Welcome to Puck Drop Preview 2014-15, where our hockey department gives you a detailed look at each team from around the NHL leading to the start of this hockey season and offers our insight and analysis. Makes sure to stick around until the end of the series, where we’ll offer our full predictions for the standings in each division, and eventually our collective LWOS 2014-15 Stanley Cup pick. You can check out all our articles on our Puck Drop Page. Today we finish things up with the Vancouver Canucks.



Last Season:

Okay, let’s get the obvious out of the way: last season was not what the Vancouver Canucks hoped for when the missed the playoffs after winning their division the previous five years. Yes, moving to the new and improved Pacific division hurt the Canucks as much, if not more, than any other team that suffered from re-alignment last season, but it was no excuse for poor play.

Neither are injuries, which ravaged the Canucks for most of the season. Even ironman captain Henrik Sedin, he of 679 consecutive games played, missed 12 games with a rib injury. No Canuck completed the entire 82-game schedule (defenseman Jason Garrison came closest, playing 81 contests, many of them while banged-up) and, as a result, the roster was often in flux.

No, re-alignment and injuries are just crutches used to hide the real problems that plagued the Canucks in 2013-14: coaching and management.

When former Stanley Cup winner (what is the statute of limitations on that phrase anyways?) John Tortorella was hired prior to last season, things could have gone one of two ways: Torts could have whipped this team of veterans into shape for one last Cup run, or the wheels would come flying completely off the wagon. You already know how that one turned out.

Yet, the decision to hire Tortorella was indicative of a general manager fighting to save his job. GM Mike Gillis knew that he wasn’t going to get too many more cracks at the Cup with this roster, and ownership had grown tired of his efforts to supplement the core while sacrificing the future of the club. Tortorella ended up being one of the final nails in Gillis’ coffin.

Not to be undone of course by the excruciating end of the Great Vancouver Goalie Controversy. After jettisoning Cory Schneider the previous summer, Tortorella forced Gillis’ hand when he didn’t start Roberto Luongo in the 2014 Heritage Classic, shattering any perceived healing the team had accomplished with it’s iconic starting goaltender. Luongo quickly found himself back home in Florida, and rookie Eddie Lack was given the keys to the crease.

While Lack performed valiantly, the damage was done. Through injuries, distractions, and incompetence both on and off the ice (I didn’t even touch on the fact that most players suffered historically awful seasons statistically), the Canucks finished the year with a 36-35-11 record, 83 points, and missed the playoffs for just the second time since 2006.

Puck Drop Preview: 2014-15 Vancouver Canucks

Offseason Changes:

So, it was with little doubt that the winds of change would blow through the Canucks during the summer. Gillis was quickly dispatched, with Tortorella and most of his assistant coaches not far behind. In came Trevor Linden, a franchise icon, to take over as president of hockey operations.

He snagged former Boston Bruins assistant general manager Jim Benning (another former Canuck who actually played with Linden in Vancouver) to take over for Gillis and essentially be Linden’s second in command. Finally, he rounded out the coaching staff, bringing in the coach of the 2014 AHL champion Texas Stars, Willie Desjardins, to take over behind the bench.

The makeover wasn’t done yet though. In April, two-way forward Ryan Kesler was named the team’s MVP for the 2013-14 season. Prior to the draft in June, he was traded to Anaheim in exchange for Nick Bonino, Luca Sbisa, and draft picks. Linden and Benning weren’t finished reshaping the team after that blockbuster, as they shipped Jason Garrison off to Tampa while also adding young scoring forward Linden Vey and the gritty Derek Dorsett into the roster.

The draft was a rarity in Vancouver, the second consecutive draft where the team massively upgraded it’s prospect pool. The team added Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann with first round picks, as well as top-rated goalie Thatcher Demko, to supplement a good stable of young players that already included Bo Horvat, Hunter Shinkaruk, Brendan Gaunce, and Nicklas Jensen.

