Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Canucks Midseason Report Card
David from Red and Black Hockey asked us hockey bloggers to submit midseason report cards for the Carnival of the NHL #17. Perfect timing. I was going to do one for the Vancouver Canucks anyway so now I can kill two birds with one stone. Here goes:
(Disclaimer: Stats are after 42 games, not 41, as should be the halfway point of the season.)
The Top Line: B-
After 42 games, Brendan Morrison (9-23-32, +3), Markus Naslund (22-25-47, -6) and Todd Bertuzzi (12-27-39, -10) have put up okay, but not great numbers. Bertuzzi has picked it up recently, but much more is expected of the trio. With the new enforcement of the rules, the Westcoast Express need to dominate more. There is more open ice and more powerplay opportunities and this is exactly the type of game in which the line should thrive.
More importantly, on too many nights, the line doesn't look like the Canucks' best line, and during the winless streak, their leadership has been questioned. The line has also been broken up a few times to try and light a fire under them.
For the Canucks to have any success in the playoffs (or even to make it), the top line has to play like the top line, much like they did against Calgary on Saturday night. The question for the second half of the season is whether that strong, gritty effort can be the norm or is merely the exception.
The Second Line: A
The line of Daniel Sedin (11-22-33, +4), Henrik Sedin (9-27-36, +6) and Anson Carter (15-11-26, +2) has by far been the Canucks' most consistent of the first half of the season. The Sedins are on pace to establish new season point highs and Anson Carter has a good chance of scoring 30 goals for the season. More importantly, the line has proved to be a consistent offensive threat when they are on the ice. They have also added penalty-killing to their repertoire this season.
The Supporting Cast: C
Matt Cooke (6-4-10, -7) and Jarkko Ruutu (6-3-9, +2) have given the Canucks pretty much what had been expected of them - a lot of energy and some undisciplined penalties. Both have shown the willingness to play gritty and pay the price in front of the net. As such, both have been rewarded with some ice-time on the powerplay.
I still regard Cooke as one of the leaders of this team, if not with a letter on his jersey then certainly with his play. He tried to call out his teammates during the recent winless streak, but unfortunately fell on deaf ears the following game (the loss to the Blues).
The effects of the lockout and the subsequent internal NHLPA squabble have clearly weighed down on Trevor Linden (4-2-6, +1). However, while the points production hasn't been there, he has certainly contributed in other areas. He is the team's face-off percentage leader (49%) and is a regular on the penalty kill. And on a team that is lacking in veteran leadership, Linden has provided just that.
Ryan Kesler (4-1-5, -5) has slowly but steadily improved in his first full season on the team. In my opinion, he has been one of the best Canucks forwards in the last few games. Some people point to his lackof point production, but except for a few shifts with Naslund and Bertuzzi, his linemates have included any combination of Park, Ruutu, Linden and Goren and his role on the team has been more of a defensive nature. Kesler is only 21 years old and I am willing to suggest that those who are criticizing his play now should look back at the Sedins when they were 21 and their development now. He has that same potential.
After a strong start, Richard Park (6-9-15, +4) has been ineffective recently and was even benched against Calgary on Saturday night. Hindsight being 20/20, after the Canucks lost Brad May and Mike Keane, and re-signed guys like Matt Cooke and Jarkko Ruutu, was Park the right acquisition? The Canucks have an abundance of Park-type players in their system and I wonder if the money they spent signing him would have been best spent upgrading other areas.
I still believe that the Canucks need to tweak their supporting cast. They have too many similar-type players and on some nights, it shows. In my opinion, the Canucks overestimated the effect of the new interpretation of the rules and filled an already-small and quick roster with more small and quick players.
The Defense: C
For the first 20 or so games of the season, I think the Canucks' defense was among the best in the league. Despite losing Marek Malik and Brent Sopel in the off-season and replacing them with veteran AHL'ers Steve McCarthy and Nolan Baumgartner, the group was among the highest-scoring in the league.
The top three - Mattias Ohlund, Ed Jovanovski and Sami Salo - have played as well as expected and have played a lot. Sami Salo (9-20-29,+2, 24:23 ATOI), especially, is having a career year and is now only one point shy of his career-high. Ohlund (5-11-16, +1, 25:09) is as solid as usual; Jovanovski (6-22-28, -4, 25:30) is still the same high-risk, high-reward player.
