Friday Roundtable: Noted Improvments

After a week off, the roundtable returns! This week, we’re all feeling unusually cheery, given who we are and the site we write for. Then again, how can you not? The Canucks have picked up seven of eight points to start the year, and have been entertaining while doing so! With that said, here are five takes on who has surprised us the most (in a good way).

My answer has to be Ryan Miller. I know the sample isn’t exactly overwhelming, but there really is something to be said for how well Miller has played thus far. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was decidedly lacking in confidence where Miller was concerned, especially given his recent knee injury and spotty showing in the pre-season, but you can’t but be impressed by these first few showings. If he can keep this up, the Canucks are most definitely a playoff team, and wouldn’t that be something?

So we have this new thing at CanucksArmy. When you go to the penalty box they make you write nice things about Luca Sbisa. Just kidding! The topic of this post is the most pleasant surprises to start the season, and Sbisa’s play has undoubtedly exceeded expectations.

Like last year, Sbisa continues to be a high event player, with his shot attempt against metrics being amongst the top third in the league, amongst defensemen. The difference this year is that so far the offense has matched the opposition’s shot rate with Luca on the ice. In fact, he’s earned one of the highest shot attempt differentials, relative to his teammates among Canucks defensemen so far, and the same can be said for scoring chances. This has no value predictively, as it has been only a couple games, but for the first few games of the season Sbisa has been a capable 3rd pairing defensemen. 

If Sbisa does turn out to be a capable 3rd pairing defensemen over the course of his 3-year contract, that would be an unbelievably positive development for the Canucks. Based on his body of work to date, it’s fair to have a high degree of skepticism that Sbisa will be able to make that significant an improvement at this stage to of career. It very rarely happens. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t genuinely hope that he’s successful.

Honestly, for me, it’s Jim Benning’s willingness to do the things that every GM will promise, yet never follow through on.

While it stings to lose Frank Corrado for nothing in return, Benning did state that he would make room for prospects if they proved that they were capable of making the team. Most GM’s merely say that to make the kids feel like they have a chance, but when Ben Hutton had a strong camp, Benning stuck to his guns. Not just that, but he’s given Jared McCann and Jake Virtanen to be the next ones to force a tough decision.

You also have the Linden Vey situation. This was an asset that he gave up a second round draft pick for; a fair risk that doesn’t appear like it out. Rather than trying to force it to work, he took the risk of cutting ties entirely, once again favouring those who earned their spots rather than trying to make his prior moves seem better. Most executives would have too much pride to do that, but Benning put his assets were his mouth was. Say what you will about how the decisions work out down the road, it’s nice to see someone stick to their word.

For a player touted for his two-way play, Bo Horvat has been very effective on the second powerplay unit. By the eyes, he has looked dangerous on the ice and his unit has had some strong chances already, with him converting on one. By the numbers, Horvat has had five individual scoring chances on the second unit already, with three of them being high-danger scoring chances, in just over seven minutes of power play time. As Taylor Swift said, two power play units are better than one, and if he can keep this up, the Canucks have the potential for a very effective “Plan B”.