Coming into training camp, much of the conversation centred on who would account for the seventh and eighth spots on the Canucks blue line. The top six was set, but a battle remained between Philip Holm, Alex Biega, Patrick Wiercioch and Andrey Pedan.

It was fair to believe that Biega and Wiercioch had the inside track, for a variety of different reasons, but Pedan has played himself into a position where he should make the cut.

As the Canucks place Anton Rodin on waivers and make other cuts, it’s fair to believe the Canucks will go with 13 forwards and eight defencemen to start the year.

We’ve often advocated in this space for Pedan to play a regular role with the Canucks, even prior to last season, and little has changed since.

Our conviction may have waned last season, however, based on Pedan’s inability to play even a marquee role on the Utica Comets blue line. In fact, it isn’t unfair to suggest Pedan’s last season was disastrous. Jeremy Davis covered those struggles extensively in our Prospect Profile series earlier this summer.

Pedan’s struggles reflect in his year-to-year progression by pGPS:

It’s clear, though, that last season was the exception and not the rule. Every other season prior to last was very encouraging. Pedan posted extremely impressive numbers, which played a role in our advocacy for his playing a consistent run of games at defence. The increasing percentages by pGPS and the consistent expected production indicated that the Canucks had a serviceable depth defenceman who could help them on most nights.

Pedan is known for his physical play and willingness to stick up for his teammates. What often goes unnoticed, or underappreciated, is that he’s fairly effecting at moving the puck out of the defensive zone. This zone exit data, tracked by Darryl Keeping, from the other night highlights this skill.

But he is fairly effective at moving the puck out of the zone. That is highlighted by his zone exit data from last night, which is tracked by Darryl Keeping:

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Pedan was better than every other defenceman in terms of transitioning the puck out of the Canucks zone. He was particularly effective at getting the puck out by passing to his forwards.

It was clear that Chris Tanev would draw the forechecker, then move the puck to Pedan, who would move it up the boards to the forward to create transition — highlighted by Tanev’s 17 defensive zone passes compared to Pedan’s four. Between controlled and uncontrolled exits, Pedan got the puck out of the zone 56.25% of the time, which was more than any other defender. The cumulative numbers for some of the younger defencemen are below.

Pedan’s strong game with Tanev vaulted him above the competition.

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I wanted to focus on some plays from last nights game, as it’s clear that Pedan was in a position to succeed. The spotlight was placed on him, and the Flames dressed a ‘close to’ NHL lineup. His game yesterday was a little more understated, but there were a few plays that stood out.

The above has Pedan jumping up into the play to create a shot. This follows a sequence where Biega and Wiercioch had held the Flames forecheck on the boards. Markus Granlund moved the puck up to Jayson Megna, who then carried it through into the zone. Pedan is willing to jump into the play and create shot attempts. This is obviously a ‘nothing’ shot, but it was a good read to get in front of the Flames forward. Despite his struggles in the AHL last year, Pedan still averaged 2.06 shots per game, which is 1st pairing production.

Pedan has seven shots in the pre-season, which averages out to 1.75 SH/PG.

Any shot is a good shot, even more so when it comes to the Canucks struggles to create offence last year. If a depth defender can generate some shots at five-on-five, it’s a positive outcome.

Tanev is hit to jar the puck loose, and this leads to the Flames attacking through the neutral zone. Pedan does a good job to keep the speed of the oncoming attack in check, then with the help of Derek Dorsett, forces them to go offside. Angling the Flames towards the boards forces the opposition to dump the puck in or attack straight at him. If they do dump in, it allows the Canucks to regroup on the backcheck or gives the outcome shown above.

Pedan can struggle at pivoting and maintaining his speed, so that needs to be taken into consideration, but forcing the opposition to make a decision at the line is the right thing to do.

This time, three Flames are attacking with speed, with Dorsett on the backcheck. Pedan directs Dorsett to take the trailer, then eliminates the other player without the puck, while Tanev slows the puck carrier and Michael Chaput applies more back pressure. This allows the Flames defenceman to come in and hammer it. It looks like Pedan is then leaving Flames forward Sam Bennett alone on the opposite side, but the argument could be made that Dorsett just decided to leave him, or Tanev didn’t switch to cover Pedan, who got stuck with the other Flame. That happens sometimes when the structure breaks down.

The full play is below:

That also shows Pedan using his body to force a board battle, taking a pass from Tanev, and then moving the puck out of the zone.

This isn’t to say that Pedan had a flawless game. There were some mishaps, including a couple of misreads and the kneeing penalty in the third period. But the positives outweigh those gaffes and he had a better showing than his direct competition. Some pointed to Biega as having a strong game, and he did get better as the game went on. But you know what you have in the Bulldog. Pedan gives the Canucks size and a physical element that they desperately need.

The big Lithuanian deserved a shot before last year (or the year before) but was blocked, and it likely affected his confidence. He wasn’t the same player in Utica as he had been for the two years prior. Canucks head coach Travis Green is very familiar with Pedan and is aware of what kind of player he can be. During his introductory press conference in April, Green mentioned that Pedan was knocking on the door for an NHL job and Pedan appears to have been listening.

Pedan has come to camp in good shape, with the right mindset, and is doing the things that made many of us high on him.

It also looks like he will get one more shot tonight to show that he belongs in the NHL:

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Playing with Michael Del Zotto will mean that Pedan will have to adjust his game slightly. But that is likely what the Canucks are looking for from him.

Benning "We have tough decisions to make. We'll meet Sunday morning after we see how certain guys play Saturday night." #Canucks — Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) September 29, 2017

It’s fair to believe that Pedan is one of the players that the Canucks are still watching. It’s also interesting to see what Pedan is with Del Zotto and then Biega/Wiercioch are a pairing. My gut tells me that’s a good sign for Pedan. If he can get through Saturday’s contest without any major hiccups and can adapt his play to Del Zotto, he could secure that opening night roster spot over Biega.

The Canucks would get younger, more physical, and bigger on the backend while inserting a player who still has some upside to their game. Seems like the right call.





