In most cases at major newspapers, the person who writes the headline is not the same person who writes the article. A writer may suggest a headline when they submit the article, but it’s up to the editor to find the most noteworthy element of that article and highlight it in a clear and/or clever way in the headline.
I mention this because it seems like Iain Macintyre and whoever wrote the headline for his latest article have very different ideas about what was the most noteworthy element. The headline gets right to the good stuff: “‘Reality has set in’ as Benning says Canucks will give kids more ice.”
The source of that quote, “Reality has set in,” is literally the final line of Macintyre’s article, as if it was just a final concluding thought instead of the type of stunning quote with which you should lead the article.
“I talk to Willie on a day-to-day basis and we talk about that,” Benning said. “Up to this point, his focus was to try and compete hard every night and win enough games to challenge for one of those last playoff spots.
“Now that reality has set in, he’s going to be on-board with getting our young kids more ice time.”
What a phrase: “now that reality has set in.” As in, the reality that the Canucks are not going to make the playoffs, something that has been a reality for most of the season.
For fans who are tired of seeing young players get benched in favour of a journeyman like Jayson Megna, this is welcome news. The final 13 games of the season should give fans and management a chance to see not just top-end talent like Nikolay Goldobin (and potentially Brock Boeser) get a little more leeway, but also get a read on guys like Reid Boucher and Joe Labate.
On the other hand, how in the world did it take this long for “reality” to set in? How is this a conclusion that they just came to, instead of something they understood and acted on weeks or even months ago?
Only three teams in the NHL have a worse goal differential than the Canucks. Only two teams score fewer goals. They’re 28th in the NHL in power play percentage and 25th in the penalty kill. Only Colorado and Arizona get out-shot worse than the Canucks.
Everything about the Canucks screams, “We are not a playoff team!” and has been screaming that for months. It seems like everyone other than the Canucks themselves are well aware of this.
This isn’t some new development either: this is a drum I was banging back in January and even then someone complained in the comments that I was rehashing the same things I'd said before.
At the very least, you would expect reality to set in with the trades of Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen. That was two weeks ago. The Canucks have played seven games since then and have continued their aggravating habit of elevating fourth line scrubs over young players who make mistakes.
Heck, you could argue that Benning’s quote indicates that reality did set in for him prior to the trade deadline, but that Desjardins has been the resistant one, insisting that the playoffs were still within the Canucks’ grasp. Ironically, many of his deployment choices have arguably made it harder for them to win games.
In any case, this is exactly what I said last week: the coach needs to be on board. It’s just stunning that it took this long for Benning and Desjardins to get on the same page.
