It’s decision time for the Vancouver Canucks.
For nearly a decade the Canucks organization has been busy chasing playoff success, with all of the traded draft picks and veteran-laden lineups that come with it. Not since 2007 — when Ryan Shannon and Mason Raymond earned jobs in the club’s top-six forward group out of training camp — have the Canucks entered the final weekend of the pre-season with this much roster uncertainty.
On a club chalk full of 30-year-old pieces, the list of kids who have impressed during this year’s training camp is long. Jared McCann, 19, leads the team in pre-season goals and combines a wicked wrist shot with a mature two-way game.
Fellow teenager Jake Virtanen, 19, has lived up to expectations with his NHL-ready speed and physicality.
Brendan Gaunce, 21, added a step in the off-season, and has played the sort of competitive hockey that’s difficult for coaches and management to ignore.
And 22-year-old defenceman Ben Hutton has flashed an array of dazzling moves and puck skills, and has occasionally wowed Canucks brass with his puck-moving ability and a subtle understanding of the game.
There are young Canucks players bleeding — literally, in the case of Virtanen — for an opportunity to play regular season hockey in the show.
“It’s going to be tough, but I think that’s a good problem to have,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning said in a radio appearance on Thursday. “The fact that these kids have come in and played so well bodes well for the organization moving forward. And it’s good for our team right now because it makes us younger and hungrier and I think they’ve upped the speed and the skillset of our team.”
That so many of Vancouver’s youngest assets are making a strong case for inclusion on the opening night roster is undoubtedly a positive development for a club making an occasionally messy transition from Western Conference power to a gradual, hybrid-type rebuild. And all four players remain on the roster, with only five cuts to go.
Even though Benning and the Canucks managed their off-season with an eye on making space for younger players – they allowed a variety of veteran unrestricted free agents to walk, didn’t do much bargain-bin shopping, and eschewed professional tryout invites for NHL-level veterans – it’s hard to imagine the organization anticipated such a groundswell of youthful exuberance.
Virtanen was expected to push for a roster spot this fall, sure. But what Hutton, McCann and Gaunce have accomplished is a surprise.
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“This summer we made some hard decisions to maybe not re-sign some guys and trade some guys to try and make room for our younger players,” Benning said this week. “Now that it’s upon us, and these kids have played well, we’re going to have to make more tough decisions to get them up and on the team and on our roster.”
The general manager even warned his veteran players recently that he’s prepared to go young, according to reports from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Still, there’s no team in hockey that has the flexibility to give two, or three, or four young skaters a spot on the 23-man roster without making a deal or exposing an asset (or two) to the waiver wire.
It’s part of what will make this weekend so difficult for Canucks management. It’s sure to test Benning’s oft-repeated mantra: “At the end of the day if the kid deserves to be here, we’ll make room for him.”
Friday is a day off for the Canucks, and it’s expected that the club’s coaches and management will convene and begin to hammer out exactly who will be on the opening day roster. As of Thursday, Benning suggested that the club hadn’t seriously explored the possibility of dealing a veteran piece in order to make room for a younger player.
As for whether or not the club would consider placing a young veteran piece – perhaps defenceman Frank Corrado, who has underwhelmed at training camp – on the waiver wire, Benning held his cards close to his vest.
“We’re analyzing each game as the players play, and we’ll make the decision at the end of camp,” Benning told Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy earlier this week.
If Benning sounds open to launching a full-fledged youth movement in Vancouver, Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins seemed more skeptical following the club’s pre-season victory on Thursday evening. Asked directly if the club was willing to carry two teenage players – Virtanen and McCann – into the regular season, Desjardins gave a long sigh.
“We’ll decide in the next couple of days what we’re going to do with that,” said the veteran-friendly bench boss. “But both guys have looked good in camp and they’ve put themselves in that conversation.”
That conversation will shape the Canucks’ roster. While it’s become clear that youth has finally arrived in Vancouver, the decisions of management this weekend will decide whether or not it’s served.
