It was exactly the type of shift you fear when you put a young line together: Sven Baertschi, Bo Horvat, and Jake Virtanen got stuck in their own end of the ice for nearly a full minute, unable to regain possession and get the puck out of the zone.
For a coach like Willie Desjardins who prizes responsible defensive play, that mid-second period shift against the Edmonton Oilers must have been stressful. He was likely licking his lower lip even harder than normal. While Horvat still played a regular shift afterwards, Baertschi and Virtanen saw minimal shifts, finishing with 10:29 and 9:10 in ice time, respectively.
He can’t have missed, however, how that shift ended. When the Canucks finally did get the puck out into the neutral zone, Virtanen bowled over both Oilers defencemen, sending the puck skittering into the Oilers’ zone. Baertschi jumped onto it for a breakaway, one of the Canucks’ best scoring chances of the game.
To a certain extent, this is the tradeoff with skilled young players: their inexperience will lead to mistakes, but their abilities and enthusiasm will lead to opportunities as well. At some point, Desjardins is going to have to let the kids be kids.
It’s hard to ignore what’s going on elsewhere in the Western Conference. Anthony Duclair and Max Domi are ripping it up in Arizona, both with 7 points in 6 games. Artemi Panarin in Chicago also has 7 points. Connor McDavid is, well, Connor McDavid, so he’s a special case, but he’s got 5 points in 6 games. Mattias Janmark has 4 points for Dallas, while Nikolaj Ehlers has 4 points for Winnipeg.
All of those players are rookies and they’re also all, apart from Duclair, averaging more than 15 minutes per game. Even Duclair is averaging over 15 minutes in his last 4 games.
The Canucks’ rookie forwards, on the other hand, aren’t getting anywhere near that kind of ice time.
Jared McCann has two goals, enough to be tied for the team lead. He’s averaging 10:45 in ice time per game. Jake Virtanen is averaging exactly 9 minutes per game. Sven Baertschi, who is technically not a rookie but is one in spirit, is averaging 11:49 per game despite leading the Canucks in corsi.
The counter-argument is clear: the other rookies have earned their ice time. Duclair is a prime example: he played under 10 minutes in each of his first two games, but tallied an assist in each, then put up a hattrick in his third game. That’s about as clear a case as you can get for earning a promotion.
It’s hard to earn a promotion when you’re not given an opportunity to do so. Baertschi assisted on the only Canucks’ goal against the Oilers, with both his linemates on the ice creating havoc in the offensive zone after a faceoff. They didn’t get much of an opportunity to provide more offence after that.
And yes, they had a bad shift. And maybe Desjardins made the right decision in sending a message to his young players about what is expected of them and what their responsibilities are now that they’re in the NHL. To his credit, he had the line back together at practice and it looks like they’ll be together for the Canucks’ next game against the Capitals.
But Baertschi and Virtanen were on the ice for two shots against. Just two. The Canucks out-shot the Oilers 6-2 with Virtanen on the ice and 5-2 with Baertschi on the ice. That one bad shift did not cost the Canucks anything and the line was playing well enough that giving them a little more rope wouldn’t have hurt.
Young players will make mistakes, but you can't let them be afraid of making those mistakes.
There’s one rookie, of course, that is getting plenty of opportunity and making the most of it: Ben Hutton. The 22-year-old is already getting second pairing ice time, averaging 18:49 per game, right behind Dan Hamhuis and ahead of Matt Bartkowski and Luca Sbisa.
HIs 3 assists in 6 games puts him first on the Canucks in defencemen scoring and tied for first among NHL rookie defencemen. His possession numbers aren’t great so far, but are still better than the pairing of Hamhuis and Bartkowski. Besides, he’s been playing with Sbisa, who generally craters his partners’ possession numbers.
The line of Baertschi, Horvat, and Virtanen deserves some of the same leeway Hutton’s been given, largely because the Canucks, the way they’re currently built, won’t succeed if their young players don’t step up and take on a larger role.
