WWYDW: Free Willie

The trade deadline has come and gone, and now all Canucks fans have to dissect is the long, slow limp to the finish line.

Luckily for us, Willie Desjardins has given us all something to chew on this week, as he’s been at the centre of a controversy involving his handling of the team’s newest acquisition, Nikolay Goldobin. Goldobin played just 5:51 in his debut with the Canucks, playing just one shift in the remaining 27 minutes of Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.

In some ways, it was a defensible move by Desjardins. Goldobin hadn’t so much as practiced with the team, and Desjardins, is going to do his best to squeeze out a win in each of the Canucks remaining games, whether it’s in the team’s best interest or not. The issue lies in the consistency with which Desjardins has favoured low-event players over skilled ones, even in situations where a goal is needed.

That leads us to this week’s question. Does Desjardins deserve another season in Vancouver? If not, who would you like to see as a replacement?

I would like to see expanded roles with the Canucks for Alex Grenier, Reid Boucher, Brendan Gaunce and Joe Labate down the stretch, to see what they’re actually capable of in the NHL. Let’s get a good long look at Goldobin too, play new waiver acquisition Cramarossa to see if he’s worth qualifying, and keep Granlund with the Sedin twins. I would like to see next year’s forward corps not include Megna, Chaput or Skille, who, despite playing hard this year, are all clearly limited guys who shouldn’t be in any long term plan and thus shouldn’t be offered contracts after the year. Shut down the plainly injured Sutter while you’re at it, let him recover during the final stretch so that he doesn’t have to adjust his off-season training to rehab.

On D, please call up Subban again, and let’s see him, McEneny and Larsen all get real NHL minutes on a rotating basis. For Larsen, it’s really a chance to evaluate whether he should be in the plans after this year (I’m leaning towards no, but it’s still not impossible) and for Subban and McEneny, it’s to see what they can do against NHLers and what they need to work on to stick in the NHL. Not sure what’s happening with Pedan, but I would love to see him get a bit more of a chance in the NHL too.

Subban, Subban, Subban.

Now that we have seen what Benning can do when the gloves come off, I hope he heads downstairs to smack some reality into Coach.

How are you supposed to know what you need if you don’t know what you’ve got?

Playing the plugs, the plodders and not the prospects might win a game or two but it doesn’t help you evaluate what’s really there. I’d even be tempted to start sitting guys like Loui and put in a prospect just to see what happens.

As mentioned sit Sutter and anyone needing rest. What’s the point in depleting a player when the playoffs are gone.

I’m not a fan of being bad on purpose and sending out a line-up of young and inexperienced players for the sake of playing young inexperienced players is pretty much being bad on purpose. They should be playing the most competitive roster they can muster regardless of age or experience.

We watched this movie last year. the team is going to lose focus and discipline and become a mess, but for now you can loosen the reins a little to assess players and the mix. It’s a useful opportunity to lose any illusions and assess what the team really is when not playing katie bar the door.

So, I think you play a good team the way we have all year but you tell Willie to play weaker opponents more or less straight up and see what we have. if we get hammered or lose our shape completely, revert to the trap, then try again in a game or two. If we do well, repeat the experiment with a slightly better team. Rinse. Repeat.

Really, I’d be happier if the Canucks keep their youngsters away from the tire fire that this season is likely to be over the next couple of months.

I also recall a quote from WD from a couple of years ago about not finding a player’s performance after his team has been eliminated from the playoffs useful in evaluation. So, if WD is the coach, little will be gained in evaluating the rest of this season.

And if WD isn’t the coach next season, then little will be gained in evaluating players on the Canucks the rest of this season.

One possible exception could be Grenier. He’ll be eligible to go to free agency this coming offseason and I’d guess he probably will do just that if the Canucks don’t seem willing to take a good look at him in the NHL before he becomes a free agent. Then again, he could decide to walk to free agency even if he does get a chance the rest of this season.