The sheer ineptitude of the NHL’s Pacific Division has provided an interesting focal point to revisit an ongoing argument for management and fans of the Vancouver Canucks.
To recap: the word “tank” had been tossed around as recently as last week – just as the phrase “no man’s land” was on the lips of many pundits this off-season, where it was suggested the team is too “good” to be bad enough to land a high pick; and in contrast too “bad” to be good enough to compete for a Stanley Cup.
Fair assessment.
But a few events over the past 72 hours have at least provided pause for thought. This is how it works in a hockey-mad Canadian market where “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” takes up permanent residence.
1.) Unbelievably, a Pacific playoff spot is still there for the taking as we steam towards the mid-season point and that likely isn’t going to change.
2) The first two games of what life might one day look like without the twins was… well, pretty good.
(Yes, only Henrik was injured but Daniel wasn’t as noticeable or dominant as we’ve become accustomed to for much of the Detroit win and Florida OT loss without his lifelong linemate.)
Of course it’s a very short sample size, but charged with carrying the offensive load as the top two centres, Jared McCann and Bo Horvat looked very comfortable leading the team to three of a possible four points on the road against solid opposition.
And it’s worth noting that patience at the centre position is paramount. Henrik took five seasons to finally reach the 50-point plateau and Ryan Kesler took four.
3.) After getting an up-close look at Jaromir Jagr adding two more points to his career total while almost nine years older than the Sedins (nine!) as he leads a potential playoff team in scoring, who is anyone to suggest how long Henrik and Daniel can play and still be effective? Right now anyway, they remain among the league’s elite.
So the question becomes: what helps the Canucks get competitive faster?
Is it a tank manoeuvre where you cross your fingers and hope to get a generational player in the lottery and start over, thereby clearly wasting however many years the twins decide to keep playing?
Or would the unmatched experience of playing even a handful of playoff games this year be more valuable to the potential future core of McCann, Horvat, Jake Virtanen and Ben Hutton?
Before casting your vote, keep in mind that the parachute otherwise known as the Pacific just might be on standby as well.
If the Canucks chase the playoffs and don’t grab the division’s third spot, they’d still likely have one of the seven or eight worst records in hockey anyway, leading to a few more lottery ping pong balls than those teams who just miss out elsewhere.