Vancouver Canucks: 3 Players Headed for Breakout Seasons
If the Vancouver Canucks want to beat their Pacific Division rivals to a playoff spot, they will need big contributions from everyone.
It is no secret that the Vancouver Canucks want to do anything it takes to make the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. As last season showed, a pair of Swedish twins isn’t enough to do the job. What the Canucks need is big contributions from players who have just started to get their careers going.
In the 2015-16 season, Vancouver tossed three rookies into the lineup that came straight out of junior: Ben Hutton, Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann. In addition, the Canucks put sophomore Bo Horvat in a role he wasn’t ready for and gave several more players the chance to make their NHL debuts. It is great to implement youth in the lineup, but those usually aren’t players you can rely on to carry the team.
Looking at players who can carry the team, though, we have to realize there aren’t many. Of course, the Canucks have Henrik and Daniel Sedin who have carried this team for the past decade. They will finally get a new partner in Loui Eriksson, so these three should score a nice amount of goals in 2016-17.
But they will need help. The Canucks aren’t signing any more top-level scorers, and they likely won’t make a trade for one either. If they want to make the playoffs, however, they will need a strong supporting case for the Swedish top line. Who is capable of doing that job?
Ryan Miller is on the decline, and Alex Edler is not the top-pairing player he used to be either. Jannik Hansen set a new personal goal record, but can we expect a real offensive breakout from him? Alex Burrows probably won’t have another 30-goal year either.
Luckily, we were able to identify three players on the roster that are headed for a breakout season!
Next: G Jacob Markstrom
G Jacob Markstrom
Vancouver Canucks fans are not the only ones waiting for Jacob Markstrom to finally break out as an NHL starter. The Florida Panthers, who originally drafted Markstrom 31st overall in the 2008 draft, did their waiting as well. But, they eventually decided it wasn’t happening — at least not in Flordia — and sent him across the continent to acquire Roberto Luongo from the Canucks. Now that Luongo bounced back to Vezina-level performance, the Panthers don’t care much about Markstrom anymore — but the Canucks sure do.
After spending most of the 2014-15 season with the AHL Utica Comets, Markstrom established himself as a full-time NHL player in the 2015-16 campaign. Fans are ready to kick veteran Ryan Miller off the roster, but is Markstrom really ready for an NHL starting job?
In 2015-16, the Swede appeared in 33 games for the Canucks. That number wasn’t higher because Miller was officially the starter and Markstrom, like many Canucks, missed some time due to injury. Still, in his 33 games, Markstrom posted a .920 save percentage and a 2.73 goals-against average. The former is a solid number, the latter should improve automatically with a solidified defense.
For large parts of the season, Miller and Markstrom only had two options: be the big-time winner with a good performance or be the big-time loser in a below-average game. The big problem here is that the goalie shouldn’t be blamed for a 3-0 loss, even if he gets those three goals against on 10 shots. Miller and Markstrom were often left alone by their offense and defense, and did what they could to win.
In the upcoming year, there is no official starter. The goalie who performs best in practice and game action will get the nod. With that, I expect Markstrom to outplay Miller and start significantly more games than his American counterpart. Miller is way past his prime while Markstrom is entering his, at 26 years old. Plus, Markstrom has to prove he is capable of being a starter before Thatcher Demko shoots past him on the depth chart.
The stage is yours, Jacob.
Next: D Ben Hutton
D Ben Hutton
Wow. Just wow. Who would have seen that rookie season coming?
Ben Hutton went to Canucks camp as a former fifth-round pick who had spent the past three seasons with the University of Maine in the NCAA. All prospects go to camp saying “I will work hard and try to compete for a roster spot” but they rarely succeed. In 2015, Hutton was one of three junior players who actually did earn a roster spot in training camp — the other two being Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann.
While both Virtanen and McCann had to watch several games from the press box, Hutton appeared in 75 games, missing seven with a lower-body injury. Also unlike Virtanen and McCann, Hutton saw an average of 20 minutes of ice time each game, including minutes on the top pairing and power play. In fact, Hutton ranked third (!) on the team in total ice time, trailing only Daniel Sedin and Chris Tanev.
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Last but certainly not least, Hutton was on Team Canada’s roster for the IIHF World Championship. You know, the real tournament. Not the junior version Virtanen attended.
