Although some might suggest it’s a toss up between Radim Vrbata and Ryan Miller as Jim Benning’s best free agent signing last off-season, I can say with a fair degree of confidence that my allegiances lie with the former. While there was a certain amount of trepidation among the fan base, based primarily on Vrbata’s monumental struggles during his last stay away from the desert, I think it’s safe to say that his first season with the Canucks exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations. It was almost Erik Cole-like, but I digress.

Much of the mutual interest between the two parties centered on the prospect of a cozy spot alongside the Sedin twins. For Vrbata, whose primary distributor for the majority of his career has been the offensive luminary Martin Hanzal, surely the opportunity to play alongside players of the Sedins caliber was too good to pass up on. For Vancouver, Vrbata represented an opportunity to provide the Sedins with arguably their only first-line caliber linemate since the beginning of last season’s Ryan Kesler experiment. 

Can’t imagine either side envisioned it working this well. The Canucks held true to their end of the bargain, providing Vrbata that cushy first line role on the Sedins right flank, and it paid immediate dividends, with Vrbata potting a goal in each of his first three games and posting a gaudy 11-points in total for the month of October. While his spot along Sedins became increasingly less permanent as the season wore on, Vrbata’s production maintained a highly respectable clip, never dipping lower than six points in a full-months span. 

It isn’t the first time the Canucks have offered the role of Sedin triplet to a veteran free agent, only to take it away by Christmas. As a matter of fact, while the reasoning is different, Canucks Army’s own Thomas Drance predicted this might happen to Vrbata before the season even started. Usually, it was the Sedins two-way play which always necessitated the return of Alex Burrows to the first line; in this instance, it was Vrbata who was playing the role of savior to Nick Bonino, whose production fell off a cliff after the opening months. It wasn’t so much that Vrbata lost his spot, as it was his services being required elsewhere. 

That isn’t to say that Vrbata avoided the ill favour of management before it was all said and done. As injuries mounted late in the season, logic suggested a bump back to the first line for Vrbata. And yet, there he stayed on the second line, trying to resurrect Bonino’s season. In the playoffs, when presumptive first line fill-in, Alex Burrows, went down with injury, again, logic suggested reuniting Vrbata with the twins – but again, no such luck. It was truly bizarre, especially given the extent to which the Canucks struggled offensively; it’s not like having Vrbata on the second line was working anyways, so why not turbo charge the first?

Where there’s smoke there’s fire and Vrbata’s prolonged absence from the top of the lineup, where most people deemed his services most valuable, provided more of both than Willie Desjardins combustion on the bench come playoffs. Had management soured on Vrbata? Well, if you believe any of what you hear on the Twitter machine, then it’s entirely possible. While I can’t find the tweet for the life of me (maybe deleted?) there was one report which suggested that Benning uttered something along the lines of “the only time you notice him, is when he’s putting a puck into an empty net” re: Vrbata. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. There’s also been a steady stream of tweets from Jason Botchford which suggests that a trade of Vrbata wouldn’t be even remotely surprising to him. 

All this shouldn’t cloud what was a remarkably productive season for Vrbata, who could have very well been the Canucks most consistent forward. Management may have soured on Vrbata and he could be on his way out as a result, but based on every objective tool available, it most certainly wouldn’t be – or shouldn’t be – based on his performance last season. 

Looking purely at his boxcar stats, this was the best campaign of Vrbata’s lengthy career. The Czech shooting machine was just four goals short of his career high 35 and did so without a grossly inflated individual shooting percentage. Those 32-assists marked a career high for Vrbata, who could very well be finding a new wrinkle to his game late in the career as a playmaker. Also of note, is that Vrbata’s 267-shots on the season was also a career high. I guess his season was OK.

By just raw Corsi%, Vrbata had literally the exact same season as last. By Corsi Rel. however, he improved by nearly a full 2%. He’s relatively high among the Canucks leaderboard in terms of CF/60 and CA/60, but surprisingly, middle of the pack where Corsi events per 60 are concerned. Pretty surprising given what a rate shot dynamo Vrbata was and his general style of play. 

A traditionally strong rate stats performer, Vrbata continued this tradition, finding himself grouped with such greats as Matt Duchene, Jeff Carter, Logan Couture and Jonathan Toews, among others, as the 64th best perfomer by G/60 (among skaters with 400+ minutes). Equally impressive was Vrbata having the highest GF Rel. among Canucks forwards with a glowing +7%. Believe it or not, it’s actually his ability to limit goals against which drove this success – no Canucks forwards fared better. 

Would you believe me if I told you that there’s less than one SCF/60 between Vrbata and Luca Sbisa? Because that is most certainly the case. This isn’t overly surprising though, really. Vrbata does much of his damage on the outside, with great positioning and a wicked wrist-shot, rather than from the office in front. His primary linemates, the Sedins, aren’t exactly in the Todd Bertuzzi mold either, so that they didn’t produce an alarming rate of scoring chances for doesn’t necessarily shock me. The trio did wonders suppressing scoring chances though. Vrbata is the fourth best forward on the Canucks in this regard. Somewhat surprisingly, Vrbata’s individual scoring chances were at their lowest mark in a full season since 2010-11.

This one caught me a little off guard. Vrbata was actually one of the Canucks worst forwards in terms of HSCF Rel.% on the Canucks, with a paltry -0.3%. Again, though, it kind of makes sense based on how Vrbata plays in the offensive zone. That said, I figured the defensive prowess of his most frequent line would at least raise him to par.

Individually, Vrbata had his best year from a shot volume perspective last season. Among skaters with 400+ minutes, Vrbata is ranked 15th with 10.59 S/60 to his credit – a full shot per 60 higher than his mark from last season. His on-ice S/60, though, was Vrbata’s lowest total since 2008-09. Then again, the Sedins aren’t exactly machine gunners, so this isn’t overly surprising. 

Vrbata’s situation is one to follow closely. Voted the Team MVP and Most Exciting Player, there’s no arguing his 2014-15 campaign was of immense value to the Canucks. Yet, he might not have a spot with them next season. With just one season remaining on his contract, at a cap-hit of $5-million, Vrbata could prove a hot commodity on the trade market for a team ready to win-now – a team like, say, the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

These are tough waters to navigate for Benning. Then again, nothing new for the architect of the rebuild on the fly that Vancouver is trying to orchestrate. From a purely performance based perspective, Vrbata helps the Canucks greatly in achieving their goal of winning games. At $5-million, he’s doing it a very fair price to boot. If the Canucks genuinely believe in the importance of developing players in a winning environment as well, then yes, he is helping them achieve their goals in that regard too. 

That said, if the Canucks are to accumulate draft picks in an effort to get younger, a Vrbata trade could advance these goals considerably. Can a 38-year old Vrbata help the Canucks push for a Stanley Cup? Because, in all likelihood, there is almost no chance of this team being a contender any sooner than that. The answer is a resounding no. That said, should Benning be able to haul in a first or second round pick, or a blue chip prospect, or whatever, there is some chance that that piece could. Furthermore, it would give the Canucks an additional $5-million in cap space. For a team as up against the cap as Vancouver, that $5-million could go an awful long way.

Vrbata’s definitely a very valuable player to Vancouver. Whether that value turns in to another season of on-ice output before departing as a free agent, or a piece that may help the Canucks down the road will be determined this coming season. Perhaps it may be sooner than you think.