Vancouver Canucks: 5 Players who Need to Step Up

The Vancouver Canucks are getting bodies back, but the wins just aren’t coming.

The Vancouver Canucks have got to be wondering what they must do to climb up the standings.

Look. Captain Henrik is back. Brandon Sutter is back. Now that Dan Hamhuis is coming back, the Canucks have the best players that they can afford this season. But the points aren’t coming. The Canucks can’t seem to win unless their netminders stand on their heads.

The result? Heading into the weekend, the Canucks are 20-19-12, with just 10 games remaining before the 2016 NHL Trade Deadline. They just can’t seem to catch the seemingly idle Arizona Coyotes. Oh, wait. There goes Anaheim to the heavenly portion of the standings.

Instead, the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid are coming from the bottom of the Pacific, poised to submarine the orca from below.

You know, the moment that the Oilers overtake the Canucks is when half the team will be on clearance sale. Mind you, Brandon Prust, Chris Higgins, and  Yannick Weber were all disposed of the roster without any return and without any suitors. Trader Jim Benning also has his work cut out.

It could get ugly, and the Canucks could be forced to “tank,” not because they want to, but because they are incapable of doing anything else. So what do you do? You can’t really be buyers, and the only alternative might be to be forced to make a run for the first-overall pick.

Simple. You make your players run the other way.

The not-so-simple part is the execution. But as it has been said before, knowing the problem is half the solution. Do the Canucks know what the problem is?

So here it is, this week’s edition of the Canucklehead Lament, on the five Vancouver players who have their work cut out for them. They are the problem, and they are the ones who need to make the push for the playoffs.

It is time to know the Canucks’ problems, one by one.

What’s their mission? Make the playoffs. What do they have to do? Just find ways to climb over the Arizona Coyotes, the Minnesota Wild, and the Nashville Predators. Very doable, right?

Next: Problem No. 1: Derek Dorsett

Problem No. 1: Derek Dorsett

Problem No. 1: Derek Dorsett

Derek Dorsett is the biggest problem the Canucks have right now.

Dorsett is getting paid more than Jannick Hansen is. Another way to look at his $2.65 million contract that runs to the end of the 2017-18 season? $2.65 million is essentially the sum of Bo Horvat, Jared McCann, and Jake Virtanen‘s contracts. Or rather, the sum of Linden Vey, Sven Baertschi, and Adam Cracknell‘s contracts.

With the absence of Brandon Prust, Dorsett’s role as Vancouver’s go-to tough guy is going to be amplified, scrutinized, and criticized in all manners possible.

Now that Brandon Sutter is back in the lineup, the Canucks figure to stick true to their four-line philosophy. That means that even a checking right winger like Dorsett is going to get a significant amount of ice time.

When Sutter is your centreman and one of Virtanen and McCann is your other winger, you have to produce. Dorsett needs to start producing if he is not going to start getting under the skin of every single opponent the Canucks are going to face for the rest of the season. In fact, a case can be made that Brandon Prust is more efficient a producer than Derek Dorsett is.

In fact, it is a very compelling argument for Prust’s sake.

But the lack of production is not the only problem for Dorsett. He is the league leader in penalty minutes with 117 penalty minutes and the team leader in total minor penalties taken (21). Nevermind his fights, the hooks, the interferences, the trips — these minors put the Canucks on the penalty kill.

To be a four-line team, you can’t have a guy like Dorsett being essentially useless production-wise. It will be difficult for him to play an efficient game while not taking penalties, especially when the tough guy’s role is now thrust onto his shoulders from Prust’s.

Next: Problem No. 2: Matt Bartkowski

Problem No. 2: Matt Bartkowski

Problem No. 2: Matt Bartkowski

Matt Bartkowski finds himself in a similar rut as Derek Dorsett does.

With the exit of Yannick Weber, Bartkowski finds himself at the bottom of the Canucks’ blueline. Vancouver can now breathe easy. Matt won’t be part of the Canucks’ top-four. First of all, the very fact that the Canucks kept Bartkowski over Weber should give him a boost of confidence. This is a reason that he needs to step up his game — the coaching staff trusts him despite what the advanced stats say.

