There was something missing from the back half of the third period and overtime of the Vancouver Canucks‘ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday: Jonathan Lekkerimäki.

The rookie winger was benched late in the game by Head Coach Adam Foote, playing just three shifts in the third period and none in overtime. That’s a little hard to swallow when David Kämpf played three shifts in overtime.

Lekkerimäki was at least partly at fault for the Leafs’ first goal that tied the game 1-1, as he missed his defensive assignment and left Nic Roy open. But he was also responsible for giving the Canucks the 1-0 lead in the first place.

“It’s more the defensive side of it,” said Foote when asked about Lekkerimäki’s limited ice time. “He’s getting there, for sure. The more time he’s with us, the more he’ll know certain things, and the trust will be there. It’s just slight movements defensively. It’s just being young. It’s not even a mistake…he’s a smart guy, he’ll get that pretty quick.”

This is a fair argument for benching a young player in a tight game. Or, at least, it would be if the Canucks were in the midst of a playoff hunt where every single point mattered, and Foote had no choice but to lean on his reliable veterans to get a game to overtime.

But that’s not the context of the current Canucks.

Instead, the Canucks are thoroughly in last place in the NHL standings, seven points back of the next-worst team. They’ve traded their leading scorer and captain, Quinn Hughes, as well as their leading goalscorer, Kiefer Sherwood. They’re clearly tanking.

In other words, there’s not a lot to lose.

It seems like this would be an ideal time to increase the usage of young players like Lekkerimäki, putting them in situations like a tie game late in the third period in order to see what they’re made of, and give them experience that could be valuable in the future.

In addition, it’s largely through depending on those “reliable” veterans that the Canucks are in last place. Tyler Myers has a 5-on-5 goal differential of minus-26. Brock Boeser is at minus-18. Evander Kane is minus-11 at 5-on-5, and Elias Pettersson is minus-10.

How much worse could someone like Lekkerimäki be in those tight situations than the veterans who have been so thoroughly outscored this season?

There are just two Canucks forwards with a positive goal differential at 5-on-5 this season, if only just barely: Lekkerimäki and Aatu Räty. It could be argued that those two are the least responsible for the Canucks’ predicament, but Räty, in particular, is the first to hit the bench or even the press box.

Let’s be clear: it’s important for young players like Lekkerimäki to learn from this season, including how to play on the defensive side of the puck. But is benching him teaching him the right lessons? Or is it more likely to make him second-guess his instincts?

We’ve seen it before: players getting so lost in the weeds trying to avoid every mistake that they become afraid to make one wrong move for fear of getting benched or scratched. Maybe that fate won’t befall Lekkerimäki, who ought to be brimming with confidence given his 10 goals in 16 AHL games this season.

It should also be noted that Foote has given all kinds of opportunities to some of his young players, mainly the defencemen. Zeev Buium, before his face got fractured by a puck, was third in average ice time on the Canucks behind Filip Hronek and Marcus Pettersson. Tom Willander has been playing on the first power play unit.

Elias Pettersson and Victor Mancini? Well, they have the lowest ice time among Canucks defencemen this season, apart from journeymen Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Not every young defenceman is getting major opportunities.

The counter-argument to the likes of Lekkerimäki and Räty getting limited ice time is that Foote knows what he is doing. He’s said before that he doesn’t want to ruin the confidence of his young players by throwing them into situations for which they’re not ready. The veterans are there to insulate the youth, right?

But an appeal to authority doesn’t work very well here. As much as Lekkerimäki has yet to earn Foote’s trust, Foote has lost the trust of the Canucks’ fanbase.