WDYTT: If you could clone a Vancouver Canuck…

Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet that doesn’t get asked to increase productivity when the regular season starts.

Speaking of increased productivity, what better way for a hockey team to achieve it than via cloning?

No, we’re serious. Well, kind of. Serious enough for a semi-serious theoretical discussion, that is.

Fans of the Vancouver Canucks have plenty of experience with players who at least seem like they might have been cloned. Henrik and Daniel Sedin set the franchise standard in so many ways for more than a decade, and they did so largely on the strength of their identical genetic patterns and the inherent telepathic connection that seems to come thereof.

The Sedins weren’t clones (not officially, anyway) but they are twins, and that’s usually as close as we get in the real world.

Until now!

True, we haven’t quite unlocked the secrets of human cloning over here at WDYTT. But we have mastered the technique of the hypothetical thought experiment, and today we’re asking you to join us in one.

Imagine, if you will, that you could take any one player currently on the Vancouver Canucks and make a perfect duplicate of them to join the roster.

Take any one player, and double them.

Who would it be? Which player do the Canucks most need two of?

This week, we’re asking you:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

The biggest surprize was Nils Åman. A few weeks ago I couldn’t have told you who he was.

The biggest surprise to me was that all of Miller, Garland, Boeser, Horvat, and Myers are still on this roster. I fully expected at least one of these players (if not two) would have been moved to meet some of the clearly-stated goals of this new management group. What this means in the long-term isn’t really clear at this point, but in the short-term, the Canucks have not yet addressed the most critical weaknesses on this roster or in the organization.

Biggest surprise for me was that not only is Poolman still on the big clubs roster, but that he actually played a decent game against Edmonton. Not great, but he was not allowing odd-man rushes, making poor decisions, or tripping over the blue line. Nor blocking the net on a scramble chiclets facing forward. He is what he is and if he can play that way, then ok.

Nils Åman.

Nils Åman and the seeming plan all preseason being to have Lazar at wing (since Dickinson was slotted at center, as well), when we picked him up to have a right shot center. I’m not complaining, Åman looks decent and Lazar plays the same game wherever you line him up, but it has surprised me that he’s not the 4C.

Nils Åman making the opening night team.

While the D may be suspect, I still think the forwards taking off early and not providing breakout support has a lot to do with the breakdowns and goals against, not to mention regularly cheating on the offensive side of the puck. Besides maybe Pods and Pearson, they’re an offence-first forward group.

My main surprise is Poolman still being with the club and on the active roster. It was clear what was happening by game time (from the lines at the morning skate), but until then, I kept thinking he had to be behind other defence candidates on the depth chart. When training camp started, one would have expected Åman to be in the AHL by Opening Night, though it had been clear for at least a week before the rosters were set that he was going to make it.

Reg Dunlop:
Nils Åman in the lineup was definitely a pleasant surprise, even though several media members were talking him up since the rookie camp. A not so pleasant surprise was that while I know Quinn got a whack in the face, I couldn’t help noticing his play without the puck was similar to his play before hooking up with Luke Schenn . Hope he can clean that up against Philly.