The Vancouver Canucks have a significant issue on defence: their second pairing of Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers.
It鈥檚 been a stunning start to the season for Soucy and Myers, as they鈥檝e struggled to move the puck up ice and repeatedly gotten stuck in the defensive zone. Within the zone, they鈥檝e lost far too many battles in front of the net and failed to boxout opposing forwards or tie up their sticks. As a result, they鈥檝e been on the ice for key goals against all season.
The Canucks have been out-scored 13-to-5 when Soucy and Myers have been on the ice together at 5-on-5. That minus-8 goal differential might not seem all that bad but consider that the pairing of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek is plus-7 at 5-on-5 鈥� essentially the entire advantage created by the Canucks鈥� top pairing on defence has been erased by their second pairing.
Soucy and Myers have come by their negative goal differential honestly, meaning it hasn鈥檛 just been a case of bad luck. Of the 50 defence pairings around the NHL that have played at least 150 minutes together at 5-on-5, Soucy and Myers have the worst corsi percentage at 37.1% 鈥� shot attempts are 227-to-134 for their opposition when they鈥檙e on the ice.
In addition, Soucy and Myers have been on the ice for the first and second-most goals against on the penalty kill: Myers has been on the ice for eight power play goals against, Soucy for seven. Six of those goals against were with both Soucy and Myers together on the penalty kill.
It鈥檚 a problem.
It also doesn鈥檛 seem like one is dragging down the other. Soucy and Myers seem to be dragging each other down equally.
That鈥檚 a major change from last season, where Soucy and Myers held their own as a pairing even when frequently used against tough competition. The Canucks out-scored their competition 13-to-12 with Soucy and Myers on the ice together at 5-on-5.
Head coach Rick Tocchet said on Wednesday that Myers has improved in recent games and that Soucy needs a boost in confidence, as his mistakes have been 鈥渕agnified.鈥�
鈥淓verything he does, it鈥檚 in our net,鈥� said Tocchet. 鈥淚 talked to him today, he鈥檚 close. I would like to see him, and I told him, is get into people a little bit harder. That鈥檚 when he鈥檚 at his best.鈥�
Tocchet is trying to be patient with his veteran second pairing but there鈥檚 a sense that he can only be patient for so long.
鈥淢yers and Soucy were a really good pair for us in the playoffs 鈥� high pressure games,鈥� said Tocchet. 鈥淥bviously, we鈥檝e got to get better and we might have to switch it but whether it鈥檚 next game or not, I鈥檓 not sure.鈥�
So, what are the Canucks options? What can they do to fix their second defence pairing? Let鈥檚 break down some of their options.
1 | Hope they somehow get better
This seems to be the Canucks鈥� current strategy: patiently wait for Soucy and Myers to find their games and morph into the veteran, shutdown defence pair that they seem to believe they can be.
It鈥檚 a risky strategy because there鈥檚 no telling how long it will take for the two of them to get their games in order or if it will ever happen. In the meantime, the pairing could continue to cost the Canucks games.
But perhaps it could work if the Canucks really focused on a back-to-basics approach for the two of them: protect the guts of the ice, tie up your man in front, and get safe clears to neutral ice. Simple, ugly hockey.
2 | Make a trade for a top-four defenceman
The Canucks trading for a defenceman sometime this season seems inevitable. With the cap space they can accrue throughout the season, they could have some serious coin to spend at the trade deadline to add an impactful player, but with the way Soucy and Myers have struggled, they might need to make a move a lot sooner.
The Canucks are rumoured to be interested in Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Marcus Pettersson, who would check a lot of boxes for the Canucks. He鈥檚 a steady, minute-munching defenceman with plenty of experience playing against tough competition and he has a very reasonable cap hit of just over $4 million.
That said, Pettersson has also been on the ice for more goals against at 5-on-5 this season than any other player in the NHL. But that鈥檚 probably because he鈥檚 averaging over 22 minutes per game for one of the most porous teams in the NHL. Probably.
There are other options on the trade market, of course, but with the way the Penguins are struggling and moving into a rebuild, Pettersson might be the only one that鈥檚 available right now.
3 | Throw a call-up defenceman into the top-four
What if, instead of Marcus Pettersson, the Canucks put Elias Pettersson into their top-four?
Okay, maybe this is a stretch, but is there a chance that Pettersson, the Canucks鈥� top prospect at left defence, is ready for a big role in the NHL? He鈥檚 playing significant minutes for the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL and succeeding at that level; what if he could do the same in the NHL?
That鈥檚 obviously a significant jump and it鈥檚 entirely likely that Pettersson isn鈥檛 ready for the NHL at all, let alone a second-pairing role. But it could be worth trying. The Canucks haven鈥檛 been shy about throwing prospect forwards into major roles in the team鈥檚 top-six; maybe they should do the same on defence.
4 | Split Soucy and Myers up with Hughes and Hronek
If Tocchet seems reluctant to split up Soucy and Myers, it鈥檚 for good reason: he doesn鈥檛 have many other options.
