Vancouver Canucks Year in Review: Grading 2015 X-Factors

#5 Radim Vrbata (Grade: B-)

When the season started, Radim Vrbata’s future was up in the air, unlikely to stick with the Canucks unless he has an offensive breakout that does not result in Vancouver making the playoffs. Well, I was half right. Montreal, who is cooling down fast after a great start to the season due to a lack of scoring, is reportedly scouting Vrbata (Ek, December 27th), and besides the fact that Vrbata likes playing with Jared McCann, there really isn’t anything connecting Vrbata to the Canucks.

More from The Canuck Way

• Which team won the Bo Horvat trade?
• What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
• Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

However, as much as I love hating Vrbata’s lack of speed, he is having a decent season. His 18 points in 36 games might not be so bad, especially when he is having a career year in possession metrics — 53.6 percent Fenwick For is a career best, and his impact on the team is evident with an 8.7 Fenwick-For relative percentage.

The only knock is his minus-14, but for contenders who want to add scoring, who cares about a minus-14? Right Ovi?

Verdict on Vrbata: A good offensive season after a sputtering start is what I actually wanted from Vrbata. Up your trade value, mate! There is nothing on Vancouver’s trade market, but nobody should be surprised should Vrbata get shipped out to a contender like the Canadiens. The Florida Panthers also expressed interest in a scorer (NBC Sports, December 11th). His question remains unanswered.

Next: Brandon Sutter

#4 Brandon Sutter (Grade: A-)

I really, really like Brandon Sutter. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t played much.

But when Sutter played, the Canucks enjoyed a 26-year-old shut-down centre who was playing some of the best hockey of his career thanks to some time with the Sedins. His 50.3 percent Corsi For is a career-high (albeit through 16 games), and he was on pace for a 40-plus point season.

As for his impact on the team, after going 92.3 percent on the penalty kill with Sutter in the line-up, the Canucks (Sutter-less for 22 games) are now 20th in the league at 79.4 percent. The face-offs took at toll as well. Sutter’s team-leading 53.6 percent win-rate is sorely missed by Vancouver, who now bottoms out the league at 45.4 percent.

Roll out the stats, there is no denying that X-Factor Mr. Sutter turned out great and Vancouver needs him back badly.

I said 60 points from Sutter will guarantee a postseason berth for Vancouver, and that seems to be about right, as the Canucks seem destined to be fighting for a spot till the very end without Sutter. Also, should he return in the second half and put up 50 more points, the Canucks will surely make the playoffs.

Verdict on Sutter: Great potential ruined by injuries. The injury was the real X-Factor, eh? His original question was answered concerning the 60 points, but will he ever be the same player as he was before the surgery? There’s another question to answer.

#3 Sven Baertschi (Grade: B+)

The reason Sven Baertschi is on the X-Factor list is that his play will determine the fate of the secondary scoring. There is so much potential in his speedy, creative, yet patient game, that now that we see him being a solid body-banger, his role is so versatile.

Here is the part about body-banging coming true. Maybe I should not have encouraged him.

A playmaker is no good when nobody can finish his chances. That being said, a finisher is no good without a play to finish. Talking about Vrbata and Baertschi, of course.

Sven’s 11 points in 32 games is far short of the 45 points I hoped he would have. Perhaps I can justify myself with that fact that Vrbata was snake-bitten for so long, Sutter has been out of the line-up for weeks, Bo Horvat is being used defensively, and rookie Jared McCann is struggling under injury-induced pressure.

But Baertschi is having a good year on the possession metrics. 51.3 percent Fenwick For is the highest he has ever played.

What does this mean? Baertschi is making himself a defensive upside, one much needed in Sutter’s absence. Good for him.

Verdict on Baertschi: Yes, his play is versatile. But the secondary scoring has been non-existent, partly to blame him. His question remains unanswered, as the team’s secondary scoring died out collectively.

Next: Matt Bartkowski

#2 Matt Bartkowski (Grade: B-)

My prediction for Bartkowski is mixed. I expect him to provide offensive punch here and there when Weber stalls, but he is most likely to stack up assists by giving Horvat, Vrbata, or Hansen hundred-foot-long breakaway passes out of the D-zone. Prediction for Bartkowski for the 2015-16 season: 3 goals, 15+ assists, and perhaps an astoundingly low plus/minus rating alongside some 30+ penalty minutes.

Hey. I was bang on. 37 games in, he has two goals and seven assists, a minus-four, and 26 penalty minutes.

Matt Bartkowski isn’t playing with Luca Sbisa, nor is Yannick Weber stalling offensively — Weber never started in the first place. But Bartkowski has been the steadiest newcomer to the Canucks thus far. Of course, until he recently started turning pucks over and tried to outlet through Jacob Markstrom’s crease.

Verdict on Bartkowski: The only question left for Bartkowski is his fate with the Canucks. Although his name has not surfaced in any rumours, his UFA status at the end of the season is certainly a liability to his chances of staying in Vancouver.

Next: Linden Vey

#1 Linden Vey (Grade: I)

My prediction for Vey for the 2015-16 season: 18 Goals, 12 Assists provided he gets time on the PP.

Well, you can scrap that now. Read this instead, if you will. It’s an “I” report on Vey.

Related: The Canucklehead Lament: F Linden Vey means Frustration

Thank Adam Cracknell for silencing all the Vey lovers and scoring just as many goals in the NHL as Vey has this year in the AHL. Fair enough for all the Vey lovers who might point out that Vey’s possession numbers outweigh Cracknell’s by a mile. But there is no place in Vancouver’s healthy lineup for Vey when his counterpart, Cracknell, is doing so well defensively.

At three goals and a dozen assists in 26 games for Utica, Vey’s production, even at the AHL level, is dropping. Two years ago, he had 48 points in 43 games for the Manchester Monarchs, and a year before that, Vey had 67 points in 74 games. Interesting to note that Tyler Toffoli — who just had a hat-trick against the Canucks — was Vey’s winger in those years.

Verdict on Vey: Hate to nail the coffin on a 24-year-old centre, but Vey is not ready for the NHL. His time with Vancouver should end after this season, a disappointing one especially compared to his former line mate Toffoli’s. Unlikely that he gets claimed off waivers, unlikely that Benning will, or can, trade him.

Next: Year 2015 in Review: Grading the Trades

The 2015 portion of the Canucks’ season engendered question after question, failing to answer most, if any. And the team doesn’t seem to have any answers going forward. The only Canucks who hold any form of answer might be the prospects. Till then, so long Vancouver and the lost year 2015. Change is coming, it will come tomorrow, whenever tomorrow is.