Many young players, like the Canucks’ very own Bo Horvat, tend to fall into a little “sophomore slump” or have at least a bad first half of their sophomore season. Ben Hutton, however, is in the perfect situation to break out as a top-pairing player and push veteran Alex Edler down the depth chart. The reason is Erik Gudbranson.
In 2015-16, Hutton actually spent most of his ice time playing alongside Yannick Weber or Luca Sbisa. Weber is an offensive defenseman, who is famous for his defensive troubles. Sbisa is more of a defensive player, but he was often a liability as well. So, instead of focusing on his own offensive game, Hutton had to cover for his teammates and make sure they didn’t do anything stupid in their own end — that shouldn’t be a rookie’s task.
Still, Hutton recorded a goal and 25 points, leading all Canucks defensemen. This year, he will most likely have defensive D-man Erik Gudbranson on his side. If Gudbranson can make sure the puck doesn’t get too close to the net, Hutton gets more freedoms with the puck. Perfect for him to show that his first year wasn’t a fluke, and that he can be used on the top pairing consistently.
Next: C Brandon Sutter
C Brandon Sutter
You might not have expected this one, but Brandon Sutter is due for a breakout year. The 27-year-old just had the biggest setback of his career, missing 62 games in the 2015-16 season after signing with the Canucks as the new second-line center. Despite that, he had five goals and nine points. Sutter has always been a good two-way player but we are still waiting for the big offensive breakout.
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When he broke into the league in 2008, Sutter filled a bottom-six role behind Eric Staal and Rod Brind’Amour. That changed with Brind’Amour’s retirement and Sutter promptly posted a career-high (to this date) 21 goals and 40 points. But, he struggled the next two seasons, was never relied on as an offensive player, and was eventually traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins to play on the third line behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin. Great.
When the Canucks acquired Sutter in 2015, they wanted to give him second-line ice time to shelter sophomore Bo Horvat. Things didn’t quite work out, Horvat was thrust into Sutters role and we still don’t know what Vancouver has in Sutter. That should change in 2015-16.
If Sutter can stay healthy for the full season — which is what he did every year prior to 2015 — we should see a nice point increase from him. The middle six will likely be interchangeable this season, so there will not be a clear-cut second and third line. Still, Sutter should see the ice time of a second-line player. His potential linemates include scorers Jannik Hansen, Sven Baertschi and Anton Rodin, who will influence Sutter’s actual production.
I won’t blame you if you doubt Sutter can suddenly score 50 points. But I am sure he has the potential. Colorado Avalanche forward Carl Soderberg played his first season as a second-line center at age 30, and he had 51 points in 2015-16. So there’s hope.
Next: Outlook
Outlook
If the Canucks have three players in important roles that experience a breakout year in 2016-17, they have a good chance to make the playoffs. Especially a strong performance from Jacob Markstrom and a solidified defensive core should help.
However, looking at the past season, it is obvious that goal scoring is at least an equally big issue. In 2015-16, the Canucks ranked 29th in the league in goals for, with just 191 goals in 82 games — that makes 2.33 goals per game. As mentioned earlier, a team shouldn’t lose the majority of the games in which they only get two or three goals against.
For the upcoming season, Loui Eriksson should be great help. Jannik Hansen will likely score less when he’s back in a middle-six role, but Eriksson should make up for that. Behind the top line, I am not surprised if you expected me to list Sven Baertschi or Bo Horvat as players who are headed for breakout seasons. But I’m not quite sold on them yet.
Baertschi just played his first full season in the NHL and recorded just 15 goals and 28 points. That is certainly reason to get excited, but it’s not that great for a player who spent the entire season playing on the second line. I expect Baertschi to maybe score 35 points in 2016-17.
Next: Canucks Barely Better than Last Year
Horvat ranked third in Canucks scoring last season, with 40 points in 82 games, but he struggled mightily in the defensive zone. A lot of that is due to the fact that head coach Willie Desjardins used Horvat like a veteran two-way center who was constantly deployed in the D-zone and used on the penalty kill. He will need the 2016-17 campaign to hone his defensive skills and improve in that regard, before breaking out offensively.
If it isn’t Horvat or Baertschi, we can only hope it’s the other three. Because if the entire roster stagnates, we will have to wait at least another year before playoff hockey returns to Vancouver.