In my opinion, one of the Canucks' biggest needs is for some depth on defense.
For the most part, Bryan Allen (4-5-9, even, 20:39) has improved his overall game. He is the team's lone stay-at-home defenseman. He played mostly as a third pairing defenseman last season and has shown this season that he can handle a few extra minutes of ice-time per game (up from 16:51 in 2003/2004), but he doesn't seem to be able to handle more than that right now (he logged 23, 24 and even 26 minutes in the past few games and has struggled in the latter portions of those games).
When Allen and then Jovanovski went down to injury, the Canucks were forced to go even further down their depth chart. Which exposed that the Canucks depth on defense isn't deep at all. The Canucks have since been prone to turnovers on the breakout and in the neutral zone. Their defensive coverage down low has also been horrible.
Free agent signee McCarthy has been disappointing (1-2-3, +3, 12:03); Nolan Baumgartner (3-16-19, +4, 15:46) has impressed in a limited role; Same with Kevin Bieksa (10 GP, 0-1-1, -6, 15:16), who has looked better in the last couple of games and given the defense a physical element that they have been missing. Regardless, I don't feel too confident of the Canucks entering the playoffs with any combination of Baumgartner, Bieksa and McCarthy as their fifth and sixth defensemen.
The Call-ups: C+
The Moose call-ups have provided some adequate relief for the Canucks. For what was expected of them, Lee Goren, Rick Rypien, Sven Butenschon, Alex Burrows, Kevin Bieksa, Josef Balej, Josh Green and Nathan Smith have all played well in stints with the big club. With Tyler Bouck and Jason King injured, Lee Goren got in the most number of games (28), though that was partly because the Canucks weren't sure he would clear waivers if he was sent back down to the Moose. (He did.)
Right now, Kevin Bieksa is putting together a good argument to stay with the club. He is mobile, feisty, scrappy and has shown some potential. He needs to work on his footwork and positioning but it looks like he is able to contribute positively to this team.
What is lacking in the system is finding someone who can step in if the Canucks lose a top-line player. I hope they never need to.
The Goalies: C+
The 2005/2006 season opened with the Canucks' biggest question mark in goal. Can Cloutier carry the team deep into the playoffs? Well, the Canucks no longer have to worry about that. Cloutier (13 GP, 8-3-1, 3.17 GAA, .892 SV%) is out for the season.
In the meantime, Alex Auld has filled in admirably. He has a 15-10-3 record in 30 appearances this season with a 2.89 GAA and a .902 save percentage. This is also his first full season with the Canucks.
The questions remain on how the Canucks will upgrade in goal. Maxime Ouellet (2 GP, 0-1-1, 4.39 GAA, .878 SV%) and Rob McVicar have spotted Auld on a couple of occassions, but are by no means the solution right now. Wade Flaherty is having another solid season with the Moose, but the Canucks are hesitant to recall him or risk losing him on waivers and paying half his salary.
If the Canucks decide that Auld is the team's goalie of the future, they will acquire either a veteran back-up (ie. Dwayne Roloson) or someone who can split games with him (ie. Mika Noronen). Otherwise, the Canucks will perhaps pull the trigger on a much bigger trade for a legitimate starter (ie. Jose Theodore, Martin Biron).
The Crow: C
There are times when you watch the Canucks play and you wonder if they tune out Marc Crawford. The talent is certainly there, but the effort and intensity aren't always. Crow has always been a demanding coach and the feeling is that at some point, his screaming and yelling will lose its effectiveness. If it hasn't already.
The Nonis: C
Given the expected emphasis on speed and skill prior to the start of the season, I thought Dave Nonis did a good job of re-signing the core of the team that thrived on the speed and skill game, even during the clutch-and-grab era.
Nonis loses marks, however, for not upgrading the team's other obvious deficiencies - there are still question marks in goal, there is now a lack on depth on defense, and it remains to be seen if this edition of the Canucks can play the gritty and character game required for a lengthy playoff run.
