Canucks’ centre conundrum remains as Raty goes for a reset

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Aatu Rati needs a reset, says his coach.

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That’s why the young Finn essentially found himself on the bench in the closing stages of the Vancouver Canucks’ 5-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, a win that was a lot of fun, a lot of loose, and maybe a little lucky — won not least because of a stellar performance from another young player, goaltender Nikita Tolopillo.

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Adam Foote said after practice Wednesday in Anaheim that Ratty might need a break, watching a game or two from up in the press box might help.

“Take a step back and look at the situation from above… you want to do this without breaking their confidence,” the coach said.

Against the Ducks, Foote and the coaching staff relied too heavily on their top-end players, partially due to special teams, which limited the ice time of the bottom two lines. And as the game progressed, fourth-line center Max Sasson began to pull away from Ratty, who had started the game between Drew O’Connor and Kiefer Sherwood on the third line.

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On Wednesday, Sasson was practicing with those two speedy wingers. Sasson has been one of the Canucks’ better two-way players this season, playing plenty of responsible minutes, albeit limited, alongside his longtime AHL linemates Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson.

The question is, can he continue to play those quality minutes as the quality of the opposition increases? He had a short stint as a second-row center back earlier this season and seemed stuck. But playing alongside two quality two-way wingers like O’Connor and Sherwood could help them find success again.

However, the elephant remains in the room. This team lacks a true No. 2 center. David Kampf, signed last weekend, has shown everything right so far, but his skill set is exactly as advertised, a defensive center with a little offensive punch.

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Over the course of four games, he’s been on the ice for five-on-five goals three times, which isn’t all that different from many of his new teammates. Then, like Sasson was when he was on the second line, he’s being asked to do more than he’s capable of.

Realistically, the Canucks need to find a two-way centerman who can push Kampf, Ratey and Sasson down the pecking order, no matter what order they pan out.

And that brings us back to Jim Rutherford’s comments from earlier this week: The team needs to get younger. This does not mean that the management has given up on their stated ambition of finding a second-line centre, but the type of play they can target has changed: can they find a young player who is clearly no longer a second-line center but who could develop into one?

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That was why he threw a dart at Lucas Reichel. He’s been a quality scorer at every level outside the NHL, so can he find a way to translate his talents to a secondary scoring role?

Till date he has not done so; In fact he has been in the press box for a week. He skated as a fourth-line center in Wednesday’s practice, the same role he played last season in Chicago — though that’s also generous, as he was rarely given a chance to play center in Chicago.

The Canucks appear to have reached the same conclusion with Reichel as Chicago: he doesn’t have it. He can’t think about playing the game fast enough to be offensive and doesn’t have the defensive instincts that the other three centers mentioned here have.

Long term, the Canucks need to fill their second-line center hole with a player who fits the bill. Until then, this team will be incomplete and any thoughts of playoffs would be foolish.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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