WWYDW: When Rodin is Healthy, I would…

Things are going relatively well in Vancouver. The club is 3-0-0 and well on their way to shattering the paltry expectations they suffered in advance of this season. Of course, it’s early, and we should temper our optimism accordingly. You’re still well within your right to enjoy the run, though.

Usually, teams are reticent to mess with a working lineup, but that’s precisely what they’ll have to do sooner than later. Eventually Anton Rodin is going to return to a clean bill of health. Based on his pre-season, I’d expect the Canucks are all too eager to give Rodin a shot to provide offence from their middle-six, too.

So looking at the Canucks’ roster as of today, what adjustment(s) should they make when Rodin is available and ready to contribute?

Last week I asked: How does your opening night lineup look?

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Jannik Hansen

Markus Granlund – Brandon Sutter- Loui Eriksson

Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Jake Virtanen

Alexandre Burrows – Brendan Gaunce – Derek Dorsett

Extra: Jack Skille — IR: Anton Rodin

Alexander Edler – Chris Tanev

Ben Hutton – Erik Gudbranson

Luca Sbisa – Philip Larsen

Extra: Alex Biega, Nikita Tryamkin

Ryan Miller

Jacob Markstrom

I liked JDB’s lineup, especially Eriksson on Bo’s wing, but I think we will see something closer to this. I’m not sure how long Burrows will have his spot.

What’s up with the fascination with keeping the twins together? Especially considering the lack of scoring depth. People seem to forget that both Sedins had career years apart (due to injuries). IMHO Daniel has morphed more into a playmaker than a shooter.

Ericsson-HSedin-Hansen DSedin-Sutter-Virtanen Baertschi-Horvat-Rodin/Burrows Granlund-Gaunce- Skille/Dorsett

Sedins – Eriksson

Baertschi – Horvat – Virtanen

Granlund – Sutter – Hansen

Etem – Gaunce – Burrows

Dorsett

Edler – Tanev

Hutton – Gudbranson

Stecher – Larsen

Tryamkin Sbisa

That’s what would happen if I was Gm and coach, just swap Stecher with Tryamkin every 3-4 games and give each of them roughly equal amounts of games until injuries mount. That keeps them fresh and we can play them more when injuries mount which is inevitable. I would want each pair playing between 18-22 minutes. I would want the first line playing 19-20 min, second and third lines playing 16-18 min and 4th line playing 6-9 minutes a night.

Willie won’t do that though, he’ll play one pair like 12 minutes and the other pairs like 25 minutes. To be honest I don’t think it was a bad idea sending Stecher down though as long as he gets a ton of minutes in Utica and gets a call up as injuries mount.

If I was Gm I would never have traded for Sbisa and I would have let Dorsett walk after his first season here, both players way overpaid. I think we could have gotten a lot of other players than Sbisa in the Kesler trade that would have been better choices than Sbisa.

D. Sedin – H. Sedin – Eriksson 
Baertschi – Horvat – Virtanen
Granlund – Sutter – Hansen
Burrows – Gaunce – Skille

extra: Dorsett
IR: Rodin 
If Virtanen is still hurting, Dorsett moves to line 4, other RW’s bump up a rung.

Edler – Tanev
Hutton – Gudbranson
Sbisa – Larsen
Tryamkin – Biega (barring injuries, I would rotate these bottom 4 guys through the bottom pairing, based on who’s playing better/matchups/etc.)

This has the best mix of scoring youth and the best 4th line in the league.

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin -Loui Eriksson

Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Jake Virtanen

Markus Granlund – Brandon Sutter- Burr (until Rodin is back)

Dorsett- Brendan Gaunce – Jannik Hansen

Extra: Burr. Jack Skille signs with Florida Panthers tomorrow

Alexander Edler – Chris Tanev

Ben Hutton – Erik Gudbranson

Luca Sbisa – Philip Larsen

Extra: Alex Biega, Nikita Tryamkin

Ryan Miller

Jacob Markstrom

Sedin – Sedin – Vrbata

Shinkaruk – Bonino – Kassian

When healthy, I think the lineup may end up looking like this:

Two offensive lines

D.Sedin – H.Sedin – Eriksson Baertchi – Granlund – Rodin

Two defensive lines

Gaunce – Sutter – Hansen Burrows – Horvat – Virtanen

Dorsett and Skille would shuffle Rodin, Gaunce and Virtanen as they come in and out.

First and foremost get Dorsett watching from the press box. If as someone replied tome yesterday we need some physicality for an anticipated street brawl game, then dress Pedan. He is legitimate heavyweight tough.

Sedins/erikson line1

sutter/granlund/hansen.line2

horvat/beartchi/virtanen line3 build the kid chemistry

burrows/gaunce/skille line4 with Pedan/Dorsett rotating on game to game basis

Anton Rodin bumps Hansen when healthy,Hansen then bumps Virtanen on line 3 and Virtanen goes to 4th line

Tanev/Edler Gudbrandson/hutton Tryamkin/sbisa swing dman larsen

Bear with me on this: According to Leftwinglock.com, in his injury-plagued year last year, Brandon Sutter’s most frequent linemates were Alex Burrows and Jake Virtanen. I wouldn’t be super shocked to see that happen again this season what with Willie D. and his strange line combinations at the helm. I wouldn’t be shocked to see:

Daniel-Henrik-Eriksson

Baertschi-Horvat-Hansen

Burrows-Sutter-Virtanen

Gaunce-Granlund-Dorsett

What I’d like to see, though, is:

Daniel – Henrik – Burrows (Rodin when healthy)

Eriksson – Sutter – Hansen

Baertschi – Horvat – Virtanen

Granlund – Gaunce – Skille