Then came free agency, and another opportunity for Linden and Benning to put their stamp on the team. They quickly went after Buffalo Sabres legend Ryan Miller to shore up the crease and later added scoring winger Radim Vrbata to augment the offense, improve the power play and shootout, and ride shotgun to Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

While there was some consternation among the Canucks faithful about why management would choose to bring in veterans on a team looking to get younger, neither is on long term deals and both should help the team in the next few years, giving the young future core players more time to percolate.

All in all, it was a very positive offseason for the Canucks, and all the changes were a much-needed breath of fresh air after the sour way that 2013-14 ended for the club.

2014-15 Lineup Projection:

Forwards

Vrbata was brought in explicitly to play alongside the Sedins, so there should be no debate about the top line to start the season.

The same can be said for Bonino, where the second line center role is his to lose. The question will be who he has on his wings. Alex Burrows seems to have the best shot at playing alongside Bonino, while Zack Kassian has also had some looks there during pre-season.

It seems likely the Canucks want Vey on the big club, and sharing center duties on the third line with Matthias makes a lot of sense. The fourth line as depicted below seems likely, should the Canucks ice a veteran lineup.

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Radim Vrbata

Alex Burrows – Nick Bonino – Zack Kassian

Shawn Matthias – Linden Vey – Chris Higgins

Derek Dorsett – Brad Richardson – Jannik Hansen

(Tom Sestito)

However, all of these roster moves are assuming that no prospects make the team, which is looking less likely. Horvat has had a strong preseason and already is showing signs that he’s capable of playing a solid two-way game at the NHL level. It seems more and more like he’s going to get at least a nine-game look and could make the team in a bottom-six center role, potentially pushing Vey to the wing.

Shinkaruk and Jensen have likewise been great in the preseason, each showing their offensive flair with a couple of goals. On a Canucks team that sorely lacked goals last year, it’s not out of the question that one of Horvat, Shinkaruk, or Jensen (and possibly all three) make the opening night roster. However, Jensen has the only NHL experience of the three, so he seems like the best bet at this point.

Should that happen, it’s not unthinkable that Dorsett, Sestitio, and Hansen get pushed to the pressbox (or, in the case of Sestito and Hansen, out of the organization entirely), as the Canucks badly want some youngsters to make the jump.

Defensemen

On defense, there doesn’t seem to be much debate. The Hamhuis-Bieksa pairing has been very solid in the past, and there’s no reason why they can’t form a great first pairing yet again. The second pairing of Edler and Tanev is likewise solid, and well-balanced. Stanton showed great ability last season, and appears to be a lock for a top six spot, so the only question is who makes the team as the sixth defensemen.

Right now it’s a battle between newcomer Sbisa, the offensive-minded Yannick Weber, and youngster Frank Corrado. Sbisa is expected to get the nod on opening night, with Weber playing more of a powerplay specialist role as need dictates, while Corrado gets some more seasoning in the AHL. However, all three are likely to rotate in and out of the lineup over the course of the year.

Dan Hamhuis – Keven Bieksa

Alex Edler – Chris Tanev

Ryan Stanton – Luca Sbisa

(Yannick Weber)

Goaltenders

The goaltending is pretty straight-forward. Miller was brought in to be the starter, and start he will. Lack showed tremendous potential in his rookie season last year, and there should be no hesitation if he needs to take over the crease for a large number of games. The only thing to be determined is how the team going to split the starts between the two (a 50-30 split seems likely).

Last week it looked like the team was prepared to go with three goalies on the roster, but Lack’s strong play so far this preseason has alleviated some of the fears that he couldn’t handle a regular NHL role after he struggled down the stretch last season. As such, the team was convinced enough by Lack to send Jacob Markstrom down to the AHL.

24-year-old Swede Joacim Eriksson had a strong second-half with Utica last season in his AHL debut and will split time with Markstrom for the Comets this year.

