VANCOUVER — Even more popular than 50/50 draws and fantasy football pools is a contest called the “Uninvested Canucks” launched by Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet on Saturday night .
Who doesn’t love intrigue, gossip, and potential conflict within their favorite hockey team? Or someone else’s?
“Let’s face it, we have four or five guys and they’re all struggling,” Tocchet told reporters after the Canucks fell into another tie at home and lost 5-1 to the Boston Bruins. “It’s hard for them to be emotionally invested in the game.”
On Sunday, after a quick session of some combat drills, Tocchet expanded his bets, saying there were “probably a couple others” in addition to the four or five he didn’t name the night before.
So when you have six or seven skaters on an NHL team, you’re talking about at least a third of the roster. For anyone who guesses everyone correctly, the bonus with interest will be astronomical.
The only place no one should guess is inside the Canucks locker room. Because the players know it.
Elias Pettersson is the easiest target (two shots, no points, 14:49 average ice time over the past two games). Pettersson even said after Saturday’s loss: “I have to get better. I’m not happy with my performance today.”
Next up in the lineup, wingers Nils Hoglander (no points in 19 games) and Danton Heinen (only 1 point in 12 games) will appear in Tocce on the special list.
There are others, of course, but we’ll stop speculating because the coach sees something that most of us miss.
“Well, they know now,” Tocchet said Sunday. “I mean, that’s what you hope for, when people go home, they say, ‘Hey, man, I had a rough night, I’m going to do something about it.’ (If they) Driving home and saying, ‘It wasn’t me’… then you’re in trouble, you know, sometimes guys aren’t going to have their A-minus, and we understand that, but some guys just don’t engage.
“We don’t have a team that has room for three, four, five guys. We just don’t have it. Edmonton, they can sleep four or five guys and they have guys that can win games for him. We’re a team A team that needs everyone to play and the most frustrating thing yesterday was we had some guys who weren’t ready.”
Regardless of Hoagland and Henin’s status with the Oilers, they can sleep on it all season long as long as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are doing what they do until It doesn’t matter much if the playoffs come.
“We need all of our guys to play every night,” Canucks winger Brock Boeser said. “Sometimes I’m one of those people who doesn’t get engaged; it happens to everyone. But you have to make sure it’s not a consistent thing. I think that’s the most important thing – make sure that no matter who it is, you They can be brought into practice (and conversation), which I think is important.
“I think that’s a hard thing for us right now … making sure we can do that every night. You could see yesterday, we were losing hockey battles. When we’re at our best When we put our hearts and minds into it yesterday it wasn’t good enough and we have to figure out why we were so inconsistent, but that’s why I talk about practice.”
Tocchet said coaches “get it” in practice.
Most of the players we spoke to on Sunday had no idea what Tocchet said to the media after the game but were not surprised by the summary of his comments.
“I don’t think Rick’s intention was to condemn the players through the media,” goaltender Thatcher Demko said. “If anything, he might be more colorful in our team meetings. I don’t think he’s going to tell you one thing and then stop us.
“People know he’s honest and he speaks up when he needs to. That’s why he has so much respect here. His message is accepted. That’s always been the case. He expressed his concerns (and) we as The players heard it. We understand and I think we should get out of this situation now, (but) it’s a long season and I think we’ll be fine.”
Tocchet’s boss is certainly not alarmed. Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said Tocchet “has done a tremendous job,” during an appearance on “After Hours” with “Hockey Night in Canada” host Scott Oak on Saturday.
“He’s in a different situation this year than he was last year. He’s got a lot more to deal with and I’m sure he’s doing a really good job. He’ll figure it out.”
“We worked together in Pittsburgh, so I know him very well. He’s dealt with some of the tougher situations in Pittsburgh. He’s dealt with them for (head coach) Mike Sullivan. We know how he coaches as a head coach, Because we’ve seen when he communicates very well with players when they’re in trouble or when something goes wrong.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be changes. But they will sit on the players’ bench, not behind it.
The Canucks will play their 30th game at home against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday, and Rutherford said his hockey operations staff has to start making decisions about this year’s team and what changes need to be made.
“No one needs to panic,” senior defensive lineman Tyler Myers said Sunday. “Do we want to be more consistent in the game? Absolutely. Focusing on the things that get you to that point should be the focus. There are a lot of good things and we’re not far away and we’ve got to keep coming Coming to the ice, talking to each other, and working hard in practice, we’ve proven that we can play a really solid game and we have to focus and do that more often. “.
Myers acknowledged that accountability is critical to the solution.
“You need your leadership team to handle this and help,” Tocchet said. “Obviously, that’s a big part of it. And then, personally, you hold yourself accountable. I have to hold players accountable for ice time, whether you play or not, that kind of thing. But you don’t want to be like that Man. “A coach who’s always yelled and had a tough attitude, and I think for the most part, these guys have done a good job of identifying their issues since I’ve been here. Not playing well and what we have to do. This year seems a little long…recognizing, ‘Hey, man…let’s go here. ‘”
borneol – The most immediate impact of Saturday’s loss will be Sunday’s new forward line and defensive pairings. Tocchet stuck with Conor Garland on the first line at the end of Saturday’s game along with J.T. Miller and Boeser and added rookie Max Sassen Max Sasson was promoted to the second line next to Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. Kiefer Sherwood practiced on the third line with Pius Suter and Heinen, while Dakota Joshua was demoted to Teddy The fourth line next to Teddy Blueger and Hogland. The defensive pairings are: Quinn Hughes-Noah Juerson; Carson Soucy-Myers; and Derek Forbot-Mark Friedman… Tocchet said the team A “bug” in is affecting goaltender Kevin Lankinen, who may not be ready to play Monday after Saturday’s game.
