Radim Vrbata: The Canucks' shiniest new toy and his top ten career goals

This guy. And everything he means to the Sedins
this season. Thank goodness. (Flickr: Bridget Samuels)

It's hard to decide which of the Canucks' shiniest new toys -- Radim Vrbata or Ryan Miller -- could end up being more impactful this season. On paper, Miller's Vezina and $6 million salary indicate that the key cog to Vancouver's "New Game" will be in net. But if the season-opener is any indication, Vrbata on the right side of the Sedins is going to give Miller a very healthy run for best off-season signing.

It's not that Vrbata is going to be more valuable than Miller in and of himself. But what Vrbata brings to the Sedins is something that they have so sorely missed in the past few seasons of their gradual statistical decline -- legitimate finish. Last season was many things, but it was not a disaster in net with Lack. The possibility of Vrbata reigniting the Sedins' point-per-game form will ultimately help this team more than the difference between Miller and Lack.

Jason Garrison and the Adrian Aucoin effect

I don't really do #TGATT all that often – neither following nor contributing.  But lo and behold, after following Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets online, it is possible to parlay seemingly innocuous twitter banter into a full-fledged article.  (Cheers, @kerbjack27.)  Who knew?

Adrian Aucoin flashbacks. Held the Canucks club mostDman goals in a season at some point. Does he still?
— Kerby B (@kerbjack27) March 8, 2013

Ah, Adrian Aucoin.  As far as slapshots go, consider him the Canucks' antecedent to Sami Salo.  Aucoin, of course, set that record with a 23-goal anomaly in 1998–99, breaking Doug Halward's 16-year-old mark by four.  And yes, the all-time high still belongs to him.  Between Ed Jovanovski, Christian Ehrhoff, Alex Edler and the dearly-departed Salo, no Canucks defenceman has come within even five of Aucoin's mark since.¹  In fact, of the 23 markers, his 18 powerplay goals was a league-wide record until Sheldon Souray snapped it by one in 2006–07.²  It also remains the Canucks record by four.³  To put that into context, the closest total since was Salo's 9 man-advantage markers in 2005–06.

Jason Garrison: Top 5 Career Goals

A little over a month ago, someone on the Canucks.com forums came to me with a suggestion for my next Top 5 video countdown.  So because I should never take for granted that there are interested people out there actually reading this blog...


When Garrison first expressed interest in signing with Vancouver, quick YouTube searches city-wide determined that, simply put, the guy's got a shot.  In fact, 13 of his 16 goals last season (or 81%) were scored à la Sami Salo (making the loss of said player to free agency a much easier pill to swallow). Without that particular asset, you can guarantee Gillis would not have made him the highest-paid defenceman on the team. 

But as exciting as a howitzer from the point can be, no one seems to be paying any credence to his ability to jump into the rush, which is why I purposefully omitted any cut-and-dry slapshots from these five goals.  This set of highlights showcases an underrated and doubtlessly valuable ability of Garrison's that should be fun to watch once his groin and the lockout have both resolved themselves.

Number five and four are both milestone goals and uncanny carbon copies of each other, while the last three coincidentally feature some sort of Canucks-related cameo appearance (no surprise, given that the Panthers and Canucks have a seemingly exclusive trading partnership with each other).  In number three, Garrison takes a page out of the Sedins' book, deflecting a pseudo-slap pass into the slot while on a power play.¹  Number two sees him on a two-on-one with David Booth, while his buzzer-beating OT winner against Tampa Bay begins with a defensive play from former Canuck Mike Weaver.

A lot has been said about Brian Campbell playing a significant role in Garrison's breakout year.  But whether he's pinching in or hanging back at the blueline, you can bet he'll have just as much space to work with on shifts with, oh let's say...the Sedins?  That said, it'll be exciting to see what he'll be capable of as a Canuck. 

-HC

¹ Though the goal was announced in the play-by-play as a record-breaker for powerplay goals by a Florida defenceman, if you pay close attention, the penalty had ended by just a second.  Rather than 10 powerplay goals, Garrison was left with 9 on the season, tying him with former Panthers Jay Bouwmeester (2008-09) and Gord Murphy (1993-94).

*See the online discussion regarding this article on the Canucks.com forums here.

The deepest blue are Canucks

Outside of Vancouver – with the exception of the most observant NHL followers – the Canucks' group of defencemen may be among the league's most underrated.  For virtually as long as the team has been in existence, the Canucks have lacked a bonafide Norris Trophy candidate and this past year's edition was no exception.  But what the Canucks' blueline may lack in a world class player à la Shea Weber or Zdeno Chara, they make up for in, arguably, unparalleled depth.  This was reflected in the Norris's most recent voting results, as the Canucks were one of only two teams to have three defencemen receive a vote for the award – Dan Hamhuis, Alex Edler and Kevin Bieksa.  (The other team was the New York Rangers with Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto and Ryan McDonaugh.) 