Miller

Lack

(Markstrom/Eriksson)

Players to Watch:

Ryan Miller:

It’s going to be a strange situation for Miller, returning to the site of one of his most painful losses during the 2010 Olympics and being expected to perform to the peak of his abilities. Especially difficult is the contrasts and comparisons to Luongo he will undoubtedly draw in the minds of most Canucks fans.

It’s expected that he’ll be the goaltender that single-handedly carried the Sabres for much of last season and not the scapegoat he became after moving to St. Louis near the end of the year. In the most important position in all of sports, Miller is going to have to prove he still has it, if the Canucks hope to make any noise this season in a tough Western Conference.

Nick Bonino:

Like Miller, Bonino is going to be expected to replace another Canucks legend in the form of Kesler. The second line center spot is his for the taking, though Horvat and Vey are knocking on the door. The question isn’t whether Bonino will be able to hold the spot, he should, but whether or not he has the ability to carry the offense on the second line as Kesler did.

Yes, Bonino did set career highs with 22 goals and 49 points last season, but at 26 years old, Bonino will have to prove he has what it takes to be a solid offensive contributor. Should he falter, the Canucks will be in dire straights to get goals from anywhere other than the top line.

Alex Edler:

This year may be make-or-break for the big 28-year-old blueliner from Sweden. Edler has shown flashes of brilliance during his career, but has never been able to sustain that level of play, which keeps him from being considered a top-flight NHL defenseman.

Optically, last year might have been one of Edler’s worst, as he posted just 22 points, struggled through injury, and infamously had the worst plus/minus in the league. However, it’s worth noting that he had one of his best seasons possession-wise combined with a career-low PDO of 94.6, indicating that he may have just been unlucky.

Edler will need his luck to turn around because if he can’t anchor the Canucks blueline the way he’s capable of, 2014-15 might be his swan song in Vancouver. However, he’s worth keeping an eye out for his dazzling moments of brilliance, which Vancouver hopes happen much more frequently under Desjardins than they did under Tortorella.

On the Rise:

Zack Kassian

Chris Tanev

Bo Horvat

Kassian is a 23-year-old power forward with a nasty streak, but also soft hands and surprisingly excellent play-making abilities (he might be the best passer on the team not named Henrik). Over the latter third of last season, he was also the Canucks best forward.

His 14 goals, 15 assists, and 29 points in 2013-14 all represent career highs, and the hope is that Kassian can improve on those totals this year while breaking into a top-six scoring role for good.

The sky’s the limit for Kassian, if he can only learn to control his temper, and this could be the year he evolves into a legitimately fearsome power winger in the NHL and proves his value as the return for Cody Hosdgon.

Tanev was signed as an undrafted free agent, an unknown commodity. After two season as an NHL regular, Tanev has still made very little impact on the NHL landscape, but for all the right reasons. This year, Tanev is hoping to make everyone sit up and take notice. On a team featuring veterans such as Edler, Hamhuis, and Bieksa (not to mention the now-departed Garrison), it’s not a stretch to suggest that the 24-year-old Tanev was the team’s most consistent blueliner last year.

He plays a simple, smart game, is a shot-blocking dynamo, and has enough size to handle NHL forwards. Last season, he added to his impressive play in his own zone with an offensive dynamic, netting 6 goals and 17 points. While he’ll never be a world-beater or an all-star, Tanev is quickly becoming one of the most quietly effective top four blueliners anywhere in the league.

Last season was very up and down for the Canucks top prospect Horvat. He produced well offensively with the London Knights in the OHL, netting 74 points in 54 games (as well as 11 points in 9 playoff games), but his team flamed out in the CHL’s Memorial Cup tournament as the host club, and Horvat likewise struggled at the IIHF World Junior Championships (just 1 goal in 7 games).

However, as far as the Canucks were concerned, all were valuable lessons for Horvat to learn in his development. The 19-year-old is already one of the best two-way centers anywhere in junior hockey, and that two-way ability should help him secure a spot in the Vancouver lineup sooner rather than later.

