Vancouver Canucks: Anton Rodin Solidifies His Role in 3-2 OT Loss vs. Sharks
Vancouver Canucks forward Anton Rodin made his way back to North America as a wild card, but he is proving his worth early in preseason.
For the second time this preseason, the Vancouver Canucks fell to the San Jose Sharks 3-2 in overtime. On the one hand, we are still at a “this is only preseason, so who cares” stage. But on the other hand, it feels an awful lot like the typical Canucks regular-season matchup.
Thankfully, there is also a lot to be excited about — especially regarding rookie forward Anton Rodin.
When Rodin left North America to go back to Sweden in 2013, he completely disappeared from everyone’s radar. Well, not quite everyone’s. The Canucks always kept an eye on him and decided to bring him back. Rodin came to Vancouver as a wild card, as no one knew what he could do, but the move is already paying off.
The Swedish winger didn’t come into the lineup until the second preseason game, but has since recorded two goals and two assists for four points in three games. Solid numbers.
In the first period, of last night’s game against San Jose, Rodin brought the Canucks ahead 2-1 on a beautiful goal:
Watch and be amazed. pic.twitter.com/yy7CwWVZ79
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 3, 2016
A nice high-risk, high-reward play by Olli Juolevi and a beautiful no-look pass between the legs by Bo Horvat are what got fans most excited. But finishing the play the way Rodin did is equally impressive. A perfect one-timer into the far top corner is harder than it looks.
Perhaps the best part is that head coach Willie Desjardins is convinced there is more to come from Rodin:
Whether it is on a line with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, or Brandon Sutter and Jannik Hansen, Rodin looks like a terrific addition to the team.
His 2015-16 season was cut short due to a knee injury, but Rodin seems to have recovered well. He brings great speed and skill to the lineup and, most importantly, looks like a great finisher — which is exactly what the Canucks need.
The 2015-16 Vancouver Canucks struggled to score. With Loui Eriksson and Rodin now in the lineup, they should be able to ice at least two solid scoring lines.
Vancouver’s opening-night lineup could look like this:
Daniel Sedin — Henrik Sedin — Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi — Bo Horvat — Anton Rodin
Alex Burrows — Brandon Sutter — Jannik Hansen
Brendan Gaunce — Markus Granlund — Derek Dorsett
With that, Vancouver has two solid scoring lines, a gritty third line with some scoring potential, and a rather skilled bottom line. Players that could sneak into a bottom-six role to start the season include Emerson Etem and Jake Virtanen.
That still doesn’t look like a championship lineup and, honestly, not even like a playoff lineup. But with the emergence of Rodin as a legitimate scorer in (preseason) NHL action, we can be more hopeful that at least a wild-card spot is possible.
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