Canucks News & Rumours: Cotter, Lekkerimäki & Reading 4-Game Samples

Nobody should expect Cotter to keep scoring at this pace. Hockey doesn’t usually work that way. But how he’s produced these four goals is worth noting. One came shorthanded, one in 3-on-3 overtime, one at 5-on-5, and the latest came on the power play. In other words, he’s not just finding one corner of the game where he can contribute.

Cotter has also moved between centre and wing, is winning just over half his faceoffs and is averaging more than 15 minutes a night. He reached the 300-game mark on Sunday, too. He has experience, even if we didn’t necessarily expect him to be one of Vancouver’s early offensive stories.

And that’s what makes the next stretch particularly interesting. The Canucks are off until Thursday, when they begin a six-game road trip against the Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. That’s a hard test for a player who has made such a fast start.

Lekkerimäki Is Giving the Canucks Plenty of Reason to Dream

Jonathan Lekkerimäki is a different story. The 20-year-old entered the season with something to prove. After playing only 37 NHL games over his first two seasons, he still hadn’t established himself as a full-time Canuck. Many people expected him to start the season with the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Abbotsford.

General manager Ryan Johnson and the Canucks’ new management group had a different idea. They made it clear during the offseason that Lekkerimäki would get a real chance to establish himself. Four games into the season, that decision is looking pretty good.

Lekkerimäki has two goals and an assist through four games, but the points aren’t really what interests me most. He looks more comfortable. He looks like he belongs. And the numbers suggest there is something behind that impression. Lekkerimäki has been on the ice for five even-strength goals for and only two against. His expected-goal share is 55.42%, the best on the team so far.

What’s more, is that head coach Manny Malhotra hasn’t made his life easy. Lekkerimäki has only averaged 11:37 of ice time per game and has already been part of 10 different forward-line combinations. He’s played with Elias Pettersson, Aatu Räty and Marco Rossi, among others. He has been moved around the lineup and asked to adjust.

That’s not the carefully constructed environment we might imagine for a young player trying to establish himself. These are far from sheltered minutes, but he’s producing.

What’s Next for the Canucks?

For me, that’s the encouraging part of these two stories. Cotter and Lekkerimäki are arriving at the same place by very different roads. Cotter was brought in as an experienced NHL forward who could give Vancouver some versatility, while the organization has decided to trust young Lekkerimäki.

Neither story should become a season-long prediction. Cotter isn’t going to score 82 goals, and Lekkerimäki hasn’t suddenly completed his development. There will be quieter nights. There will be mistakes.

But the Canucks have spent a lot of time talking about opportunity, depth and finding contributions from throughout the lineup. Early on, Cotter and Lekkerimäki are giving them something to talk about. And maybe that’s exactly what a team needs when it’s trying to figure out what it can become.