It doesn’t really matter if JT Miller plays a single preseason game or if the appearance Quinn Hughes made in Abbotsford on Wednesday is the only time we see the Vancouver Canucks’ captain in exhibition action. There’s no doubt both of them will be ready to go when the Canucks start playing for keeps on October 9th against Calgary.
What those players, the coaching staff and Canucks fans can’t be so sure about is what either of the team’s power play units will look like when all available personnel are in uniform and out on the ice on the same night. That’s something that hasn’t been seen at any point through training camp or the preseason. And with just two exhibition outings remaining, it’s time for the Canucks to start placing particular emphasis on their work with the man-advantage.
On the eve of camp in Penticton, Rick Tocchet sounded eager to get an early jump on his special teams work. However, it wasn’t until the final day of camp that the Canucks rolled out power play formations. And even then, all of it was based on the way the two teams were going to line-up for the end of camp scrimmage. That was a week ago.
Since then, the Canucks have played four preseason games and with no Miller yet and just the one game for Hughes, the team hasn’t had anything close to its top formation on the ice together.
As a refresher, it’s important to remember that this was a power play that operated at 18.8% from the All Star break on last season. That conversion rate plummeted to 13.9% across the 13 playoff games the Canucks contested last spring.
Tocchet conceded in Penticton that Jake DeBrusk, as expected, would get the first look on the top power unit with Miller, Hughes, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. But what does that look like? And if, for some reason, DeBrusk isn’t the fit the club is hoping for, what changes need to be made to accommodate the right-handed Daniel Sprong in that mix?
And who knows what the second unit looks like with Sprong, Nils Höglander, Conor Garland, Danton Heinen, Pius Suter and perhaps even Aatu Raty, if he continues his strong showing, all battling for opportunities along with Filip Hronek at the point.
The first week of the exhibition schedule serves a number of purposes including veterans shaking off the summer rust while the organization takes a look at what it has in the system. And the Canucks have done that now with four games in five nights. But with two games remaining before the season opener, it’s time to start looking and the next 10 days with an eye to the future.
With all due respect to the likes of Carson Soucy, Mark Friedman and Noah Juulsen, something would have to go completely off the rails to see any of those getting power play reps in the regular season the way they all did in Saturday’s 4-2 loss in Calgary.
No, it’s time to get JT Miller and Quinn Hughes into the line-up starting on Monday in Edmonton. It’s important to see how DeBrusk reads and reacts to what’s going on around him. It’s also vital to see and implement the necessary changes the coaching staff has made to make the power play more productive than it was late last season. More of the same certainly isn’t the answer.
But there’s only one way to find out. And that’s by putting something close to the power play groups the Canucks will deploy in the regular season to work in their final two exhibition outings.
It’s time to ramp up regular season preparations, and the power play needs to be a weapon for the Canucks. Put the work in now so that it – like the team itself – is ready to come out firing on opening night.
