Vancouver Canucks preseason: 5 Lineup battles to watch in the last games

There are only two games remaining in preseason for the Vancouver Canucks after the games in China and in North America.

This preseason seemed to have passed rather quickly for the Vancouver Canucks. There were so many talking points, from the emergence of Brock Boeser as a proven NHL-caliber goal scorer to the two 2017 NHL China Games against the Los Angeles Kings. There were so many other things to watch for this year, making preseason quite the interesting affair this year.

For better or for worse, the split-squad games exposed nearly all of Vancouver’s prospects to other NHL prospects and veterans here in North America while the veteran Canucks were in China.

Also for better or for worse, the NHL decided to crack down on faceoff violations and more importantly, the slashing infractions. There were more powerplay and penalty kill opportunities in each of the games than two un-slashed hands could count. It seems that the league has sent its referees a memo, telling them to loosen up on the slashing calls a bit.

As for the Canucks, many things have changed as well.

Much of the North American youth squad was sent down a couple of days ago to the AHL, where they are going to participate in the Utica Comets’ main camp under new Utica head coach Trent Cull. He had ample opportunity to observe his young players in action while coach Travis Green was away in China. The Canucks sent these ten players down on Saturday.

• RW Michael Carcone
• LW Yan-Pavel Laplante
• D Evan McEneny
• C Zack MacEwen
• F Griffen Molino
• D Ashton Sautner
• D Jordan Subban
• C Brett McKenzie (to UTI camp)
• D Aaron Irving (to UTI camp)
• RW Alexis D’Aoust (to UTI camp)

Now, Green and his assistants return to Vancouver with many questions to answer, the most pressing ones pertaining to the NHL-ready youth and the depth players. There are still spots on this Canucks lineup to be had and uncertainty on who will be the 13th forward and the 7th defenceman.

These players are going to battle it out until there are just 21 skaters and two goaltenders left for opening night, excluding injuries.

Here are five storylines, battles to watch as your Vancouver Canucks look to make their final cuts with just two preseason games remaining.

Battle on the Blueline Depth:
Patrick Wiercioch vs. Alex Biega vs. Andrey Pedan

The Canucks have not officially disclosed how many forwards and defencemen they will have on the team this year. Traditionally, Vancouver has gone with eight blueliners, sometimes converting players like Andrey Pedan and Alex Biega as forwards as needs be.

With Coach Green coming in with a reputation for rolling all four lines in fast-paced, gruelling brand of offence, there is a chance that the Canucks may elect instead to carry two extra forwards and just one extra healthy blueliner.

If that is the case, Biega and Pedan are going to have to work extra hard if they want to make Vancouver think hard about carrying one of them has an eight defenceman. Worse comes to worst for the two, they will have to battle unrestricted free agent acquisition Patrick Wiercioch, the Burnaby native, for the rights to be the seventh defenceman.

Though the Canucks have not seen much of Wiercioch in game action yet, the consensus is that he skates quite well for a 6-foot-5 man.

So far, Pedan has looked okay while Biega has done very well in the role that he has been asked to carry out. Biega was especially noticeable against the Los Angeles Kings at the beginning of preseason, where he lived up to his nickname “Bulldog” and was hard in pursuit of the puck.

The classic Biega was there but there was a play that showed Biega’s evolution as a creative offensive threat.

The Harvard graduate flashed his hand-eye coordination knocking down a Kings clearing effort at the blueline, faked a slap shot and threaded a pass to Jake Virtanen who then one-timed the puck against Jonathan Quick for a goal.

And finally, Biega’s versatility as a fourth-line forward should not be overlooked. He looked great on the forecheck, working hard as always.

Assessment

The No. 7 defenceman role is Wiercioch’s is to lose. Pedan can rival Wiercioch’s physicality but not Wiercioch’s offensive upside (albeit limited) and NHL experience. Biega can definitely challenge Wiercioch for the spot in these two games and may make the NHL as the versatile No. 8 blueliner/14th forward.

Wiercioch will definitely get some time to prove himself with his new club.

Battle for the #3 Netminder Spot:
Thatcher Demko vs. Richard Bachman

This is not a battle for a spot in the NHL, though Anders Nilsson and Jacob Markstrom are going to push each other to play better each game. The battle between youngster Thatcher Demko and veteran Richard Bachman this season will be one for AHL crease supremacy.

So far in preseason, neither has found a friendly place to play. The duo let in nine goals against the Vegas Golden Knights, five of which were against Bachman. The 30-year-old veteran also played the duration of the Edmonton Oilers game, also letting in five goals.

