Happy January 18th—which will be known forever more around these parts as "Line Brawl Day."
Kellan Lain, we barely knew ya.
The Hockey News has chosen this anniversary date to share their piece on the decline of fighting and the role of the enforcer, which appeared in the magazine in early December. Click here to take a look.
Interestingly, HockeyFights.com points out that the stats belie the narrative. Here's their chart. Fighting actually dropped significantly last season, to 0.38 fights per game. Right now, this season is projecting at 0.34 fights per game—a pretty small dropoff from last year.
I think the biggest difference this year is that the fighters are no longer teams' one-dimensional, five-minutes a game players. The Canucks' Derek Dorsett, who averages 11:31 a game and has chipped in five goals this season, is among the league leaders with nine fighting majors this year. He's tied with Colorado's Cody McLeod, Montreal's Brandon Prust and Columbus' Jared Boll.
Dorsett has become a fan favourite here in Vancouver thanks not only to his fists but also because of his physical game (he leads the Canucks with 94 hits) and the honest effort that he puts out every game.
He also leads the Canucks with 93 penalty minutes, tied for second in the league with McLeod. Dorsett's going to have to pick up the pace if he hopes to come close to Tom Sestito's 19 fights and 213 penalty-minutes in 2013-14.
Interestingly, Dorsett had just 10 fights last season with the Rangers, while McLeod had 12, Prust had 11 and Boll had just eight. All four of this year's leaders have picked up their fighting game in 2014-15.
Dorsett's making $1.6 million this season according to Spotrac.com. He came available last summer because that number's on the high side for a fourth-liner. On the Canucks, his cap hit is higher than Bo Horvat, Brad Richardson, Eddie Lack, Yannick Weber, Linden Vey, Ryan Stanton and Frank Corrado. He comes in just below Zack Kassian and Shawn Matthias.
It'll be interesting to see how hard the Canucks work to re-sign Dorsett as he approaches unrestricted free agency. He is one of Willie's boys from Medicine Hat, but he also has strong roots back in Columbus—his wife's from there. Depending on dollars and options, he might be interested in choosing a team that's a little closer to home.
Tanev Contract Talks Begin
One thing that'll help determine how much money the Canucks have to spend on free agents will be the contract that Chris Tanev eventually signs. The 25-year-old has made the most of his one-year bridge deal, when Jim Benning asked him to show what he could do.
What he's done is to step up as a top-pairing defenseman, drawing the toughest assignments every night and helping to rejuvenate Alex Edler after a disastrous 2013-14 season under he-who-must-not-be-named.
He has also managed to stay healthy despite ranking third on the team in ice time at 21:03 and leading the team by a mile with 111 blocked shots.
Thomas Drance at The Score is reporting that the Canucks plan to begin "serious" contract talks with Tanev's agent this week, based on comments from Elliotte Friedman during Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada broadcast and Jim Benning's radio appearance on Friday, where he said this:
He's played real well for us, with him and Alex Edler – they've been a real good matchup pair for us playing against the other team's top line. So we'll get something figured out with him.
Tanev's leverage will still be limited by the fact that he's a restricted free agent, but he could earn himself a tidy raise over this year's $2 million salary if the Canucks hope to lock him up over the long term.
Richardson Misses Practice, Miller Likely Against Florida
It's not all golf and good times for the Canucks in Florida this weekend. The team did practice on Sunday in Sunrise. Here's how the lines shook down:
#Canucks practice underway. Richardson not on ice.
Lines:
22-33-17
20-7-14
27-13-9
51-53-36
23-8
18-3
2-5
26-6 pic.twitter.com/C9ovoQsz6k
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) January 18, 2015If Richardson's healthy enough to play on Monday, I expect Zack Kassian will spend his third straight game in the press box.
Meanwhile, it looks like Luca Sbisa will draw back into Frank Corrado's spot on the third pairing with Dan Hamhuis. Also, it sounds like Ryan Miller is looking to see how far he can extend his shutout streak:
Miller is a likely start tomorrow per Desjardins. "We've had a couple days off. I think if he's feeling good he'll probably go." #Canucks
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) January 18, 2015Monday's opponent, the Panthers, have come back down to earth since their mostly successful Western road trip. After wrapping that up with an 8-2 defeat in Winnipeg, they've lost to Colorado and to Edmonton in a shootout since returning home.
I'll set up the game in more detail tomorrow. Time to turn our attention to football for the rest of the day!