WWYDW: Oh Cannata

As you likely already know, Joe Cannata is currently up with the Vancouver Canucks, filling in for Ryan Miller. The Canucks starter is struggling with cramps and needs a few days rest, and while it’s possible that he’ll be back for boxing day, the temporary assignment might survive beyond Christmas.

Originally, my hope was to make the question “should he start on Saturday?”, but all logic would point to an answer of no on that one.

Jacob Markstrom looked spectacular last night, stopping 26 of 27 shots and weathering the storm in all but one of Tampa Bay’s ten powerplays. Meanwhile, you’d expect that Miller will indeed be good to go, at least as a backup. 

Cannata, however, has been a hard-working member of the organization for six and a half years now, and it with the team likely headed into the standings abyss, it seems like a “thank you” start could be something to consider. It’s not like it’s a recipe for disaster, either; while Cannata’s 0.907 save percentage isn’t elite compared to the rest of the AHL, it’s above the league average. 

Maybe the better question is, does he ever get an opportunity to play in the NHL, or is this bench cameo and starting job with Utica the closest that he’ll get? Leave your thoughts below.

Last week, we asked you about your biggest surprises, positive and negative. The comment chain turned into a long argument about tanking, but these were the most-liked responses beforehand:

Biggest positive surprise: The twins just keep on keeping on. Nice to Dan putting the puck in the nest again this year. Both top 10 in scoring at 35 is just amazeballs.

No real negative surprises. I expected this team to be a lottery team.

My number one surprise is how awful the penalty killing has become. This is a team that had one of the best PK units last season.

Positive player surprises: Jannik Hansen and Ben Hutton have been better than I thought they would be. If the team is in transition, how abut transitioning Hutton to more powerplay time? Clearly that is a skill he brings and it might be nice to see a new look.

Player disappointments:

Bo Horvat – Doesn’t look ready to carry a line offensively as evidenced by the lack of production by any wingers not playing with the Sedins. Leads all forwards in PK time on ice and the PK has been brutal.

Alex Burrows – I love what he has brought over the years, but he is not producing this year. I’m not sure he ever will again. At this point freeing up his cap space might be more valuable then what he brings to the team. He could be useful to mentor younger players. But, we already have the Sedins and Dorsett for that, so maybe Burrows could be a good trade chip.

Radim Vrbata – trade him. He doesn’t fit for this team in transition.

It’s not all that surprising, but this season has started going on the worst case scenario path, or the darkest timeline.

The Sedins are clearly still outstanding players. Edler and Tanev too. But beyond that, there’s not much. Horvat hasn’t taken the hoped steps forward. Sutter has barely had a chance to make an impression. Dorset and Prust have been, well, Dorset and Prust.

For this season to have been a traditional success (playoffs and whatnot), a lot of things had to break right. BoHo basically had to become Ryan Johansen. Ryan Miller had to defy the aging curve, so did Dan Hamhuis. Sutter had to be an elite defensive center, penalty killer, and chip in some offense. One of the cannon fodder depth defenders had to step up and progress into a top four role.

Just about none of these things has been true, which to me seems almost as unlikely as all of them coming true. I guess what’s been so surprising is how truly bad the team has become. It’s not as though it was impossible to see them being THIS bad, but at the beginning of the season it seemed unlikely.

This is right around where I expected this team to be – a bubble playoff team who will end up missing the playoffs.

There’s an inexperienced head coach and your key players are over 30. Your best players are 35. The youth isn’t ready at this point. The Canucks are far from a contending team and I don’t see the point of trying to stumble into the playoffs and getting tossed in round 1 (hey, this has happened for several years now and I don’t see it improving).

Hopefully Benning realizes this and moves some older assets. The obvious ones are Vrbata, Prust, Bartkowski and Weber. The last two may not get you much but it’s something. I would still look at moving Hamhuis because he will be ready just around the time of the deadline; many teams saw how good he was at the Worlds and they know what he can do on a good team.

I don’t think any of the veteran players should be untouchable if the return is right. I’m thinking Edler, Tanev, Burr and so on.

This season is going to get ugly and they need to start thinking next season and beyond. They don’t have the horses to compete this season and won’t compete for a while. How long depends on what they do now with their older assets.