Canucks: What should a healthy roster look like now?

The Vancouver Canucks will soon have a healthy squad with a log jam of forwards. Travis Green may feel inclined to roll out three scoring lines. After more than 25 games, who makes the cut this time around?

It was quite the shock to the Vancouver Canucks fanbase back in pre-season when head coac  Travis Green sent both Nikolay Goldobin and Sven Baertschi packing to Utica.

It was a bit of a head-scratcher for fans who didn’t understand playing the game with a more balanced line-up. Everything was going perfectly, and  the strategy worked for the month of October. But when injuries struck the bottom-six forward group, Green had to shake things up and since then, the five-on-five effort offensively has been disappointing.

The Lotto line has been a bright spot for the Canucks, but beyond that, the team has really had a tough time producing goals. The chemistry between the trio is off the charts, but splitting up the gang might be what is best for the team — in order to find scoring throughout the line-up.

Bo Horvat, the faceoff machine, has been leaned on heavily once again this season and it’s starting to show some side effects. He has struggled to score at even strength and the team still does not have a consistent winger for their captain.

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Baertschi earned a call-up in an effort to spark some offence in his old linemate. The team had some missing pieces which made No. 47 the perfect option.

Horvat and Baertschi had found success in the past which was a good reason to go back to the well. Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out this time and Goldobin has been recalled in favour of Baertschi.

You don’t call up a player like Goldobin if you don’t plan to play him right away, and if you don’t plan on putting him inside the top-six. He is an extremely talented playmaker with the ability to create a scoring chance or two each game by finding the open man. Of course, general manager Jim Benning and coach Green knew this before, so why now?

Was it because of Goldy’s great efforts in Utica?

Goldobin took the demotion to the farm club quite well and embraced his new role. He saw other players getting called up before him, but never let it get to his head. 18 games played in the AHL and he leads the team in points with 20., and Goldy recently netted a hat trick.

Is it because Miller is the answer to Horvat?

There is no denying that the Lotto line is absolutely a treat to watch, but J.T. Miller is the only player on the roster that has been able to find consistency with Horvat. Micheal Ferland, in my opinion, is not the answer and serves better in a bottom-six role. Maybe Goldobin can stick on the top line while Miller helps Horvat find his game and create some secondary scoring.

Have the Canucks had enough of Eriksson?

The one thing that was more surprising than cutting Baertschi and Goldobin, was the fact that Loui Eriksson made the roster. He has played in 14 games this season and hasn’t registered a single point. The guy is not producing out there, and at this point, it makes zero sense to keep him around. If he remains on the club when the team is healthy, there is definitely something else going on.

The playoff push is real

The Canucks are about to have a healthy roster, but this time the fanbase is expecting to see a few different faces than they did to start the season. Currently, the team sits third in the Pacific Division and 26 games in, it looks like the playoff push is real.

Too much has changed, too much is at stake now. The Canucks need to find a way to get the secondary scoring back on track if they wish to make the playoffs. This team is too good to tank now and the last thing we want is to miss the playoffs by a point or two.

The fans witnessed a successful team that can get it done in October but also saw the team fall apart a bit during November. Benning and Green have seen enough of this team to make a decision on what they want out of this group. The performance of certain players in the next few games may be the final step in deciding how they want to move forward.

The scoring has dried up, and it’s forced the hand of management to try a scoring top nine. Brandon Sutter has proven to be a touch more offensive than expected, so maybe it’s possible after all. So when the roster is indeed healthy again, how do we at The Canuck Way see the forward line up shaking out? I can’t speak for everyone, but personally, I would like something like this…

Goldobin – Pettersson – Boeser
Miller – Horvat ‘C’ – Virtanen
Ferland – Sutter – Gaudette
Pearson – Beagle – Roussel

Scratch: Josh Leivo

This is a roster that I can get behind, but it might not be the final product. Green can move a player around if need be, but more importantly, I don’t see Eriksson’s name anywhere. As a fan of this team, I’ve seenenough of his underperformance, and Eriksson doesn’t better the team in any way.

I believe the players listed above form a playoff caliber team that has the ability to surprise the opponent, and they can play a mix of meat-and-potatoes style hockey with young speed and skill. Benning has done a great job creating a good supporting cast. It will be up to coach Green to solve this Rubix cube, but when he does, it’ll be worth it.