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Canucks, Stars have big questions that won't be answered for months |
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In the deep heat of summer, many of us with links to the hockey industry have prioritized locating and securing shade and hydration above all else. But among NHL power brokers, the pressure to improve their team never really goes away. Organizations are always seeking out what they perceive to be improvements – the latest example being the Oilers’ hiring of former Bruins executive Keith Gretzky as Edmonton’s new assistant GM – regardless of any particular time of year.
But even with all of the moves that have been made this off-season, there are numerous lingering questions bound to keep GMs and other management members worried and/or curious – questions that won’t be answered until the 2016-17 campaign is well-underway.
For instance: how long of a leash do the Canucks have – and which way are they going? Vancouver has missed the playoffs in two of the past three seasons, and their roster alterations this summer are curious: certainly, adding blueliner Erik Gudbranson and winger Loui Eriksson suggests the franchise is aiming to win and win now, and given that the Sedin Twins and Ryan Miller both will be closer to age 40 than 30 when the regular season begins, that’s probably for the best. Unfortunately, there are more than a few hockey observers skeptical the Canucks have enough depth and defence just to get back into the post-season, let alone seriously challenge for a Stanley Cup championship.
Where does that leave poor Willie Desjardins, Vancouver’s head coach? With very little wiggle room to start the year, that’s where. And considering the Canucks will take on the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, L.A. Kings, Anaheim Ducks and Washington Capitals in October, it could be bad news for Desjardins before the first month of the season is through. Or maybe Desjardins receives the support of his superiors a la Michel Therrien and lasts the year despite another season of struggles. Either way, few teams seem more built on the best-case scenario foundation than Vancouver.
However, the direction the franchise chooses to take if it stumbles early on is of far greater importance than their coach’s fate. Should GM Jim Benning double down and acquire someone like Evander Kane or a veteran, it could prove to be a troubling sign of tough times for Vancouver in the years ahead. But if they begin a much-needed push towards a long-term rebuild, it will be a relief to Canucks fans who don’t want their team mired in the muck of mediocrity.
Here’s another example of the type of question that will loom large in the months ahead: What’s the deal with the Stars’ goalies? When Dallas GM Jim Nill landed former Blackhawks Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya last summer, the sense was the Stars were a terrifically creative club that would have its defense tested come playoff time. That turned out to be the case, and the worry that was voiced at that time – Dallas’ defense corps and the de facto netminding platoon of longtime cornerstone Kari Lehtonen and first-year Star Antti Niemi – did not deliver at the most important time of year.
As it is with all goalies, Niemi and Lehtonen can’t take all the blame. Dallas’ group of D-men were one of the least physically-robust in the league, and with apologies to new addition and former Canucks blueliner Dan Hamhuis, that really hasn’t changed this summer. But neither has the Stars’ situation in net. Both Lehtonen and Niemi are signed through the 2017-18 campaign, and both do not come cheap (Lehtonen carries a cap hit of $5.9 million, and Niemi carries a hit of $4.5 million), so it’s unlikely teams will be lining up for either player.
Nill isn’t about to buy out one or both, and so, absent an injury that changes the goalie market, he’s coming to training camp with the same duo between the pipes. But it would be more than a little shocking to see him finish the year with both players, and, considering neither Niemi nor Lehtonen were able to post a save percentage of .900 or better in the last post-season tournament, it will be next to impossible to justify returning to the 2017 playoffs with both of them again. Nill may need to add assets to trade one of them, or he may gamble one will be selected in the expansion draft, but that's a hell of a gamble to take.
This is how an NHL GM accumulates grey hairs in the off-season. They know the issues their teams face can be addressed to a certain degree each summer, but the time to actually answer is an agonizingly far ways away. And the sunshine of summer doesn't take the heat off them for a second.
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