This may sound crazy, but the Canucks’ first three pre-season games haven’t been very exciting. In fact, and I’m really going out on a limb with this one, they’ve been a bit boring.
The Canucks have scored just two goals in the three games and none of them have come at 5-on-5. It’s been bland, dull hockey. The thrill is gone. The thrill is gone away.
Part of the reason is that some of the most exciting players on the Canucks roster to start the pre-season haven’t seen much, or any, ice time. Jordan Subban got cut without playing a game. Hunter Shinkaruk and Jake Virtanen have played limited minutes and now Shinkaruk’s been sent down to Utica.
Instead of these fun prospects, fans have received a steady diet of veteran players that have mostly gone through the motions in the pre-season. Fans have been disappointed, but here’s the important thing: the pre-season is not for you.
Pre-season is about preparing for the regular season. Subban wasn’t going to make the Canucks out of camp and, as good as Shinkaruk’s looked, neither was he. The Canucks seem intent on him starting the season in the AHL. 16 goals and 31 points in 74 games in his rookie AHL season probably has something to do with it.
Now, if Shinkaruk had forced the Canucks hand with how well he played, then he would have stuck around. I’m not sure he did that, even with his game on Friday. It’s on him, then, to prove he deserves a call-up with his play in Utica. And you can’t complain too much: Virtanen, as well as other younger guys like Alexandre Grenier and Brendan Gaunce, is still with the team.
I’m not saying you can’t question the Canucks management or coaching staff and the decisions they make -- we do that at PITB on the regular -- just that you can’t base your argument on what would provide you, the viewer, the most entertainment.
As much as we’d like to see the Canucks young prospects play as much as possible, the preseason is not about entertainment or even winning.
The best way for the Canucks to win Friday night’s game against the Flames would have been to get Hunter Shinkaruk and his line with Blair Jones and Jake Virtanen more ice time. When the game went to mandatory overtime, the Canucks’ best option for forwards at 3-on-3 likely would have been Shinkaruk and Virtanen. But the goal of Friday night wasn’t to win the game.
The Canucks need to know whether Vey and Dorsett can be effective at 3-on-3 in overtime more than they need to entertain their fans. For what it’s worth, the Canucks got a pretty definitive answer as to whether Vey and Dorsett work at 3-on-3: no. Or rather noooooooooooooooo.
So why do we watch it? Why do fans pay premium ticket prices for glorified scrimmages? Why do we set our PVRs to record the game? Why do we spend hours watching the pre-season when we could be doing anything else?
Because we’re suckers for Canucks hockey, no matter what form it takes. We’re addicted. It’s a sickness. We have a problem. But that’s okay: the regular season is around the corner and our disease is a lot easier to justify when the games actually mean something.
