Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Radim Vrbata last season, as he scored the fewest goals in a full season in over a decade. After an excellent 31-goal campaign in his first season with the Canucks, Vrbata managed just 13 goals and 27 points. When the story of your season is that you should have been traded but weren’t, you know something has gone wrong.
Don’t forget to add in the subplot of Vrbata seemingly being bitter about not playing with the Sedins and the quote, “If I wanted to get traded, I would have been traded.” By the end of the season, Vrbata wasn’t overly popular among Canucks fans.
And yet, rumours persisted this off-season that the Canucks were open to the idea of bringing Vrbata back on a one-year contract. I can only imagine the fecal hurricane that would have stirred up among Canucks fans.
Instead, he’s heading back to the desert, signing with the Arizona Coyotes. That’s probably for the best.
Honestly, he’ll probably be fine with the Coyotes. Vrbata didn’t perform well last season, but he also had no luck whatsoever. He finished with the lowest shooting percentage in a full season in his entire career and was still second on the team in shots.
So, as we bid farewell to Vrbata, let’s remember the best from his second and final season with the Canucks. Here’s every goal Radim Vrbata scored in 2015-16.
1 | October 22 vs Washington Capitals
Vrbata’s first of the season came in his seventh game. The goal comes courtesy of some lovely playmaking by the Sedins. Henrik protects the puck behind the net, while Daniel does a fly-by, casually interfering with Brooks Orpik. That gives Henrik enough space to hook the puck in front, where Vrbata gets body position on Nicklas Backstrom and has the puck go in off his skate.
2 | October 27 vs Montreal Canadiens
Vrbata didn’t get a lot of playing time with the Sedins at even-strength, but he still played plenty with them on the power play. On this one he takes advantage of Daniel creating a turnover deep in the Canadiens zone, then neatly swats in the puck after it deflected up into the air off Brian Flynn’s stick. Dat hand-eye tho.
3 | October 29 vs Dallas Stars
Out with the Sedins for the start of the third period, Vrbata scores just ten seconds after the faceoff. Henrik flips the puck in behind the Dallas defenceman for Daniel to skate onto and he then smartly fires a shot low off Antti Niemi’s left pad, forcing a rebound out to Vrbata, who backhands it home.
4 | November 22 vs New Jersey Devils
It was nearly a month before Vrbata’s next goal, which would become a bit of a theme. Vrbata’s always been a bit streaky, but his goalless droughts lasted longer and his hot streaks were far shorter this season.
This buzzer beater with the Canucks’ net empty would be a lot more exciting if the Canucks were down by just one instead of two goals at the time. Still, the setup is interesting: the Sedins on the boards setting up Alex Edler and Yannick Weber for point shots, with Bo Horvat screening and Vrbata in the slot looking for deflections. It eventually pays off, as Vrbata cleans up a blocked shot, chipping it off a defender and in.
5 | November 25 vs Minnesota Wild
This goal is noteworthy as the first of Vrbata’s goals to come off a clean shot. The first four are rebound, deflections, and dirty goals. Nothing wrong with that, but, for whatever reason, the Czech sniper just wasn’t all that snipery this season.
This is a nice goal off the rush, though, as Jared McCann takes a cross-ice feed from Edler and finds Vrbata in the slot as Chris Higgins drives towards the net. Vrbata doesn’t take long to whip the puck inside the far post.
6 | November 25 vs Minnesota Wild
Vrbata’s second of the game is another nice shot, ringing the post as it goes in. He gets a fortunate bounce to set up the shot, as Mikael Granlund knocks down a pass intended for Dan Hamhuis and puts it right on Vrbata’s stick. Devan Dubnyk, playing the original pass, has no chance.
7 | December 7 vs Buffalo Sabres
That two-goal game against the Wild didn’t kick off a hot streak. Instead, Vrbata went goalless for five games before putting up a hattrick on the hapless Sabres. His first of three is all about following the bouncing puck, as it goes all over the place after Ben Hutton keeps it in at the line. Higgins eventually swings it towards the net and Vrbata knocks in the rebound.
8 | December 7 vs Buffalo Sabres
What a gorgeous tip. This is a great sequence by Vrbata and the Sedins: first, Vrbata sets up a great chance for Daniel, then skates to the slot and deflects Edler’s point shot into the top corner.
9 | December 7 vs Buffalo Sabres
Why in the world is Vrbata this open? With two goals already, Vrbata comes off the bench to replace Derek Dorsett as the fourth line holds the puck in the Buffalo zone. Evander Kane drifts away from Vrbata to take away the pass up the wall, while Jack Eichel aimlessly drifts towards the puck because he’s a rookie. Adam Cracknell spots Vrbata and makes a lovely backhand pass to set up the goal.
10 | December 18 vs Detroit Red Wings
Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi do some solid work to prevent the Red Wings from clearing the zone, then Baertschi swings the puck up to Tanev for the point shot, creating a rebound for Vrbata. He shows great patience with the puck to finish off the play, skating around the battling Horvat to create an open net for himself.
11 | January 14 vs Washington Capitals
It would be 9 games before Vrbata scored again, banging in a Horvat rebound beside the net on the power play. It’s an interesting set up on the 5-on-3, with Edler at the point with the shot, Henrik and Daniel on opposite sides of the ice, Horvat screening, and Vrbata essentially uninvolved, just waiting in the weeds for the puck to come to him.
12 | February 21 vs Colorado Avalanche
It was over a month before Vrbata scored again, this time a massive 14-game goalless drought. Again, it came on the power play and again on a rebound. Even as he couldn’t find the net, Vrbata continued to get plenty of power play time on the first unit, finishing fourth in average power play time behind Edler and the Sedins.
13 | March 9 vs Arizona Coyotes
Vrbata’s final goal of the season was also his best and it happened to be against his once and future team. After a fairly long shift, the Canucks go for a change as Yannick Weber skates the puck out. All except for Vrbata, who breaks up the middle of the ice. The Coyotes, expecting a full line change, see Vrbata too late, and Weber hits him with a nice pass. A quick move to the backhand freezes Louis Domingue and Vrbata lifts the puck over his right pad.
