It's been a pretty good preseason, all things considered. Thanks to the strong play of Ben Hutton, Jake Virtanen, Jared McCann, and other Canuck draftees, we've mostly been wrestling with "good problems": how many seemingly NHL-ready teenagers to graduate to the opening-night roster, for instance. Oh woe. What a nightmare. But if there's been a bad problem, one might point to the play of the Sedins, who have looked to put about as much effort into these games as Chuck Lorre puts into a sitcom pitch. ("They're two girls. And they're broke. I dunno. That's all I got. Can I have some money now?")
But the Sedins showed up in this one. Not right away, mind you -- the game was still too meaningless for that. (The Sedins, like most people who grew up on Swedish cinema, are constantly searching for meaning.) But with five minutes remaining, they turned it on, and since the Canucks were hosting the Oilers, that was all the time they needed. I wish they'd told me they were going to do that. I'd have waited to check in until they did. Instead, like an idiot, I watched this game.
- How soon is too soon to draft Bo Horvat for your fantasy team? I'm not trying to be a fanboy here. I'm not suggesting you take him before Sidney Crosby or anything. Maybe right after Sidney Crosby.
- Horvat has been the Canucks best player all preseason. And arguably since well before that. I swear he gets faster every time out; his speed is beginning to give defenders fits. We saw it on the Canucks' opening goal, in which Horvat trailed the play, then darted up the middle of the ice, untouched, to tap in Sven Baertschi's centering pass. Admittedly, it doesn't look like he's moving all that quickly on the rush. But then you look at his Oiler counterpart, Anton Lander (no. 51). Lander is really working to keep up with Horvat. He can't. Instead, Horvat effortlessly opens up a sizeable Gap. So sizeable there's a whole outerwear wall, not to mention a fantastic selection of chinos and polos. Plus a Gap Kids!
- Radim Vrbata picked up the second assist on the Horvat goal, which probably made him pretty happy. He's been quietly pushing to skate with Horvat all season, and finally, in the last game of the preseason, he got his wish. Now he can begin building that precious chemistry. Pro-tip: if you're trying to connect with a 20-year-old, you should probably brush up on your Pokemon. There are 721 now. It's insane.
- Ben Hutton had a so-so night. He wasn't bad -- he's never been bad -- but there were a few moments where he didn't look the best, such as when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins walked around him on the Oilers' tying goal. In Hutton's defence, even the best defenders are going to get walked by RNH from time to time. There's no shame in it. Where there is shame, however, is in being the guy who was supposed to tie up Benoit Pouliot's stick before Nugent-Hopkins can hit him with a cross-crease pass, and failing to do your job. That's on Luca Sbisa, who should have been able to tie up Pouliot's stick easily, especially consdering all the rope the coaching staff gives him.
- That said, Hutton should thank Sbisa. He looked bad on the play. He didn't look the worst, which bodes well for his chances of surviving the final cut. In fact, Sbisa was propping Hutton up all game with his poor play, and lest you think we're just picking on the easiest-to-pick-on Canuck defenceman, know that Sbisa was on the ice for a game-worst 21 shot attempts against. It was his fault, too. He struggled to get the puck out of his own end, chasing on cycles, and turning the puck over in transition. At times, you could have convinced me he wasn't even a defenceman, but rather, a lucky contest winner living his dream. If he'd turned to the camera and waved to his friends and family back home, it would have made a lot of sense.
- Sbisa was the only defenceman who had a rough night, though. Matt Bartkowski posted a game-worst corsi of minus-10. (So Hutton was still a top-four defenceman for the Canucks tonight.) He looked worst on the Oilers' 2-1 goal, making an abysmal defensively play by attempting to slide into third base instead of checking someone. But it was a good slide. Under the tag. Safe.
- Speaking of propping up the prospects, Brandon Sutter had the sort of game that makes one hope Jared McCann will be sticking around. I know Sutter was playing wing for the first time in, like, a decade, but he was playing it with the Sedins, and he looked woefully out of place. One wonders how he holds his stick without hands. Is it sewn to his gloves? The only way Sutter could have wasted more Sedin setups would have been if they assembled all his Ikea bedroom furniture, and then he fell asleep every night on the couch instead. It was enough to convince me McCann needs to be here, working on his development. If Brandon Sutter is your third centre, I think you probably want someone warming up in the bullpen.
- So many baseball references! It's because I recently bought a Montreal Expos hat. The Expos are Canada's team.
- Eventually, Sutter was replaced on the Sedin line by Jannik Hansen. He scored immediately, going hard at the crease like an aggressive garment steamer, then hooking home a rebound after an Alex Edler opportunity. It wasn't quite a goal-scorer's goal, although it was a goal, and by scoring it, Hansen made himself the goal-scorer, so actually, uh, it sort of was.
- Plus, if you wanted pretty Sedinery, all you had to do was wait two minutes. In overtime, the twins connected almost immediately. Sent in two-on-one by Alex Edler (who had an incredible game), they effortlessly ended the preseason with a perfect pass from Henrik and a perfect shot from Daniel. Poor Justin Schultz. He's bad at defending. Henrik dances him like he's the tango de la muerte.
