While Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Willie Desjardins has received much praise since taking over behind the bench prior to the start of the 2014-15 campaign (he has a record of 51-30-7 since then), some of the decisions he’s made in constructing his forward lines so far this season have left many fans scratching their heads.
Canucks Line-juggling Continues in Quest For Consistency
Starting Brandon Sutter, but all accounts the team’s 2/3 center, alongside Henrik and Daniel Sedin on opening night was puzzling. It was a bold play by the sophomore coach, facilitated by Bo Horvat’s development into a legitimate top-six center, and one that ultimately worked out, as Sutter potted a goal and an assist his first night riding shotgun to the twins.
Fleshing out the top-six was Horvat between Sven Baertschi (whom the club has high expectations for) and Radim Vrbata, the only Canuck to crack the 30-goal mark last season (31). Veterans Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen were relegated to the de facto third line flanking rookie Jared McCann.
However, this configuration didn’t last long, as Desjardins was already working his roster by game four against the Los Angeles Kings. The Sedins with Sutter had grown stagnant, not recording a point since opening night, and Desjardins opted to promote Burrows, the player undoubtedly most familiar with the Sedins, to the top line. The move elicited some reaction, as Sutter had looked promising with the twins and there was an outcry about giving up on the experiment so soon, while others realized that Sutter on the top line was never going to work long-term to begin with.
Okay, so far so good, your top line experiment isn’t rolling the way you want it to, so you default to a more tried and true approach. But then things started to get weird in the bottom-nine.
Sutter was returned to center, a logical decision, but was given rookie Jake Virtanen and middleweight Derek Dorsett as his linemates, in what would appear to be a clear demotion for Sutter, termed a “foundational player” by General Manager Jim Benning prior to the season. Perhaps even more puzzling was Baertschi being pulled from the Horvat line and replaced with Brandon Prust. While Prust isn’t a complete dunce offensively (he has three assists in six games) promoting a pugilist to a second line role alongside your team’s top sniper and your team’s top young prospect didn’t make a lot of sense, nor did it when Prust was replaced by Derek Dorsett for the next game.
It wasn’t until the game on Oct. 18th against the Edmonton Oilers that this forward group finally shook out the way many expected it would at the conclusion of the preseason:
Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Jannik Hansen
Alex Burrows – Brandon Sutter – Radim Vrbata
Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Jake Virtanen
Brandon Prust – Adam Cracknell – Derek Dorsett
Ask most Canucks fans, and that’s likely to be the consensus lineup they would like to see Desjardins roll out most nights.
Hansen is a puck hound, and his speed and two-way ability has meshed nicely with the Sedins in the past. While Daniel and Henrik haven’t exactly set the world on fire offensively yet this season (they have just six points combined), they’ve been possession beasts most nights and the goals will eventually come, no matter who is on their line.
However, the latest news is Desjardins is looking to mix things up once again in an attempt to get Vrbata going. Despite pumping 25 shots on goal so far this year, last season’s club goal leader has yet to find the back of the net (of Canucks players to appear in all six games, Vrbata is the only one without a point) – a worrying situation. It appears he’s finally going to get a chance playing with the Sedins, the spot he was ostensibly brought in to fill during the summer of 2014, in hopes that some better looks might turn things around for him.
What that means for the rest of the forward lineup is anybody’s guess. The logical option would be to simply drop Hansen down alongside Sutter, but Desjardins has been anything but predictable in his decisions so far this season.
Canucks fans like the “kid line” of Baertschi-Horvat-Virtanen, as the three represent a huge part of the Canucks future and many would like Desjardins to roll with the trio for a while (at least until Virtanen plays nine games and is sent back to junior, or until Chris Higgins returns from injury), especially after the they rocked the Oilers for 10 points during a preseason game.
The fourth line centered by the surprising Adam Cracknell features tons of toughness, something the Canucks have been (perhaps erroneously) searching for since losing to the Boston Bruins in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, and Desjardins seems quite comfortable dressing two fighters every night.
While it may not be a Cup-winning lineup, it’s by far the most logical lineup considering the personnel Desjardins has to work with. With the Canucks slipping ever so slightly from their strong start with consecutive losses, it’s time to stop tinkering with this group and give them time to develop some chemistry and consistency if the team hopes to stay relevant in the Western Conference by the end of the season.
Main Photo:
