{"id":129305,"date":"2022-06-04T12:20:03","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T16:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=129305"},"modified":"2022-06-04T12:20:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T16:20:03","slug":"the-vancouver-canucks-best-option-for-jason-dickinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2022\/06\/04\/the-vancouver-canucks-best-option-for-jason-dickinson\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vancouver Canucks Best Option for Jason Dickinson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Dickinson<\/a><\/strong> wasn’t THE problem for the Vancouver Canucks in 2021-22, but he sure wasn’t the answer, either.<\/p>\n

The Good Intentions of Jason Dickinson<\/h2>\n

We’re not telling secrets out of school to say that the 2021-22 Vancouver Canucks season was not a great one. Yes, there were win streaks and J.T. Miller<\/a><\/strong> brushing triple digits and nearly reaching the playoffs and a charmingly bewildered<\/a> head coach and all that. But a team doesn’t overhaul<\/a> their coaching and management staff in a good year.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem* was optimism. Not only was a HUGE<\/a> deal consummated, but two of the team’s cornerstone players reached contract deals. With Elias Pettersson<\/a><\/strong> and Quinn Hughes<\/a><\/strong> in the fold, there were no player questions to hang over the team all season. Okay, there was one, but only having Brock Boeser<\/a><\/strong> scheduled to be an RFA was much better than what could have been.<\/p>\n

An ongoing difficulty for the Canucks, year after year, was the bottom-six. Overpaid and underskilled, they were an anchor on a decent top-of-the-lineup. Out of desperation, general manager Jim Benning<\/a><\/strong> completely revamped the team in three deals. One was, of course, the Oliver Ekmann-Larsson and Conor Garland<\/a><\/strong> trade; another<\/a> brought in Juho Lammikko<\/a><\/strong> from the Florida Panthers<\/a>; the third won the signing rights<\/a> to Jason Dickinson from the Dallas Stars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They wasted little time signing him to his current three-year deal, both sides seeming quite happy about it<\/a>. For Dickinson, it was a stable and clearly-defined role, leading the penalty kill and playing against top-level opponents. It was a position the team was hoping Brandon Sutter<\/a><\/strong> could fill, but his post-COVID relapse prevented Sutter from playing at all in 2021-22. Instead, they brought on Dickinson, who could get a few points and play a big part in shutting down opponents. That, in turn, would free up Bo Horvat<\/a><\/strong> to be primarily an offensive threat at last.<\/p>\n

Best Laid Plans<\/h3>\n

It just didn’t work. As with Dallas, Dickinson fell into a nowhere land of doing reasonably well higher up in the lineup and never finding a good match lower where the team wanted to use him. His production dragged mightily until the last month of play – five of his 11 points came in April. He prevented goals well enough at five-on-five. The problem was that he was an anchor on his linemates’ offence. When he lined up with Vasili Podkolzin<\/a><\/strong> and Conor Garland or Bo Horvat, they reduced chances on both sides of the ice. Perfect if you’re the third or fourth line, not so great when you need to score.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>