He’ll very likely get a 9-game look in the NHL this year before the Canucks are forced to decide whether to keep him with the big club or send him back to London. Considering he’s proved all he can in the junior level, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Horvat force Vancouver’s hand and keep him around. The only thing working against Horvat at this point is the depth at center the Canucks already boast.

On the Decline:

Daniel and Henrik Sedin

Jannik Hansen

Tom Sestito

After being top-ten NHL forwards for most of the last ten years, age seems to finally be catching up to the Sedin twins. Since Daniel and Henrik each won the scoring title (in 2011 and 2010, respectively), both have seen a decline in their points per game, and last year both had their worst offensive seasons since before the 2005 lockout.

That isn’t to say that the Sedins can’t rebound, or that they are no longer first line players. They can and they are, especially with a winger like Vrbata to play the role of triplet beside them, but they also just turned 34 years old and the signs are there that they won’t be able to carry the offense in Vancouver for much longer.

At this point they are still core players, but their role in the organization now is much more as mentors to help usher in the new core than as the superstars needed to carry a team to great heights. Sadly, those days are now behind them.

At 28, we may have already seen the best of Hansen. The Danish forward scored 16 goals and 29 points in 2011-12, but hasn’t come close to those totals since and isn’t likely to again, given the youth movement in Vancouver will eventually force themselves into the roster spot Hansen currently occupies.

The problem with Hansen is that he’s a very bipolar player. He has excellent speed and when put into a scoring role, he uses that to exploit opposing defensemen and create chances. Unfortunately, he lacks finish and is better utilized in a checking/penalty killer role, where he truly excels.

To make matters worse, he seems to completely abandon defense in a scoring role, and conversely seems to forget where the opposing net is when placed in a defensive role. He’s running out of time to decide what kind of player he truly is at the NHL level, and is likely to get squeezed out of Vancouver relatively soon.

As for Sestito, the reason he’s on the decline is pretty obvious: his role as an enforcer is becoming obsolete and he has very few other appreciable skills. He produced only 5 goals and 9 points last year, his first full season as an NHL regular, and that included ice time on both the power play and the top six after injuries ran rampant on the roster. He also led the league in both fighting majors (19) and penalty minutes (213).

Worse than that though is a few simple facts, as harsh as they may be: he can’t defend (his Corsi-for% relative to his teammates was a putrid -7.9 last year), he can’t skate very well for an NHL player, and he has very little offensive instincts. If Sestito sees any real playing time this season, the Canucks are likely in big trouble.

2014-15 Season Expectations:

Though Linden and Benning have repeatedly stated that their goal is to make the playoffs, that isn’t the true value that 2014-15 holds for the Canucks as a franchise moving forward. What really matters at this point, is the maturation of the next core of players, either at the pro level, or in junior. If Kassian, Horvat, Shinkaruk, Jensen, and others can take the next step in their development, this season will undoubtedly be a success.

However, with the playoffs in mind, it’s not too far out of the realm of possibility that the Canucks have a chance, even in a tough Western Conference and Pacific Division. Anaheim and Los Angeles are sure to dominate the division again, but with a confused (though still elite) Sharks squad, a declining Coyotes, and the perpetually awful Edmonton and Calgary as their other competition, Vancouver has a real chance to challenge for the third seed in the division, if not the wildcard spot.

For that to happen, a number of things have to go right. The veteran team must adapt to coach Desjardins very quickly, the Sedins need to recapture some of their old scoring wizardry, the secondary offense and special teams must improve, the defense must hold steady, and the tandem of Miller and Lack must be solid (basically all things that every team needs).

Are they in a position to do so? Very likely, they are. There’s no way that the offense can be as historically bad as it was last year, even with Kesler removed from the equation, while the depth and goaltending look solid. They also won’t have the distraction of a dysfunctional management team crumbling around them.

Make no mistake, this team still has some transitioning to do and aren’t legitimate Stanley Cup threats, but with a mix of experienced veterans and, for the first time in a long time, skilled youth, the Canucks seem poised to rise in the standings and will likely battle for the last playoff spot in the West all season long.

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