By Joel Smart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 22, 2012
With little more than 20 games left in the season (and thus little more than 40 possible points to be gained or lost), it’s starting to become clear who the major contenders are this year: the New York Rangers seem to be running away with the East, while the Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings battle it out for the West. Currently, both the Canucks and the Red Wings are on pace for a 114-point season, while the Rangers are on pace for a 117-point season – although such stats rarely hold true. It will likely be a tight race for the President’s Trophy this year, but one the Canucks still have a great shot at winning if they play great down the stretch. But do they want to?
As Tony Gallagher wrote about in The Province a few days ago, it might be a smarter choice to simply focus on staying healthy and rested for the playoffs, rather than going all out to secure home-ice advantage. It’s a fair argument, especially considering how much of a grind the team now realizes the two-month postseason can be. It may be a smarter choice to simply ensure the team wins its comparatively-easy division (with their nearest rivals currently over 15 points behind). With such a focus, they could guarantee themselves at least a third-place finish in the West, and hopefully a healthier, more adept roster. With the league reaching such a high level of parity, at least among the playoff-bound teams, this might be the season to consider such an approach.
It isn’t like the suggestion is to throw games, or take a night off. The question comes down to, how much ice time do you want to give to your most important players down the stretch? Do you want to be putting someone like Sami Salo on the ice as much as you can in pursuit of the President’s Trophy, or would it be smarter to limit his ice time if possible? It’s a fun topic for an armchair GM to discuss, but Mike Gillis and Alain Vigneault will have to consider such a topic as the regular season hits its final stretch. It might not be worth it to roll the dice on losing too many points, or heading into the playoffs in a slump. It might not be good to play the last 20 games differently than you want to be playing come the first round.
Cory Schneider made his 19th start in Edmonton last Sunday, and his increased play actually does signal the Canucks are employing a strategy of rest. The aim is to keep Luongo from fatiguing come playoff time, when the travel and intensity can really wear out a player, especially a goaltender.
Personally, I remain conflicted. I think that winning home ice advantage and superior matchups is still worth the effort of pushing for the President’s trophy – it’s certainly within reach if the Canucks can keep going at the rate they are. However, it might be worth cutting down on someone like Dan Hamhuis or Henrik Sedin’s ice time just a bit, considering they’ve played in every game so far this season, and provide invaluable services to the team.
For Gallagher, giving the team a few more days off, instead of hard practices, might payoff in the end. To Henrik’s credit, he saw the wisdom in such a strategy. As he told Gallagher, “I think over the last two months especially it’s been a lot of travel and it mounted up and you have to realize as you get older in this league maybe you need a few more days off.” If the Canucks can manage to rest their players without losing games, it would be the best of both worlds. Regardless of how it turns out, though, it is sure to be an exciting finish to the season.
