With the prospect of hockeys ultimate goal becoming all the more distant in these parts, one can’t help but grow increasingly attached to the feel good stories along the way. While there’s no shortage of fine and good options laid pleasantly at our feet by the upstart 3-0-1 Canucks, I find myself being dragged towards the gutter of this spectrum.

With all of that said, I can’t help but find myself a little charmed by Adam Cracknell. And really, how could one not? We’re talking about a career minor leaguer, with a whopping 83-games of NHL experience, walking onto the Canucks roster at the expense of a previously coveted and younger asset, to center what’s been a highly effective fourth line thus far.

Perhaps I’m getting a little too caught up in the fun of small samples. In case I’m not, though, let’s look a little bit further into Cracknell’s career and determine what kind of a player the Canucks might have in him.

Before getting too carried away, one has to take into account the fact that Cracknell is – a very young – 30-years old. With 86-games already to his credit, he’s still over 110 away from meeting the requisite amount of games played to be considered a successful draft selection. If any one player hasn’t broke out from the AHL by the age of 24, it becomes increasingly unlikely they’ll ever make it as a full-time player. Given where Cracknell is at, this would be unprecedented on an entirely different level.

All that said, there’s a difference between probability and destiny. It also bears mentioning that no one is expecting Cracknell to develop into a bona fide top-nine forward, so much as his play has warranted asking “if given the chance, can he handle himself in a prescribed fourth line role?”.

His most limited of NHL samples paints the picture of a replacement level player. An assumption which is validated by his frequent flyer miles on the waiver wire. That said, some of his best quasi-seasons align comparably to none other than Brandon Sutter by this same metric – I speak, of course, of Wins Above Replacement. At a more sincere glance, though, his underlying metrics almost unilaterally align with what one might reasonably expect from an average, to above average, fourth line centre. There’s value in that, to be sure. 

Of course, it’s the early season spark of offense that has entered his name into the folklore of recency in Canucks land. It certainly hasn’t hurt Cracknell’s cause, but I can’t imagine that his own parents expect this torrid pace to continue. Thrown into the context of his career numbers, a case is starting to be built on his offensive contributions though all the same. 

Over the course of his 86-game career, Cracknell has scored 19-points. Using this data one could safely assume that Cracknell might produce anywhere from 15-20 points in any 82-game season. That rate of production is higher than any Canucks fourth line centre, not named “Bo Horvat”, in the last decade-ish. Seriously, go ahead and check.

I feel relatively confident in suggesting that Cracknell might have something to offer the Canucks as a fourth line centre. If anything, he’s an upgrade on more recent and acclaimed options of seasons past. Outside of last season, on a half-dead and fully-awful Columbus Blue Jackets squad, Cracknell has been a competent possession player. The numbers suggest he can at least keep pace with the league average in his role, if not better.

For as maligned a manager as Jim Benning has been on this medium, it would be entirely unfair not to place as keen an emphasis on his strengths as well. Signing a player like Cracknell could never alter the course of the Canucks – especially given he was written off immediately as a Utica Comet. It’s free money though and given that managing a team is essentially running a race to the most efficient use of your assets, sometimes it’s worth celebrating the most incremental steps forward.