Why are the Vancouver Canucks playing David Kämpf like their number one centre?
This has been a monumental week for Vancouver Canucks fans.
The team is on the verge of matching a franchise record for losing streaks. The highest-paid players on the team are running out of answers. Most notably, Canucks management has fully embraced the rebuild, or so they say.
Canucks president Jim Rutherford also alluded to the most important thing moving forward for the Canucks.
“I don’t mind it being ugly this year, because getting that high [draft] pick is important,” Rutherford told The Globe and Mail.
In other words, the Canucks are embracing the tank.
Perhaps that explains their puzzling usage of journeyman centre David Kämpf.
Yes, that Kämpf, who has two goals and three points in 26 games this season, despite spending most of his ice time with two of the Canucks’ highest-paid wingers.
Since Jan. 1, no centre on the Canucks roster has played more even-strength minutes than Kämpf.
It’s not like the minutes have come due to a strong stretch of play from the 30-year-old. During this stretch, the Canucks have been outscored 6-0 at five-on-five with Kämpf on the ice.
Meanwhile, the Canucks have tied the opposition with five goals for and five goals against when Pettersson has been on the ice since Jan. 1.
Not only is his role increasing, but he’s straight-up played more than any Canucks centre in two of the last three games.
Pettersson had a stretch of 26 games where his ice time never dropped below 19 minutes per game. In the Canucks’ last six contests, however, the 27-year-old has only hit that mark once, and his average ice time has dropped to 17:01 per night.
While the theory that the Canucks are playing Kämpf more to help the tank is easy to subscribe to, there are some flaws with that logic.
For starters, head coach Adam Foote has been a fan of the veteran centre since he joined the Canucks, suggesting he isn’t just playing him more with the playoffs out of reach.
“He’s playing unbelievable defence,” Foote said back in mid-December when asked about Kämpf’s play. “He’s winning faceoffs. He’s out there in key moments. He’s doing his job.”
It’s not like Kämpf’s ice time has suddenly spiked during this losing streak. Instead, it appears as though some of Pettersson’s minutes have gone to Max Sasson and Aatu Räty.
Foote is making more of an effort to roll four lines of late. But, even if winning isn’t all that important, there’s an argument that Kämpf might be the least important centre in the Canucks lineup.
If the rest of the season is about developing the young guys, shouldn’t Sasson and Räty play ahead of Kämpf? It’s fair to wonder how Räty might do if he played Kämpf’s primary linemates, Brock Boeser and Conor Garland, as opposed to Arshdeep Bains, Nils Höglander, and Evander Kane.
If there is a chance that the Canucks can trade Pettersson, shouldn’t they continue to feed him minutes offensively? Heck, since Jan. 1, Pettersson has four even-strength goals, whereas the rest of the team has four even-strength tallies combined.
With Foote saying that Teddy Blueger and Filip Chytil could return next week, Kämpf is the most logical candidate to be removed from the lineup.
However, will Foote actually sit the centre who’s leading his team in ice time at five-on-five?