The funny thing about the Vancouver Canucks’ two trades on Sunday night is that they didn’t clearly signify whether the Canucks are going to be sellers at Monday’s trade deadline or not.
There’s obviously a strong argument that they should be, particularly after their struggles on their 7-game homestand potentially scuttled their chances at making the playoffs. But it's still up in the air.
The two trades have obvious long-term benefits. Travis Dermott is just 25, has a $1.5 million cap hit, and is a restricted free agent when his contract expires after next season. Swapping out Travis Hamonic for Dermott makes the Canucks six years younger, saves them $1.5 million on the cap, and nets them a player who could be on the team for years to come.
At the same time, there’s a clear short-term benefit. Dermott is a better defender than Hamonic by his underlying numbers and can play on the right side even though he’s a lefty. Sure, it’s not exactly a big “win-now” move but it also doesn’t signal giving up.
There’s still a human aspect, of course, and having a teammate traded on a gameday has to be a bit of an odd experience.
“When it's a guy who you see literally every day — the schedule, we're at the rink every day. It's kind of like a family,” said Luke Schenn. “Sometimes, you spend more time with your teammates than your family… When someone gets traded, guys talk about it.
“At the same time, I think everyone's professional. I think once the game starts, guys probably don't think about it.”
Schenn is one of a handful of players who could potentially be on the move if the Canucks do become full-on sellers at Monday’s deadline and he showed exactly why teams have been inquiring about him. He was heavily involved all night against the Buffalo Sabres — “heavily” being the key word.
While Schenn was only credited with three hits, they were all of the crushing variety, and he paired that with some solid, stay-at-home defence, and a pinch of puck-moving as well. He picked up an assist on one of the Canucks’ two goals and nearly had another when he hit J.T. Miller in full flight with a perfect breakout pass for a last-minute chance in the third period.
Of course, those are all good reasons for the Canucks to keep Schenn, who has another year remaining on a very cap-friendly $850,000. It seems impossible to predict what might happen on Monday — to Schenn or any of the other players on the Canucks’ roster — so it’s fitting that Schenn isn’t even trying.
“I’ve learned not to have expectations in this league,” he said. “It's a privilege to be in this league. It's an honor to be a part of the Canucks organization and play for this city and fanbase. I love it here.”
“At the end of the day, I don't get paid to make those decisions,” he added. “I just tried to leave it all out there and help this team any way I can.”
I saw him do exactly that when I watched this game.
- Once again, the Canucks gave up the first goal of the game, as Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers parted like the Red Sea and Casey Mittelstadt walked up the middle like the Israelites carrying the puck like it was the Ark of the Covenant. I guess the net was the tabernacle, where the Ark was placed, maybe? I might be stretching this metaphor too thin. Mittelstadt scored, is what I’m saying.
- I say that Mittelstadt walked through Ekman-Larsson and Myers even though Myers wasn’t on the ice because he literally parted: he left the ice for a terribly-timed line change, leaving Brad Hunt desperately trying to get into the play. Meanwhile, Ekman-Larsson turned completely the wrong way, abandoning the middle of the ice like Daniel Plainview abandoned his boy.
- The Canucks responded with a stronger second period, kicked off by a fantastic J.T. Miller goal. Schenn sent a long pass to Conor Garland, who slipped the puck inside to Miller. With Will Butcher caught flat-footed, Miller tucked the puck under Butcher’s stick, then tucked the puck under the bar.
- The puck was in and out so fast that the refs never saw it but a quick video review confirmed it was in. “I had no idea,” admitted Miller. “Honestly, I was laying on my back. Garly seemed pretty convinced.”
- “The puck did cross the goal line over there,” confirmed referee Frederick L'Ecuyer, pointing in case we didn’t know which goal he was talking about.
- The Sabres quickly responded, taking advantage of a disasterpiece of defending by Myers. Rasmus Dahlin got in deep and centred for Jeff Skinner, with Myers attempting the controversial reclining defence strategy. In trying to block the pass, Myers just layed down on the ice and the puck hit his leg and went straight to the now wide-open Skinner, who had all day to go upstairs on a hapless Demko.