This, though, is not all happy news for Bartkowski. Dan Hamhuis is returning and he will soon find himself in the pressbox beside Adam Cracknell. For the pending unrestricted free agent, the ball is in his court. If he can work himself back into the top-six that is already padded down with names like Luca Sbisa and Alex Biega, he could find himself a decent destination at the trade deadline.

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

And do not be fooled by the apparent top-four production that Bartkowski seems to have put up.

Bartkowski’s last goal came on November 2nd, 2015. He has only two primary assists in the past three months. For a puck-moving defenceman brought in to give the Canucks some offensive upside on the blueline, he is not doing his job.

Plus, just like Dorsett, Bartkowski is running into penalty troubles. He leads the league in tripping penalties this season and is second on the blueline in penalty in minutes this season.

Bartkowski is getting bumped out of the blueline. But if he can prove himself to be a bonafide offensive defenceman — like Weber in the last half of last season — he will be an invaluable asset for the Canucks going forward.

And as we all know. Who knows when the Canucks might get hit with another injury on the blueline?

Next: Problem No. 3: Emerson Etem

Problem No. 3: Alex Burrows

Problem No. 3: Alex Burrows

Radim Vrbata is not the only 34-year-old in the Canucks’ lineup. Alex Burrows finds himself demoted from his “third-Sedin” status, now playing to the left of Linden Vey and Emerson Etem.

It is unlikely that the Canucks will be able to trade Burrows. He still has one more year left on his contract at a $4.5 million cap hit, and his production has been declining.

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And a 34-year-old on the line with a hot duo consisting of a 23-year-old and a 24-year-old might be a burden. If Burrows really wants to push the Canucks to the playoffs, he will not be able to do so himself. He will have to play a supporting role to Vey and Etem.

Also, with the subtraction of Prust from the lineup, the Canucks will look to Burrows to get under the skin of their opponents. Is it just me or has Burrows been a lot quieter after the Patrick O’Sullivan allegations earlier this season? It is not as if he is shying away from his checks and his hits.

Though Burrows is not letting his hit totals drop (averaging just under a hit per game), what is dropping are his penalty minutes. He has never had a season in which he recorded less than one penalty minute per game. That was until last year when he recorded 68 PIM in 70 games played.

This year, Burrows has just 30 PIM in 49 games played. Could that be an indication that his ability to get under the opponents’ skin is going away, just like his ability to score is?

One day, I might just be tempted to let Jim Benning waive Alex Burrows. If he wants to make an impact, he has got to play that secondary role well, getting in opponents’ faces and giving Vey and Etem a solid option to play with.

Next: Problem No. 4:

Problem No. 4: Jake Virtanen

Problem No. 4: Jake Virtanen

Jake Virtanen is not really a big problem. He finds himself fourth on this list because he could step up and make a ton of difference on the Canucks’ roster.

Virtanen’s post-All Stars season started out rough. He was slotted to play to Sutter’s right until he was bumped last minute by fellow rookie Jared McCann. The speculation is that his conditioning went down the drain over the All-Star break. Okay. That is a problem. All athletes have to be in shape.

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

But what Virtanen now knows is that he will now play on a scoring line with Sutter as his centreman. After showing signs of a strong comeback from the disappointing World Juniors, this is his opportunity start scoring again. He has not scored a single point in the past four weeks after scoring a rare goal on January 11th against the Florida Panthers.

The second thing on Virtanen’s mind should be the hitting game. He knows that he can hit at the NHL level. With Brandon Prust gone and with no physical presence on the Canucks’ first two forward lines, Virtanen, like Burrows, has to play the sandpaper role.

If he starts scoring, that makes Jim Benning’s life that much easier.

Should the rookie right winger start scoring, there is nothing stopping him from being bumped to the second line with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi. Radim Vrbata becomes expendable and Trader Jim can flip the pending UFA for a second-round pick. Virtanen gets more minutes, a fourth-line wing slot becomes available for an AHL call-up like Alex Grenier or Ronalds Kenins.

That sounds too good to be true. But the key is this, that Virtanen starts scoring, and scoring soon. He has just 10 games to work with before the trade deadline.

Next: Problem No. 5: Alex Biega