Hey, do you recall Ronalds Kenins? The Canucks just did.
On Wednesday morning, the Canucks invited the Latvian winger up from the Utica Comets, and not a moment too soon. Heck, if anything, it's a moment too late. The team could have -- and would have -- used Kenins Tuesday night if they'd been able to get him to Los Angeles in time. Instead, they were forced to turn to rookie defenceman Andrey Pedan, who saw a pittance of icetime (3:54) as a winger in the lamest NHL debut since Kellan Lain got ejected two seconds into the infamous John Tortorella hallway game.
But Kenins' impact could go beyond replacing Pedan. The winger had some scoring success with Bo Horvat last season. Might a reunion help the young centre rediscover his offensive side? That'd be great.
If not, Kenins should be able to provide the club with a little bit of extra energy and toughness, or at least remind Derek Dorsett and Brandon Prust what that looks like. Because lately, the Canucks' tough guy tandem has looked about as tough as two tough guys riding a tandem. Which isn't very tough:
Prust gets the unfortunate view because he's newer, obviously.
Monday night in Anaheim, Prust and Dorsett were practically nonexistent, which is crazy, since their main job is to provide protection, and Ryan Getzlaf was practically terrorizing the kids all night.
This wasn't some Nightmare on Elm Street thing where Getzlaf was going after the youngsters in their dreams, either. He was right there. On the ice. They did nothing. And then, to make matters worse, they were somehow collectively outhit by Henrik Sedin, a guy so nice he whispers "sorry" at every collision.
It was enough to inspire Justine Galo, the Smylosphere's best mom, to pen an open letter to the duo after the game. From Canucks Corner:
Jim Benning wanted a “safe work environment” for the young guys and the stars. In this game, Miller; Virtanen; and McCann can tell you differently. That’s why guys like you, Brandon and Derek, were brought into the fold, and being paid scoring players’ money to do it. That’s $5million or so dollars the Canucks pay you to make sure this type of game doesn’t happen. What the heck were you two doing last night?
Brandon, you have sweet twitter game. But if we wanted twitter game, we would have kept Eddie Lack. This needs to be addressed by the both of you. That means to make sure guys like Getzlaf, Kesler and Perry don’t ever do that to our boys again. We all have jobs to do, your team and your fans need you blokes to do yours.
Safe to say Dorsett and Prust didn't read the letter, because they weren't much better Tuesday night in Anaheim, where Jacob Markstrom was run without retaliation.
Let me be clear: I'm not pushing for a fight. Fighting is stupid and the NHL needs to properly legislate it out of the game. But there are other ways to push back. Actual pushing, for instance. Or how about a big hit? Kenins may not be the pugilistic type, but he should at least be able to rattle the glass a few times, and if we're lucky, Prust and Dorsett will follow his lead.
Kenins has a big opportunity here to make an impact. At training camp, he effectively lost his spot to Jake Virtanen, but Virtanen has struggled of late, is injured at present, and might be off to the World Juniors in future, especially if Kenins plays well enough to convince the Canucks they won't miss him.