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Comments/Questions: Feel free to post in the comments section or email me at gocanucksgo10 (at) hotmail (dot) com.
Technorati Tags: NHL, hockey, Vancouver, Canucks
(Disclaimer: Stats are after 42 games, not 41, as should be the halfway point of the season.)
The Top Line: B-
After 42 games, Brendan Morrison (9-23-32, +3), Markus Naslund (22-25-47, -6) and Todd Bertuzzi (12-27-39, -10) have put up okay, but not great numbers. Bertuzzi has picked it up recently, but much more is expected of the trio. With the new enforcement of the rules, the Westcoast Express need to dominate more. There is more open ice and more powerplay opportunities and this is exactly the type of game in which the line should thrive.
More importantly, on too many nights, the line doesn't look like the Canucks' best line, and during the winless streak, their leadership has been questioned. The line has also been broken up a few times to try and light a fire under them.
For the Canucks to have any success in the playoffs (or even to make it), the top line has to play like the top line, much like they did against Calgary on Saturday night. The question for the second half of the season is whether that strong, gritty effort can be the norm or is merely the exception.
The Second Line: A
The line of Daniel Sedin (11-22-33, +4), Henrik Sedin (9-27-36, +6) and Anson Carter (15-11-26, +2) has by far been the Canucks' most consistent of the first half of the season. The Sedins are on pace to establish new season point highs and Anson Carter has a good chance of scoring 30 goals for the season. More importantly, the line has proved to be a consistent offensive threat when they are on the ice. They have also added penalty-killing to their repertoire this season.The Supporting Cast: C
Matt Cooke (6-4-10, -7) and Jarkko Ruutu (6-3-9, +2) have given the Canucks pretty much what had been expected of them - a lot of energy and some undisciplined penalties. Both have shown the willingness to play gritty and pay the price in front of the net. As such, both have been rewarded with some ice-time on the powerplay.
I still regard Cooke as one of the leaders of this team, if not with a letter on his jersey then certainly with his play. He tried to call out his teammates during the recent winless streak, but unfortunately fell on deaf ears the following game (the loss to the Blues).
The effects of the lockout and the subsequent internal NHLPA squabble have clearly weighed down on Trevor Linden (4-2-6, +1). However, while the points production hasn't been there, he has certainly contributed in other areas. He is the team's face-off percentage leader (49%) and is a regular on the penalty kill. And on a team that is lacking in veteran leadership, Linden has provided just that.
Ryan Kesler (4-1-5, -5) has slowly but steadily improved in his first full season on the team. In my opinion, he has been one of the best Canucks forwards in the last few games. Some people point to his lackof point production, but except for a few shifts with Naslund and Bertuzzi, his linemates have included any combination of Park, Ruutu, Linden and Goren and his role on the team has been more of a defensive nature. Kesler is only 21 years old and I am willing to suggest that those who are criticizing his play now should look back at the Sedins when they were 21 and their development now. He has that same potential.
After a strong start, Richard Park (6-9-15, +4) has been ineffective recently and was even benched against Calgary on Saturday night. Hindsight being 20/20, after the Canucks lost Brad May and Mike Keane, and re-signed guys like Matt Cooke and Jarkko Ruutu, was Park the right acquisition? The Canucks have an abundance of Park-type players in their system and I wonder if the money they spent signing him would have been best spent upgrading other areas.
I still believe that the Canucks need to tweak their supporting cast. They have too many similar-type players and on some nights, it shows. In my opinion, the Canucks overestimated the effect of the new interpretation of the rules and filled an already-small and quick roster with more small and quick players.
The Defense: C
For the first 20 or so games of the season, I think the Canucks' defense was among the best in the league. Despite losing Marek Malik and Brent Sopel in the off-season and replacing them with veteran AHL'ers Steve McCarthy and Nolan Baumgartner, the group was among the highest-scoring in the league.
The top three - Mattias Ohlund, Ed Jovanovski and Sami Salo - have played as well as expected and have played a lot. Sami Salo (9-20-29,+2, 24:23 ATOI), especially, is having a career year and is now only one point shy of his career-high. Ohlund (5-11-16, +1, 25:09) is as solid as usual; Jovanovski (6-22-28, -4, 25:30) is still the same high-risk, high-reward player.
