jake Virtanen is just about the ideal hockey player. He throws massive hits, and he isn’t afraid to dish them out to high and mighty, entitled targets like Connor McDavid and Drew Doughty. Even better, he’s just 19 years old, which means that we’ve got years, even decades of grit to look forward to. The best part though – Virtanen is tied for the team lead in hits despite only playing four games and averaging less than 10 minutes per contest. Just imagine if Willie really unleashed this kid.

Bo Horvat may be struggling offensively, but there’s certainly no sophomore slump when it comes to his grittiness. Meanwhile, Adam Cracknell has a very respectable GRIT score of 680. Can you imagine if the team had trotted out that Vey kid instead of finding a real, manly hockey player to centre the fourth line?

Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen have been gritting it up at a respectable rate, though honestly I could use some more grit there. Hansen the Euro may be about topped out, but good ol’ Canadian boy Burrows surely has more in the tank. He’s up to 598 without even having to resort to biting, kicking, hair pulling and whatever else his victims are deserving of.

Brandon Sutter, another shrewd acquisition, is performing quite well by this metric. He had his doubters before the season, but I think many of them have been quashed by his ballsy play. What did you expect? He’s a Sutter after all. You know who isn’t? Pittsburgh’s Nick Bonino, whose lack of grit leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Down near the bottom float some purely offensive players. The twins and Radim Vrbata get by on goals – in other words, they capitalize on the momentum generated by the real workers – those guys out there chipping in pucks and getting in hard on the forecheck. As long as they keep putting the puck in the net, they’ll keep getting free passes for having no GRIT.

Same goes for rookie Jared McCann, who pales in comparison to fellow underager Jake Virtanen when it comes to playing big boy hockey. At least he’s got a couple of goals, which is more than I can say for Calgary cast off Sven Baertschi. No wonder he’s having trouble cracking the lineup – the kid needs more heart.

There you have it. Finally a fancy stat that really matters. These players win games. For your pleasure, here are the grittiest players by rate.

As if we didn’t already have enough reasons to love that Virtanen kid, he goes and shows just what a difference maker he is. I wouldn’t worry about production – when you’re as gritty as he is, eventually the pucks will just start going in merely out of fear. I mean, come on, this is a kid who scored a goal with his face in the preseason. If that doesn’t scream intangibles, I don’t know what does.

Hopefully, some of the other rookies can learn a thing or two from Jake, or they might find themselves on a bus, shipped off to whatever league accepts soft, passive players. Hell, some veterans could be taking notes as well.

Now when all those fancy stats nerds go on about their formulas, you can show them some numbers that really matter.