New off-season, new troublesome contract for the Vancouver Canucks. This year, it belongs to Sven Baertschi – or would be, if it were actually a problem.
Sven Baertschi is Back
The league’s toughest job is schedule-maker; second-toughest is whoever has to find a completely happy Canucks fan. For the last few years, the easy target has been the salary cap, and for good reason. With a ridiculously expensive bottom-six, the Canucks have been hamstrung when it comes to retaining talent.
After a successful year, this off-season saw the departure of a first-line forward, a middle-six forward, one of the league’s better defensive defencemen, a solid all-around blueliner, and their MVP goalie. There were good reasons for the losses, but it’s still a considerable change. That three of them were on perfectly reasonable contracts doesn’t help. So the cap-tight and apparently cash-strapped Canucks will have to do some searching to replace them.
Sven Baertschi?
It’s not that Baertschi is a particularly bad player. Since the Canucks acquired him from the Calgary Flames for a second-round pick, he’s had 58 goals and 110 points in 225 games. Not too bad for a middle-six forward on a team with few other options. General manager Jim Benning has described him as “soft skilled” which doesn’t sound like the greatest compliment a hockey player can get. But it’s not inaccurate: he is best suited to a scoring line, limiting his useful minutes. Moreover, he has faced two problems in Vancouver: the Canucks improving their left-wing depth with Tanner Pearson and J.T. Miller, and the five times Baertschi has been on injured reserve since the 2015-16 season. Those continuous absences opened the door for players to take his spot, and one did.
Pearson pushed Baertschi out of his place beside Bo Horvat in 2018-19, and Miller kicked him to the AHL last year. Given Horvat’s use, that is probably just as well: Baertschi isn’t a defensive forward. Pearson has not only been more productive but has handled his shut-down role with aplomb. So with Pearson keeping his place with Horvat and Miller having an iron grip beside Elias Pettersson, where does Baertschi fit?
If he moves to the right side – not a position he’s familiar with – his competition changes. The team wants Jake Virtanen to succeed there, likely with Miller and Pettersson. It’s going to be a physically challenging position, and Virtanen has a lot more of that than Baertschi does. Should Virtanen falter, Brock Boeser is next in line. Which leaves Baertschi in the cold again. Even on the second line, Loui Eriksson has been oddly successful with Horvat and Pearson. Add new arrival, Jayce Hawryluk, to the mix and his path gets even harder.
But Wait! There’s More!
The Canucks’ third line, on the other hand, isn’t exactly a typical “third line” given the defensive responsibilities each night. As mentioned, most of that goes to Horvat, Pearson, and Eriksson – though Boeser can play there as well. Indeed, if anything the defensive duties were shared with the veterans and their troublesome contracts. The penalty killers and “wily veterans” made their appearances there, taking the faceoffs in their own zone and focussing on not giving up goals.
So the “third” line was a very sheltered Adam Gaudette and whoever was healthy enough to skate with him. As often as not that was Antoine Roussel and Virtanen, which isn’t a line you saw in the last minute of play. Gaudette has been told to bone up on his defensive play, but while he needs to work on that, it might not be his best use. Starting Baertschi on a line with Gaudette gives the young scorer a creative attacker to work with. In 2019-20 Gaudette got 12 points on the power play, but another 21 at even strength. Those are promising numbers for someone in his second full season and less than 13 minutes of ice time.
So What’s the Problem?
Having a third/fourth line of Baertschi – Gaudette – Virtanen takes some toughness away in Roussel, but is a valid threat to score when it’s out there. That’s not a bad spot to put Virtanen if he doesn’t work out on the top line. And you give up on the idea of this as a defensive line in any way, shape, or form. Still, two defensive and two attacking lines can work well – especially if one of those defensive lines has the team’s third and fifth highest scorers on it.
Sven Baertschi is an NHL player. His concussion history seems to be a thing of the past after a successful season with Utica. The Canucks have him under contract for another year, despite their best efforts to move him. Why not use the asset they already have? Sending him to the minors gave the team another million dollars of cap room last season, but the team was willing to pay a lot of money for someone who wasn’t in Vancouver. This year, they let a LOT of money walk away to minimize costs. They negotiated new contracts to cut down their cash outlay for this season. They already know that no one in the league is taking money on without taking a lot more as well.
This might be the year the owners – and Sven Baertschi – are happy Benning failed to get money off the books.
