WWYDT: A Fresh Start

Vancouver gets to hold onto 2015 a little bit longer than most cities, but at some point tonight, we will cross over into a new year with limitless possibilities and slightly more ink used to write (though, really, it’s about to be 2016 and you shouldn’t still be writing things by hand). This leads us to a very special What Would You Do… Thursday question. A simple one, no less.

The Question: What’s your New Years Resolution for the Canucks? We don’t need to know your resolution in the real world; save that for the gym registration form, but we’d like to know what you feel is important for the Canucks to commit to over the next twelve months. Leave your responses below!

Last week, we asked you what you’d do with Joe Cannata, who has been warming the bench while Ryan Miller has been recovering from his “cramps”.

That`s a tough spot for Cannata to be in. Does he go home to Mass. for Christmas and then fly Christmas day to be a back up here in Vancouver on Boxing day or does he just return with the team to Vancouver and spend Christmas in a city where he doesn`t know anybody – only to find out Miller is okay to be back up and Joe can watch from the stands. A bummer Christmas to remember.

Markstrom needs to take the opportunity and run with it — I don’t see how giving someone a start for being a good soldier should enter into this at all. Besides, it’s not like Cannata’s been toiling in the trenches for a decade; he’s a former sixth round pick who was really good on some forgettable Merrimac but he’s barely cracked the AHL as a backup and he’s only 25. I don’t quite get the logic here — we’re not even talking about the second game of a back-to-back where the numbers suggest you play your other guy. Off of four days rest I don’t see why you wouldn’t play Markstrom other than to piss him off. Unless you’re actively trying to manufacture some goalie controversy 🙂

You need to come back with Markstrom. He’s never been given the chance to play a string of games and get into a groove.

I would love to see Cannata get a start but now isn’t the time.

Keep Miller on the sidelines until he is 100%, ride Markstrom and let Cannata enjoy flying first class instead of riding a bus for a while. He will benefit from the experience even without starting a game.

the goaltending succession plan in Vancouver does not look good for Cannata. Much more likely he takes on a Bachman-type role in Utica as Demko is added to the equation, unless he massively exceeds expectations or moves to another NHL team.

Miller and Markstrom are still here next year (2016-17), so that’s already moot unless there’s a trade. Also, Demko either signs with the Canucks and plays in Utica with Cannata (likely usurping him) or Demko plays another year in college (not sure if he needs it, plus it’s nerve-wracking when NCAA prospects approach their senior year).

So in 2016-17 Cannata is practically guaranteed to be back in Utica, with or without Demko. By 2017-18 Miller will be gone and Markstrom will be starting if everything goes as planned. By then, Cannata may have a shot at the Canucks’ backup role. That assumes Demko hasn’t already blown the lid off the AHL in 2016-17, or at least that the Canucks want Demko to spend another full year as the lone starter in Utica. And of course that Demko pans out at all, but he’s certinaly on-track.

It’s possible…. pooooossible that mgmt are grooming Cannata for a back-up role with the Canucks in 2017-18, but seriously… that’s a stretch.

So if Cannata is going to play a game in the NHL beyond an injury call-up, he’s going to have to force mgmt’s hand. I don’t think there is a large “grooming for the NHL” component to the Canucks’ Cannata plan.