On yesterday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal were joined by RinkWide’s Jeff Paterson to preview opening night and discuss the latest regarding the Canucks.
The Canucks kick off their regular season tonight at home against Calgary. JPat noted how long it’s been since this club has had this level of expectations placed on them going into the season.
“You’d have to go back at least a decade,” he said. “Coming off the playoff performance and individual achievements they had, it’s high. The components are there, they address an area of need on the wing with Jake DeBrusk who had a decent preseason. Daniel Sprong didn’t get a ton of time with Pettersson and DeBrusk in the preseason so that will be a work in progress, but there’s something different about his shot; the way it looks, sounds, and pops. How many opportunities Mikheyev had last year with Pettersson; I have to think Sprong will finish a few more of those chances. I think Heinen is going to be a seamless fit with J.T. Miller. There’s reason to be excited. Last season, everything went their way starting from night one with the eight goal outburst against the Oilers, I think you have to temper expectations for how this team is going to start. It’s more about a steady climb over 82 games than being the first team to 10 or 20 wins in the regular season.”
The lineup is still set for adjustment with the return of Dakota Joshua and Pius Suter, but the pressure from guys like Raty and Bains has the Canucks as competitive as they’ve been in a while in terms of job security.
“Suter has his spot back to start, but he has to recognize that Aatu Raty profiles as a third-line centre; bigger, stronger, faceoffs on both sides,” said JPat. “Suter also had a miserable preseason- there was nothing from him, then he got hurt. Tocchet said he gives veterans the benefit of the doubt, and Suter falls in that category. He’s so versatile and can fill holes, there’s absolutely a spot for him and he can help this club, but I don’t know if third line centre is where he winds up.”
JPat briefly gave his thoughts on Hoglander’s new contract.
“My first thought was security for Hoglander, but then I remembered they gave Vasily Podkolzin a two-year extension in April and traded him in August. This management group isn’t patient, and I’m not suggesting that’s going to happen with Hoglander, but just because he gets an extension here doesn’t mean he’s going to be around long-term. He could still be a trade chip and at three million bucks, he’d be viewed as a value deal. Either way, a nice reward for the 24 goals he scored last year, and he’s been terrific from day one of camp. I’m curious to see ultimately where he slots in – Dakota Joshua is starting to ramp things up and will get back in there, you’d assume he’ll start with Garland and whoever’s in the middle. Does Hoglander move up the lineup from there or fall to the fourth line where he had more success? There’s a lot of moving parts here. Bottom line is, 3×3 for Hoglander is a real opportunity for the Canucks to extract some value- if he had backed up his 24 goals with even 20 and took that to arbitration, he would cash in more than three million.
The discussion shifted to looking ahead to tonight’s game and JPat’s concerns regarding the team’s defensive core.
“I’ve got concerns, there’s some red flags,” he said. “There were a couple occasions against the Oilers where Derek Forbort had the puck on his stick with time, and the first pass clunks off the skates when it should be a simple breakout. Vinnie Desharnais is a work in progress, they like the raw skills and hope Adam Foote can mold him. I’m curious how they use them and how often they get used. Two games at home they can shelter them but then they’re on the road for four where they don’t get last change. Carson Soucy had a really nice preseason, quiet but looked solid and scored a nice goal on a pass from Petey. Like a lot of people, I’ve got some concerns, but there might be enough in the team’s structure with the forwards and goaltending to insulate those guys. At the same time, this is the NHL and if you can’t get the job done, you’re going to get exposed. Forbort better be a really good penalty killer because that’s where the utility is going to come from him. We’ll see with Desharnais- it got to the point in the playoffs where the Oilers felt that they had better options but he was able to play the full regular season, and you hope with that experience and another year he’s more advanced and better. If this team is going to take the next jump, at some point they have to be looking at upgrading.”
You can watch the full segment below:
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