In my opinion, one of the Canucks' biggest needs is for some depth on defense.
For the most part, Bryan Allen (4-5-9, even, 20:39) has improved his overall game. He is the team's lone stay-at-home defenseman. He played mostly as a third pairing defenseman last season and has shown this season that he can handle a few extra minutes of ice-time per game (up from 16:51 in 2003/2004), but he doesn't seem to be able to handle more than that right now (he logged 23, 24 and even 26 minutes in the past few games and has struggled in the latter portions of those games).
When Allen and then Jovanovski went down to injury, the Canucks were forced to go even further down their depth chart. Which exposed that the Canucks depth on defense isn't deep at all. The Canucks have since been prone to turnovers on the breakout and in the neutral zone. Their defensive coverage down low has also been horrible.
Free agent signee McCarthy has been disappointing (1-2-3, +3, 12:03); Nolan Baumgartner (3-16-19, +4, 15:46) has impressed in a limited role; Same with Kevin Bieksa (10 GP, 0-1-1, -6, 15:16), who has looked better in the last couple of games and given the defense a physical element that they have been missing. Regardless, I don't feel too confident of the Canucks entering the playoffs with any combination of Baumgartner, Bieksa and McCarthy as their fifth and sixth defensemen.
The Call-ups: C+
The Moose call-ups have provided some adequate relief for the Canucks. For what was expected of them, Lee Goren, Rick Rypien, Sven Butenschon, Alex Burrows, Kevin Bieksa, Josef Balej, Josh Green and Nathan Smith have all played well in stints with the big club. With Tyler Bouck and Jason King injured, Lee Goren got in the most number of games (28), though that was partly because the Canucks weren't sure he would clear waivers if he was sent back down to the Moose. (He did.)
Right now, Kevin Bieksa is putting together a good argument to stay with the club. He is mobile, feisty, scrappy and has shown some potential. He needs to work on his footwork and positioning but it looks like he is able to contribute positively to this team.
What is lacking in the system is finding someone who can step in if the Canucks lose a top-line player. I hope they never need to.
The Goalies: C+
The 2005/2006 season opened with the Canucks' biggest question mark in goal. Can Cloutier carry the team deep into the playoffs? Well, the Canucks no longer have to worry about that. Cloutier (13 GP, 8-3-1, 3.17 GAA, .892 SV%) is out for the season.
In the meantime, Alex Auld has filled in admirably. He has a 15-10-3 record in 30 appearances this season with a 2.89 GAA and a .902 save percentage. This is also his first full season with the Canucks.
The questions remain on how the Canucks will upgrade in goal. Maxime Ouellet (2 GP, 0-1-1, 4.39 GAA, .878 SV%) and Rob McVicar have spotted Auld on a couple of occassions, but are by no means the solution right now. Wade Flaherty is having another solid season with the Moose, but the Canucks are hesitant to recall him or risk losing him on waivers and paying half his salary.
If the Canucks decide that Auld is the team's goalie of the future, they will acquire either a veteran back-up (ie. Dwayne Roloson) or someone who can split games with him (ie. Mika Noronen). Otherwise, the Canucks will perhaps pull the trigger on a much bigger trade for a legitimate starter (ie. Jose Theodore, Martin Biron).
The Crow: C
There are times when you watch the Canucks play and you wonder if they tune out Marc Crawford. The talent is certainly there, but the effort and intensity aren't always. Crow has always been a demanding coach and the feeling is that at some point, his screaming and yelling will lose its effectiveness. If it hasn't already.
The Nonis: C
Given the expected emphasis on speed and skill prior to the start of the season, I thought Dave Nonis did a good job of re-signing the core of the team that thrived on the speed and skill game, even during the clutch-and-grab era.
Nonis loses marks, however, for not upgrading the team's other obvious deficiencies - there are still question marks in goal, there is now a lack on depth on defense, and it remains to be seen if this edition of the Canucks can play the gritty and character game required for a lengthy playoff run.
______________
Comments/Questions: Feel free to post in the comments section or email me at gocanucksgo10 (at) hotmail (dot) com.
Technorati Tags: NHL, hockey, Vancouver, Canucks
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