Training camp is just 22 days away, and after a lot of shuffling around on the wing and the defence corps, multiple lineup spots are up for grabs. In this series, we’ll be highlighting some of these training camp battles and provide all the facts so you can make your best educated guess at who you think should earn the spot next season.
Today, we kick it off with the training camp battle for the third-line centre role between Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter.
It was a weird start to the season, but honestly, it worked out perfectly for Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet.
Suter won the third-line centre role by default to start the season, as Blueger missed the first month with a foot contusion. He would make his Canucks debut on November 12th against the Montreal Canadiens. Oddly enough, that was the game Pius Suter would suffer a lower-body injury that held him out of the Canucks lineup for the next month.
This allowed Tocchet to get a glimpse of how Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland played with both Suter and Blueger before making the decision when both players were healthy.
Well, it was not an easy decision for Tocchet to make when Suter was back. Both players had identical numbers. Suter and Blueger both played 15 games with Joshua and Garland. Suter scored four goals and zero assists with a plus-three rating, while Blueger scored two goals and two assists with a minus-one rating.
Erring on the side of caution with Suter returning from injury, Tocchet continued to roll with the Joshua-Blueger-Garland line, and that’s when things changed.
From that game on, that line caught heat. Blueger went on the longest point streak of his season, registering points in seven straight games, totalling nine points. The trio spent the following month playing together, proving to the entire National Hockey League that they were among the best third lines in the league.
However, when Joshua suffered a hand injury after a fight against Mackenzie Entwistle of the Chicago Blackhawks, everything started to change. Lines continued to juggle, and newly acquired Elias Lindholm wasn’t gelling at the top of the lineup, where the team hoped he would when they brought him in.
This only pushed Blueger down the lineup, as he would eventually lose his third-line centre role between Joshua and Garland and take on fourth-line duties. All the while, Suter was enjoying playing time up on the wings of Elias Pettersson and JT Miller, where he would ultimately settle in.
So now, for the second straight season, we are left with the question of who’s going to earn that 3C role. Blueger, the third piece of the puzzle that formed one of the league’s best third lines? Or, Suter, the original third-line centre, who lost the role only to be elevated in the lineup?
Well, lucky for us, we have a full year of eye tests and analytics to examine who played better with whom and who deserves that roster spot. Let’s take a look and try to determine who should play 3C for the Canucks next season.
Comparing Blueger and Suter
What’s the best way to compare the two? Well, considering they both played the same role last year and are competing for this season, we can dive into their analytics to determine who performed better in that role.
First, let’s examine Suter and his 15-game stretch with Joshua and Garland to start the season and compare it to Blueger’s 15-game stretch.
It’s easy to look at the goals for/against column and determine that Suter in between Joshua and Garland was more successful than Blueger through their first 15 games. However, that doesn’t paint the full picture. Look past the goals and look at the analytics.
The differences are massive in each of the three categories. While yes, with Blueger on their line, they allowed more goals against by a considerable margin. So, this should result in worse analytics, right? But that’s not the case.
The fact the Blueger line has better xGF%, SCF% and HDCF% than the Sute line despite allowing more goals goes to show how dominant the line was at controlling play and producing scoring chances, even though they weren’t as successful at converting as when Suter was on their line.
To further prove this theory, despite being on the ice for more goals with Suter, both players actually had more points with Blueger. Garland and Joshua both had three points with Suter, while Garland had six points, and Joshua had five with Blueger.
The final counting stats on the season for both players: Suter had 29 points in 67 games while averaging 15:30 minutes per game. Blueger had 28 points in 68 games while averaging 14:56 minutes per game. However, Suter benefitted from consistent powerplay two time, even earning some time on the top unit in the bumper spot. If we filter to just their 5-on-5 points last season, they tied at 23.
As you can tell, they had strikingly similar production last season. However, one facet of their games could sway the odds in Blueger’s favour, and that’s in the faceoff circle.
In 2023-2024, Blueger finished with a 53.1% win percentage on his draws, while Suter won 49.3% of his faceoffs. But it’s not just last season; over the past three seasons, Blueger has finished above 50% on his faceoffs, while Suter has yet to do that in his four-year career.
So, if we’re basing this decision on the stats listed above, it would seem Blueger may have the slight edge. And hey, Tocchet had this decision last season, and he went with Blueger. But does that change this year?
Sure, Suter didn’t retain his third-line centre role once he returned from his injury. But he also wasn’t shunned to the fourth line, either. He earned time on the top line with Elias Pettersson before finding his role on the left side of JT Miller and Brock Boeser’s line.
Pettersson had high praise for Suter when they played on the same line together. Pettersson expressed the offensive freedom he felt with having another centreman who knows how to play the F3 (defensive forward) position. And Canucks fans saw the success the Suter-Miller-Boeser line had together.
So does Tocchet think Suter is too good for a fourth-line role now and chooses him over Blueger?
It’s not like Suter struggled in that role. It just excelled to another level when Blueger was down the middle. There was a stretch from December 14th – January 10th where Blueger led the team in 5v5 points with 12, Garland tied Elias Pettersson at 11, and Joshua was not far behind with 10.
But at the same time, when Blueger was on the third-line, Suter played in a top-six role for most of the season and the entirety of the playoff run. Now that the wings are clogged, does Tocchet go with what worked for most of the season in Blueger? Or does he give it to someone he trusts in a higher role, like Suter?
All we know is that both line configurations play well together, as shown in these clips. And that third line is going to be dangerous no matter which of these players centre it.
What do you think Canucks fans? Who do you think earns the third-line centre role for the 2024-2025 season? Teddy Blueger or Pius Suter?
