Canucks: What to expect from the penalty kill this season

The Vancouver Canucks’ penalty kill will heavily influence where the team ends up in the standings for this upcoming season.

With the regular season set to commence in a few days, the Vancouver Canucks know that time is not on their side.

Of course, they’re not alone. After the league announced the blueprint for the 2020-2021 campaign, all 31 teams had to get to work right away. Restricted free-agent negotiations, salary cap compliance, possible LTIR placements, you name it. It’s certainly been a busy time for the NHL.

These concerns, however, are not necessarily at the forefront. They will eventually get sorted out, even if they briefly slip into the shadows for a small period of time. In the coming days, management and coaches ultimately have one pressing task on their to-do list: finalizing the list of players to start the regular season on January 13th.

The Canucks, as previously done, will set a 23-man roster that falls under the $81.5 million dollar salary cap. They will also be allowed to carry a taxi squad that comprises four to six additional players. These players will be able to travel and practice with the team, and they ultimately serve as a contingency plan if the team faces any COVID-related challenges.

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Unsurprisingly, many Canucks fans have spent most of their January days scrolling through Twitter, analyzing player-media interactions and drafting the best possible opening night roster based on the outcome of training camp scrimmages and group assignments.

Fortunately, the extent of our armchair GM responsibilities doesn’t go further than the living room. We’ll leave the big decisions to management.

No doubt, Travis Green and co. are under pressure to select a group of players that will give them the best chance at succeeding in the newly-named Scotia NHL North Division. And although most of the focus is evaluating how these players will perform in five on five situations, it’s crucial to consider how they will shape special teams, particularly the penalty kill.

Last season, the Canucks allowed 42 shorthanded goals on 215 powerplay opportunities against, which landed them the 16th-best penalty kill success rate in the league at 80.47%. Not terrible, by any means, but there’s definitely room for improvement.

So what will the Canucks’ penalty kill look like this season?

For the most part, the forward group should be the same as last year. Despite speculation that shorthanded specialist Jay Beagle might not make the opening night roster due to his minimal involvement during the first few days of training camp, his relationship with Green, as well as his extensive penalty kill experience, should work well in his favour overall.

In addition to Beagle, the familiar faces of Tyler Motte, Brandon Sutter and Antoine Roussel are expected to suit up for the defensive special teams as well.

One of the biggest aspects to focus on, however, will be the loss of Jacob Markstrom.

Markstrom, who inked a 6-year, $36 million contract with the Calgary Flames, was easily one of the best penalty killers for the Canucks during the 2019-2020 season.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the two-time and reigning team MVP faced a staggering 210 shots while shorthanded, including 55 high danger shots, and only allowed 26 goals, ranking him 11th best in GAA amongst goalies who played at least 40 games. The Canucks also surrendered the ninth highest penalty minutes per game, averaging just over nine minutes, which didn’t make it much easier for Markstrom’s big workload.

Fortunately, even after losing Markstrom to free agency, the Canucks are still poised to enter the new season with one of the better tandems in the league in Braden Holtby and Thatcher Demko. It is expected that both will be playing heavy minutes throughout the ultra-compressed season, regardless of who captures the 1A title during training camp, but fans are still wondering if either can match Markstrom’s penalty-killing calibre from previous years.

There are also some question marks surrounding the blueline; most notably, how the Canucks will respond after losing Chris Tanev.

Tanev, who spent the last 10 years in Vancouver, was a warrior on the penalty kill. He consistently led by example with his shutdown, defensive style of play, and was never one to shy away from a gritty 50/50 battle along the boards or a painful, sprawling shot block in the offensive zone.

Unfortunately, Tanev has battled numerous injuries during the past few years, and his overall defensive abilities have moved down a peg or two as a result. He will still be a staple penalty killer for the Flames, who signed him to a four-year deal this past offseason, but many Canucks fans are curious to see if the 31-year-old will be able to stay healthy in his new town.

Of course, the same could be said for Travis Hamonic.

Hamonic, who recently signed a professional tryout (PTO) with Vancouver, has drawn many comparisons to Tanev due to his age, injury history, and shutdown style of play. Even though he won’t be participating in training camp because of the league’s mandatory seven-day quarantine, it’s essentially a guarantee that Hamonic will have a roster spot and a new contract waiting for him once the season starts.

With the addition of Hamonic to the penalty kill, as well as the return of Alex Edler and Tyler Myers, the Canucks are pretty much set on the blueline. However, it will be interesting to see who fills the fourth defensive spot once the puck drops on the new season.

The easiest choice would be for Green to go with Nate Schmidt, the newest member of the Canucks.

Schmidt, who was acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights via trade this past October, has experience playing on the penalty kill, and would be a valued addition to the secondary unit. However, many believe that Schmidt, who is regarded for his puck-moving, high-speed style of play, will log heavy minutes as a top-four defenceman, as well as on the second powerplay unit, so Green might hold off assigning him additional shorthanded minutes.

If that turns out to be the case, the other two options for Green would be the services of Jordie Benn or Olli Juolevi.

Frankly, Benn has not lived up to the potential that was expected of him since signing with Vancouver in 2019. The Victoria-native was replaced by Oscar Fantenberg shortly after the start of the last season and found himself on the outside looking in soon after. Even though he is technically still fighting for the final spot in the top six, many believe that Juolevi has the overall edge.

Juolevi, who was drafted fifth overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, has been on the rookie watchlist for a few years. Plagued by injuries while in Utica, it had been quite the journey for Juolevi. However, he seems to be holding his own during training camp, and it would be both exciting and intriguing to see if he could land himself a permanent NHL roster spot as of next week.

All in all, there are still many questions that need to be addressed about the penalty kill.

Will Holtby and Demko be able to hold down the fort as well as their predecessor? Can players like Motte and Roussel find a new offensive gear to propel the overall impact of their penalty kill to another level? How will the Canucks fair in their newly aligned all-Canadian division against powerplay specialists like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews?

Even though fans are seemingly more hopeful than they were at the beginning of the offseason, the Canucks still have plenty to prove as we move closer towards the start of the 2020-2021 season.