The Vancouver Canucks got a taste of what tanking is when the Toronto Maple Leafs handed them a 5-2 loss last weekend.
The biggest debate amidst a Vancouver Canucks season marked by an appreciable youth movement, stellar goaltending performance, and a couple of broken jaws is… tanking for Auston Matthews?
Well, that’s sad. What happened to the half of the city that thought that the kids had to grow in a safe, winning environment?
Well, the way the Canucks have been playing lately, you can’t blame anyone who wants to tank. I don’t either.
As I kick off this week that will try to unfold everything there is to tanking, I encourage you to comment below as everyone has something to say about tanking. I will try to answer them all by the end of the week!
Back to tanking, we all saw how the Toronto Marlie Leafs are handling the tank: with a win over the Canucks that seemed to shy away from playing their best players in Daniel and Henrik Sedin.
I don’t blame the Canucks much either. Bo Horvat got injured that game, Alex Edler and Brandon Sutter got injured in the past week. Virtually the entire core this season has been hurt some point in the season.
Ryan Miller was out with cramps. Jacob Markstrom was out to begin the season. Henrik was out over two injuries, resulting in Linden Vey making the team. Chris Tanev’s hand has kept him out frequently, making way for Andrey Pedan and Alex Biega.
Dan Hamhuis was out with the facial fracture, too. Sutter was out with a sports hernia and now is pretty much done for the season after sustaining a broken jaw — leading to Alex Friesen’s call up.
Not to mention, Luca Sbisa was hurt for a large portion of the first half, and Chris Higgins was out alongside Brandon Prust for much of the season. Now both find themselves with the AHL Utica Comets. Now add to the list Edler.
So before any actual analysis about tanking, may I suggest that this may be a divine will of the hockey gods that the Canucks should tank? I think Willie Desjardins may be receiving sacred instructions from the hockey spirits. Just look at this ridiculous ice-time distribution.
To kick off #TankNation week while the loss to Toronto is still freshly engraved on our minds here is an overview of what tanking would look like in Vancouver. Enjoy.
Next: Start with the Obvious Names