The most obvious option would be to also split up the Hughes-Hronek pairing for a completely different first and second pair. In fact, that鈥檚 what Tocchet and assistant coach Adam Foote have done in a couple of recent games when the struggles of Soucy and Myers have become too much to bear: Soucy with Hronek and Hughes with Myers.
The trouble is that instead of going from one elite pair and one awful pair to two good pairs, the Canucks instead end up with two bad pairs as Soucy and Myers drag Hughes and Hronek down with them.
Soucy and Hronek have been an utter disaster together. Shot attempts are 40-to-18 for the opposition when those two are on the ice together at 5-on-5. Shots on goal are 21-to-8. They carry an expected goals percentage of 21.0% as a pairing, which is appallyingly low.
Hughes and Myers have better overall numbers together but that鈥檚 partly because Hughes has frequently been double-shifted with Myers when the Canucks have trailed in the third period and are pushing for a comeback, artificially inflating their underlying numbers.
In a recent game against the Nashville Predators when Hughes and Myer were paired together for a longer length of time, the Canucks were out-shot 3-to-0 when they were on the ice together at 5-on-5, as they were utterly unable to push the puck up ice offensively 鈥� a major problem when Quinn Hughes is half of your pairing.
In any case, and the two get elite results together. Splitting them up cannot be a long-term solution.
5 | Split Soucy and Myers up with Br盲nnstr枚m and Juulsen/Desharnais
Instead of splitting up the top-four defence pairings, what if they split up the bottom-four?
There have already been calls to do this from the fanbase thanks to Erik Br盲nnstr枚m鈥檚 quality play since being called up from the AHL. Br盲nnstr枚m鈥檚 ability to move the puck up ice has been a welcome addition to the bottom pairing and he鈥檚 chipped in offensively as well, with 4 points in his last 5 games.
With that in mind, why not bump Br盲nnstr枚m up with Myers to give him more minutes and potentially give the Canucks a second pairing that spends less time in the defensive zone?
It could be worth a shot but there鈥檚 something important to keep in mind: Br盲nnstr枚m has looked good playing on a heavily-sheltered third pairing and might not be able to handle the tougher competition of a second-pairing role.
, Br盲nnstr枚m has spent the lowest percentage of his minutes against elite competition on the Canucks. That鈥檚 also illustrated by this chart from , where Br盲nnstr枚m鈥檚 time spent against top-six forwards this season is well below the league average indicated by the red line.
It might still be worth trying, of course. Perhaps a Br盲nnstr枚m-Myers pairing could be the answer and Soucy might thrive in a more sheltered third-pairing role alongside Vincent Desharnais or Noah Juulsen.
But it also wouldn鈥檛 be surprising to see Br盲nnstr枚m struggle to defend against elite competition in a bigger role.
6 | Split Soucy and Myers up into Frankenstein-like monsters that are half-Soucy and half-Myers
Maybe the solution isn鈥檛 to split up Soucy and Myers between the Canucks鈥� other defence pairings but to split them up within themselves.
The resultant Carson Myers and Tyler Soucy could potentially be greater than the sum of their parts. Perhaps one would get the best of both players and turn into a a legitimate top-tier defenceman, while the other would get the worst of both players and have to be put on waivers to send to the AHL.
Of course, this raises all sorts of questions about contracts and cap hits that could get quite complicated. I don鈥檛 think the CBA covers monstrous creations of mad science that should not be.
7 | Tell Soucy and Myers that they鈥檙e getting traded for a real second pairing, only for them to find out they鈥檙e being traded for each other and the real second pairing was inside them all along
It鈥檚 time for the Disney Channel Movie solution: convince Soucy and Myers that they really are good enough and they鈥檒l be able to overcome the mental blocks that are preventing them from realizing their potential.
To that end, the Canucks will have to convince Soucy and Myers to waive their no-trade and no-movement clauses, respectively, because they鈥檙e being moved to a team that really wants them and believes that they can be impactful players on a Stanley Cup contender. Plus, they鈥檇 be doing right by the Canucks, who will get a true second pairing in return.
Then, reveal that Soucy is being traded to the Canucks for Myers and vice versa. The team that really wants them and believes in them was the Canucks all along and they鈥檙e the true second pairing that the Canucks need.
Cue the tears, let the music swell, roll credits.
8 | Sign this intriguing free agent defenceman who might be two kids in a trenchcoat
One option that we haven鈥檛 explored yet is free agency. There are a handful of free agent defencemen that have yet to sign with any team over a month into the season, such as Mark Giordano, John Klingberg, and Kevin Shattenkirk.
To be fair, there鈥檚 a reason for that. Giordano is 41, Klingberg is coming off double hip surgery, and Shattenkirk has seen his defensive game decline significantly in recent years. Still, all three have been top-pairing defencemen in the past and could provide some veteran savvy to a team in need of stability on the back end.
Or the Canucks could look for someone younger in free agency. For instance, there鈥檚 R茅al Personne 鈥� I think he鈥檚 from Quebec 鈥� who definitely looks young, with a pimply face betraying no sign of facial hair. He鈥檚 definitely got the height that the Canucks like on defence, so that鈥檚 a mark in his favour.
The only problem is that he might be two kids in a trenchcoat, which is at least preferable to .
