Breaking down Arshdeep Bains' impressive Canucks debut at Young Stars (VIDEOS)

For a player participating in his first game in over five months, Arshdeep Bains showed little rust in the first game of the 2022 Young Stars Classic in Penticton on Friday. 

The Surrey native has quickly become the centre of early talk of the tournament for the Vancouver Canucks. This isn’t all that surprising for a fanbase that is relatively starved for local talent representing the city. 

This fanfare is for good reason, as Bains backed up the hometown mantel with superb on-ice details, execution speed, and super-computer efficiency with the puck.  

In what could have easily been a multi-point effort, the 21-year old could have easily seen his name on the scoresheet multiple times over this game. Pushing NHL-translatable habits throughout the entire game, he drew praise from new Abbotsford Canucks coach Jeremy Colliton, 

“He does seem to have really high hockey IQ,” Colliton said post-game.

Transition dynamo

Bains was an overwhelming force with the Red Deer Rebels last season. The top scorer in the WHL, he feasted on opponents on the rush, primarily because of his handling ability, habits to play on the inside of the ice, and just the sheer amount of deception that exists in his game. 

His performance Friday night against the Calgary Flames was no different. The undrafted free-agent signing’s most dynamic sequence came in the second period, an end-to-end rush in which he exploited the momentum of a Flames defender, only to lose control as he broke into the net free. 

Not a functionally fast player, Bains constantly looks to pick apart poor body positions to gain advantages.

Shortly after this sequence, Bains had an incredible offensive zone entry. Flaring out on the left-wing, the Surrey-born winger adjusted his route to the inside, forcing a gapped defender to reach heavily for the puck. As he attracted all the attention, he completed a no-look reverse pass to Max Namestnikov who was home free. 

On top of his smart on-puck carry attempts in this game, Bains connected on multiple long-bomb breakout passes that directly led to chances. A constant defensive-zone supporter, he helped win multiple battles in his own zone to facilitate a quick transition. 

These efforts were ultimately fruitless, until the third period, where he executed a crash off a wonderful pass-off-pad shot by Chase Wouters. A fitting game-winning goal for the transitional performance he put up in this game. 

Details in the offensive zone

The former Red Deer Rebel has a mountain of pro-ready habits in the offensive zone. This allowed him to create all night, especially on the power play. 

In this first sequence, Bains enters the offensive zone with significant pressure. He handles to the inside to beat the first pressure pusher, then spins off to hit a trailing teammate. As the Canucks set up in the offensive zone, Bains identifies a pass lane and takes a nice cross-crease pass. One-touching the puck on the net, the shot was saved but Bains wasn’t done. 

As he went to retrieve the puck in the far corner, he scanned Linus Karlsson’s position with a shoulder peek, and then manipulated with his feet to shake off the oncoming Flames defender. Bains then was able to funnel the puck back into the middle of the ice. 

Bains’ playmaking on the power play was frankly a standout feature of his entire game. In this sequence, he again used eye-line misdirection to fake a shot, only to send a layered pass across the mid-slot to Karlsson, who ultimately took too long to catch-and-release the puck.

These types of plays are NHL caliber and necessary for success against the world’s best. 

Even as a forechecker, Bains possesses some advanced habits. In this sequence he is bearing down on Yan Kuznetsov, who stands at 6-foot-4, 209 pounds. Bains gets lower and proactively initiates contact before the puck retrieval, ultimately winning body position.

Bains is only six feet tall and perfectly demonstrated how smaller players can leverage sense to overcome physical disadvantages. After the won puck, Bains showed off his fishing skills with a nice hook pass into the crease, creating chaos. All of this after a won puck.

Defensive effort

While Bains could have benefited from moving his feet more, he proved to be one of the Canucks’ better defensive forwards in this game. He locked onto secondary threats, constantly was pressuring puck carriers with his stick and body, and he was processing the developing play very quickly.  

While this tournament can be chaotic for coaches and players alike, Bains was the antithesis of this. It was a dream debut, albeit in a rookie tournament.

"Pretty special, little bit of a relief to get it out of the way and now we just keep going and get better."

🗣️ Arshdeep Bains on scoring his first goal in Canuck colours@ToyotaPacific | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/G11RjUG27O

— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) September 17, 2022

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