- The goal was challenged for offside and, to be honest, it might have been, but none of the camera angles were definitive enough to be certain. So, the goal stood and, to add insult to injury, the failed challenge put the Canucks on the penalty kill.
- I’ve been really enjoying seeing Elias Pettersson excel shorthanded. He made a superb defensive read on that second period penalty kill, covering the net front as both defencemen pursued the puck, which allowed him to pick off a centring pass that could have been the 3-1 goal.
- Ekman-Larsson was struggling all game. Either he’s playing through an injury or he’s just plain fatigued. The latter would be worse for the Canucks, as it doesn’t bode well for the future, but the former isn’t great either. He was getting turnstiled all night, like this moment when Vinnie Hinostroza blew past him, only to attempt a weird spinning pass instead of getting the puck on net.
- The Canucks tied the game on the power play before the end of the second period on another great play by Miller. With no shooting lane, Miller did a little loop at the left sideboards, then loaded up his stick as if he was about to shoot before sneaking a puck to Bo Horvat on the inside, who rifled the puck over Craig Anderson’s left shoulder.
- “Probably not,” said Miller when asked if he had done what he needed to do as a leader on the team with the goal and the assist. “If I start feeling like that, I think I'll take away from the player I am. I still want to be better next game.”
- Thatcher Demko added another incredible save to his highlight reel at the end of the second period, going old-school with a spectacular pad-stacking stop on Zemgus Girgensons. The only thing that could have made it better is if he was wearing his Kirk McLean-inspired gear and the black skate jersey.
- “He competes every night. He finds a way,” said Schenn about Demko. “He’s elite, he’s one of the best in the league. His compete level is unbelievable, he’s never down-and-out of the play. You’d just like to help him out a little bit more and get a couple more for him.”
- Honestly, I was nearly as impressed by this seemingly easy save on Tage Thompson. It was a broken play, with the puck bouncing all over the place, but Demko tracked it perfectly and took the shot directly in the logo. That save was nowhere near as easy as Demko made it look
- Sometimes, I have interesting commentary or a bit of witty wordplay in the IWTG. Sometimes, I’ve just got, “Hey, here’s a weird thing.” So, here’s a weird thing. At one point, Miller attempted a backhand pass in the neutral zone and somehow managed to block his own pass with his stick. It was weird, it was a thing, it was a weird thing.
- Miller nearly ended the game in regulation with a fantastic power move to the net after Schenn sent him through the neutral zone with speed but Craig Anderson kicked out the right pad to rob him and neither Pearson nor Garland could bang in the loose puck in the crease.
- “You always have a great feeling when he's back in our net,” said Rasmus Dahlin of Anderson, who was fantastic for the Sabres. “If we make a shitty play, he's just telling us to calm down or whatever but he's a hell of a goalie.”
- Overtime ended far too quickly. The Sabres got possession of the puck off the faceoff and the Canucks never touched it again. Eventually, Dahlin caught Horvat’s skates moving in the wrong direction, cut inside and ripped the puck past Demko. Well, he tried to rip it — he actually didn’t get all of his shot and it fooled Demko, who read the shot that Dahlin was trying to take rather than the one that actually occurred.
- “It’s always just like when you whiff on the shot, you always score, so it was kind of lucky,” admitted Dahlin.
- That won’t do much to assuage the Canucks, who end their crucial seven-game homestand with a 2-3-2 record. For a team still trying to dig its way out of a deep, deep hole, that won’t cut it.
- “I don't want to say the word embarrassing — I don't think that's the right word — but it's hard to swallow,” said Miller of the homestand. “Because, for me, I think it's effort-based. It's will. It's wanting to play in the playoffs and wanting to beat your opponent. We've talked about how late in the season every team is good. There's no excuses. I think they wanted more than we did today.”
- Here’s the thing: maybe it’s not effort, will, or wanting it more. Maybe this Canucks team just isn’t good enough. Maybe there’s no sense in Miller beating himself up — or beating up his teammates — for a lack of effort because maybe even with all of the effort in the world, they’re going to lose more games than they win because the roster isn’t up to par. Maybe that sounds harsh, but I mean it more like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting: It’s not your fault.