Offensively, this was further exemplified by the Canucks' fifth place ranking in defensive goal-scoring (see table to the right).  Among the top five teams, Vancouver and Los Angeles were the only ones to statistically do so "by committee".  Alex Edler led the Canucks' defencemen with 11 goals, accounting for just over a quarter of the Vancouver blueliners' total output.  Comparatively speaking, the other three teams topped the league by virtue of one standout player.  At 19 goals a piece, Shea Weber and Erik Karlsson scored nearly half of their teams' defensive goals, while Niklas Kronwall's breakout 15-goal campaign accounted for more than a third of Detroit's total. 

Statistically, that may all change for Vancouver if newly-signed Jason Garrison (who himself accounted for 53% of the Panthers' goals by a defenceman – the highest proportion in the league) can match his 16-goal output from last season.  And while Edler's play in the post-season left many wondering how he ever got voted best defenceman by Canucks fans, the reality is, when he's at his best, the big Swede could be just a few years out of a Norris nomination.  All things considered, however, Vancouver remains a balanced force on the blueline with no individual head-and-shoulders above the rest.  Garrison and Edler will share their equal portion of the load with Bieksa and Hamhuis, not to mention the ever-enigmatic Keith Ballard and the ever-improving Chris Tanev representing the blueline's potentially high-reward wild cards.

No one's saying that a player like Weber wouldn't put Vancouver over the top, cause that could very well be the case.  But Canucks fans would be wise to appreciate the group of guys we do have, 'cause collectively, they're among the league's very best.  So in salute of Vancouver's standout rearguards, here are the Top Five¹ of the group's 40 total goals from last season:


-HC

¹ Technically 4 of the Canucks defencemen's 40 goals, as Edler's shootout goal does not count towards official statistics.  Bonus fact: Edler had four shootout goals to lead all league defencemen.

*See the online discussion regarding this article on the Canucks.com forums here.

The Kesler effect: Booth to hit 30?

Of all the Canucks players not named Luongo or Schneider this off-season, perhaps the only one to make any noise has been David Booth (See: Hunting video misguidedly published online).  Whether the Canucks winger should be condoned or criticized or his bear-hunting practices is borderline irrelevant completely up to non-hockey-related debate.

For that reason, it’s unfortunate that any mention of him until training camp will likely redirect attention to that incident (one Province column even facetiously asked in a headline, “Would Canucks trade David Booth after bear bait incident?”), cause speaking hockey, Booth represents the Canucks' central X-factor for the upcoming season.  If there's one player whose impending breakout season the team will benefit most from, it's Booth.  So to the multitudes on the Canucks.com forums heralding Zack Kassian for that role, sorry, but no.

When Gillis traded for Booth last October, the Canucks essentially flipped Mikael Samuelsson and change for a younger, more exciting version of the aging Swede.  At his best, Samuelsson represented valuable second-line scoring and upwards of fifty points you can bank on.  By comparison, Booth delivered 16 goals and 30 points over 62 games in a first year with Vancouver interrupted by major injury.  On a points-per-game basis, that ranked sixth among team forwards, behind the Sedins, Burrows, Kesler and Higgins.  That’s not quite as eye-popping as one of his forays to the front of the net can be, but it’s not a hugely underwhelming performance.  It's also consistent with his expectation to contribute top-six numbers.

Still, the organization and fans will undoubtedly, and even justifiably, want more in 2012–13.  The need is even greater with Kesler sidelined for the first month-and-a-half… though playing without a bonafide centre to start the campaign will logically work counteractively towards that. 

On the flip side, consider that even with a winger capable of scoring, Kesler became even more unwilling to make a pass last season.  (I don't care how many goals you scored two years ago, you can't shoot the puck through the defenceman's skates on every single rush.)  With Kes gone until mid-November, it could spark Booth to take more responsibility for his performance on the second line.  He will conceivably have more puck-time and, consequently, more opportunity to prove why fans voted him for the Most Exciting Player Award at the end of the regular season.  For the former Panthers cornerstone, a return to 30-goal form is not out of the question, even after his multiple concussions in 2009–10.

Though he's been inconsistent in his short tenure with the Canucks, the upside to Booth is that when he does make something happen, everybody notices.  It's legitimate reason to hope he can be a major part of this team for a long time. A little over a month ago, I wrote an article highlighting Henrik Sedin’s top five assists from the previous season.  So without further ado, as determined by Bure’s Triple Deke... Booth’s top five plays from 2011–12:

It makes Canucks fans and management alike salivate at what level he could attain if he did it on a consistent basis.

-HC

*See the discussion regarding this article on the Canucks.com forums here.