|
Trading a player or switching coaches won't solve Canucks' issue |
|
|
|
|
|
Historically, when NHL teams find themselves struggling, players first try to fix the problem themselves. Leaders try to do more. Stars push themselves. Role players try to create more energy. It’s the NHL way.
Sometimes, it works. Often, it doesn’t. When athletes try to do too much, it can exacerbate the problem.
When losing persists, when no one has answers, or even knows what questions to ask, players start expecting management to do something to change the direction.
And when players look like they are waiting for something to happen is when ownership or upper management absolutely should make something happen.
Right now, the Vancouver Canucks are a team waiting for something to happen. A win against the Montreal Canadiens didn’t change that.
Something is very wrong with the Canucks and a single trade or a coach firing isn’t going to be enough to change the outlook.
With the young talent on that roster, this team shouldn't be 2-8 in their last 10. Nor should the Canucks have a .358 winning percentage.
Many of us were bullish on the Canucks because they boasted a growing collection of young impact players. Quinn Hughes. Elias Pettersson. Bo Horvat. J.T. Miller. Thatcher Demko. Brock Boeser.
Still bullish on those players, but not so much on the team.
This team is not well-constructed. What this team needs more than any other element is a master plan, or at the very least, a better plan than they have now.
The mix of players isn’t right. Even with considerable talent on the roster, this team still looks like patchwork. The defense looks thrown together.
The team’s salary cap situation is now messy, mostly because it is weighed down by the presence of Oliver-Ekman Larsson’s long-term deal. He has five more seasons left at a $ 7.26 million cap hit. Instead of being a catalyst, OEL is going to be an anchor. He no longer can measure up to that cap hit.
Vancouver needs to embrace the kind of remodel that the New York Rangers went through. The Rangers called it a rebuild, but a rebuild is stripping a roster down to chassis and starting over. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings did that. That’s not what the Canucks need. The Rangers did a major remodel around key players. That’s also close to what Bill Zito did with the Florida Panthers. He identified eight or nine must-keep players and then changed more than half of his roster in one offseason
That’s what the Canucks need to do. But I don’t think GM Jim Benning is the guy I would want in charge of that.
Benning is an excellent talent evaluator. Younger players on the roster and in the pipeline are evidence of that. But the Canucks need a big picture manager to piece this puzzle together and that doesn’t seem like Benning’s strength.
After all, the disjointed look of this roster is his doing.
Usually, we expect general manager changes to happen in the offseason. But the Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks and Montreal Canadiens have saddled up new managerial rides during the season. Maybe times are changing.
For the past month, we’ve been hearing rumors the Canucks might consider deal Brock Boeser. He will be a restricted free agent this summer, and he will want a raise from his salary of $5.25 million.
Before I made any decision about trading Brock Boeser, I’d want a new master plan in place. And I don’t think I want Benning drawing up the plan or making decisions about Boeser.
Blogger •HHOF Writer's column on the NHL • 
Join the Discussion:
»