As for Demko, he let in four goals against Vegas and another three goals against Calgary. He finishes with a .848 save percentage while Bachman is at .804.

https://twitter.com/MalteseSports/status/910837748692594688

These stats are quite meaningless since the group was hastily put together without any veteran presence. Plus, the split-duty games are always tough, while the small sample size and the volatility of a new roster in Vegas and the stars on the Edmonton roster do not serve as good measuring sticks against these two netminders.

The two are still with the Canucks, though it remains to be seen if either will see minutes in these final two games.

If they do, it will be the final audition before deciding whether Bachman returns to his starting role in Utica or if Demko reclaims his role as Utica’s top netminder in Bachman’s absence in backing Ryan Miller up late last season in the NHL.

Assessment

Though the two do share a mentor-mentee relationship, the time is soon approaching that the 5-foot-10 Bachman will step aside for the 6-four-4 Demko to be the Comets’ starter to a road to becoming the Canucks’ starter. Will that be this year? Regardless, Demko is not playing in the NHL for at least two years.

Battle to be the Physical Depth Winger:
Derek Dorsett vs. Darren Archibald

Derek Dorsett has always been rather small to play the style of game that he plays. He’s no more than six-foot tall and is a shade under 200 pounds. Especially after last season’s neck surgery, Dorsett can’t be too far from meeting former Canuck Brandon Prust‘s fate as a rather small grinder who no longer has a place in the NHL as a 30-year-old tough guy.

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Enter Darren Archibald, the six-foot-four 27-year-old winger who led the Utica Comets in scoring last year with 23 goals and 47 points in 76 games.

Archibald won’t be even close to becoming a scoring threat in the NHL. He has had just 16 games at NHL level, all with the Canucks, and has just three NHL points in his entire career.

It should be surprising for many that he was not among the ten players sent back to Utica this past weekend. Archibald was almost always sent back to the AHL at that point in camp and in the past three+ years has not seen NHL time.

But this season with his former Utica coach Travis Green now behind Vancouver’s bench, Archibald may have his last sliver of hope of being an NHL player. He will most likely have to beat Derek Dorsett to the job, only to be a healthy scratch on most nights, especially if Jake Virtanen’s physicality makes the Canucks.

Assessment

Dorsett had two hits in the first preseason game against the Kings. Albeit against weaker opponents, Archibald had four hits and four shots against Vegas and followed that up with four more shots against Calgary and four more hits against Edmonton to go along with two more SOGs.

Archibald has all the reasons to beat Dorsett to the job. He is younger, bigger, more aggressive, and even cheaper, cheap and developed enough to be fine as a healthy scratch on many nights.

Dorsett, however, is a veteran who will be extremely difficult to trade (unless the Canucks take back significant salary, perhaps?) and very troubling to put on waivers. A short stint in the AHL to get his hockey sense back after a huge surgery might not be bad for Dorsett, though.

Battle to be the Skilled Depth Winger:
Anton Rodin vs. Reid Boucher

The great Anton Rodin experiment didn’t happen last year for the Swedish Hockey League’s former MVP. Instead, his troublesome knee took him out from hockey this time of the season last year, sidelining him until now.

Rodin has undeniable skill. He just does not have his game ready just yet because of the injury. His ability to withstand the physical rigours of the NHL is a totally separate issue if his knee is as fine as he says it is.

Though Rodin has not had much to cheer about this preseason, he flashed his skill last game.

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/911427987005857792

He has two goals so far in preseason and he deserves more time to get his game sense back. It has come back big time over these past few preseason games and will only get better as he plays more structured games with fellow NHL-calibre players.

As for Reid Boucher, his offseason was focused on getting his fitness back on track after being put on the hot seat by Willie Desjardins. His shot was always elite but his fitness was questionable at best.

Though the journeyman career for Boucher taught him to play a physical game as a smaller player, his forte is his shot, a shot that we have yet to really see in preseason action.

In comes coach Green and his high-energy offensive philosophy (feat. bag skate). Boucher had better done his fitness homework if he wants to stick around because he and Rodin are two skilled wingers who are barely keeping their heads above the younger players thanks to their respective scoring pedigrees, in the SHL and in the CHL.

Assessment

Rodin deserves a longer look, even into the regular season, while Boucher is in a tough spot through three-quarters of the preseason without much to show. His weakness being fitness, he has to prove himself and prove himself quickly unless he wants to find himself on the waivers again, this time abandoned by one of the worst offensive teams in the entire NHL.

And so it was…

Related Story: NEWS - Canucks put Reid Boucher on Waivers