Vancouver Canucks Ultimately Disrespect Their 13-Year NHL Veteran

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William
January 13, 2023 (1:14 PM)

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It almost goes without saying that the Vancouver Canucks are having extensive difficulty this 2022-23 season. They are struggling with a mediocre 17-21-3 record and are open to trading such star players as Bo Horvat, their captain, Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, and Andrei Kuzmenko to name a few.

Whenever a team starts cratering, the head coach is tasked at fixing the mess. Bruce Boudreau decided to bench 13-year veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson for Thursday's matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The head coach had this to say about his decision to sit OEL down.

"Look, we'll have to scratch a couple of players," Boudreau said. "I think [Ekman-Larsson] can be better, but I think there's a lot of guys that can be better. Now it's about accountability. It's about a lot of things, so it's something you don't want to do. He's arguably our best defenceman, but sometimes you have to do what you think is the best thing for the team right at that moment and that's apparently where I am."

The Vancouver club has had really noticeable trouble holding a lead in games. In their contest against the Pittsburg Penguins, they blew an early three-goal lead allowing five straight tallies before losing 5-4. In that game OEL was a -2, with one assist.

In another game recently against the Winnipeg Jets he was a -3 with no points and his team bowed out in a 7-4 drubbing. After catching up from a 4-2 deficit they again allowed three consecutive goals, including a short-handed goal to go down in defeat.

It's plays like this that make you wonder what is happening to OEL.

While Boudreau believes OEL is his best defenceman, perhaps he's using this ploy to wake up his team. It seems futile since what is he threatening... to trade away players not performing up to expectations? Most of the roster seems like they could be gone if the right return deal transpires.

The Canucks have dropped six of seven games and still need to face the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes in back-to-back road games this weekend.

The big question will be... will OEL be back in the lineup? It seems like ever since he lost his mother in May of 2017, he has not been the same player. At times fans may forget that hockey players are human beings and have feelings and can experience life changing events that affect their lives.

In a twitter poll on whether OEL should be benched, the results are staggering.

OEL still has four more years left on his contract after the 2022-23 season, with a full no-movement clause and a cap hit of $8.25 million.

It would more than difficult to trade him, and the Vancouver club will look way different next season. If the current trend continues, they may be in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes.

Don't be surprised if that happens that the ownership may look at cleaning out the front office as well as the head coaching spot.