'Nucks IceMan

Cody Hodgson

Written by: Larry “The Nucks IceMan” Johnson

I will get to Cody Hodgson in a minute but first I need to lay the groundwork for this question.

There are some real peculiar dealings happening these days in the NHL trade market. For example, the St. Louis Blues had a young coveted defenseman by the name of Erik Johnson, a first round number one pick chosen first overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Here’s a player that is 6’5”, 227 lbs. and only two seasons ago scored 10 goals and had 29 assists.

This is an asset that you would have thought would be a franchise player that the Blues would use to build their back-end around. I guess that’s not what St. Louis envisioned, as they traded him to the Colorado Avalanche this week.

The Avalanche in turn traded winger Chris Stewart, also a first round pick, 18^th overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, to the Blues. Stewart just happened to be the Av’s leading scorer before he injured his wrist a little over a month ago. He had 13 goals, 17 assists in 36 games. In 2009-10 Stewart posted an impressive 28G, 36A in 77 games.

When you look at this kid, who is 6’1”, 228 lbs., you would have also thought that the Av’s would be building a team around this power forward. His size and scoring talent just does not grow on trees.

Which takes me to the Vancouver Canucks number one pick in the NHL Entry Draft in 2008, 10^thoverall –  Cody Hodgson. His documented injury problems are a matter of record, so I won’t regurgitate it but would instead like to deal with his previous and current use by the Canucks.

First let’s have a look at what Mike Gillis and the Canucks saw as a hockey player with all this offensive potential. Hodgson played for the Brampton Battalion of the OHL for three seasons; in which he scored 106G, 117A, 93PIM in 184 regular season games at the centre position.  At the junior hockey level this indicates to me that this guy can score goals and was not just a set up man.

We also witnessed his ability during the World Junior Championship where his dominance was impressive amongst his peers. What every team is speculating is whether this will transfer over into the NHL. It does for some but surely not for every player drafted.

As I jump ahead to the most recent developments with Hodgson, he has been brought up for the second time in a month, where he has been asked to play centre on the fourth line for the Canucks. I believe that most fans would agree that the fourth line is usually a high energy, crash and bang group, that causes chaos on the ice and also attempts to score the occasional goal.

They are usually limited in ice time to eight to ten minutes per game. That’s just about half the amount of time that the other forwards play during a game.

How then is a supposedly talented offensive player supposed to display his skill in the 30 to 45 seconds per shift he is allotted? For a player that was never noted as being gritty, it seems to me that this is a recipe for failure for an offensive player. It’s like sending a football halfback to block on the offensive line.

Not only that, but from what I have witnessed from Hodgson’s skating speed, in both Manitoba and Vancouver, it’s not up to today’s NHL pace. It makes it just about impossible to be effective and play a greasy type of game, if you can’t get to your check. Can you say Steve Bernier, a former Canuck example?

The Vancouver media has indicated that Hodgson is on a three to four game trial, to see if he can fill that void at centre that the club has had all season on the fourth line. That would mean that after either the Blues or the Boston Bruins game, they will make a decision on whether to  keep Hodgson here, or send him back to Manitoba.

It could also signal that it’s time to make a trade for the fourth line centre they need.

Here’s something to chew on. It has also been mentioned in the Vancouver media that Cody Hodgson might be dealt in a trade. I wouldn’t expect that the Canucks would give up so soon on a number one prospect, but after watching what has taken place in St. Louis and Colorado, nothing would surprise me anymore.

Is it possible that the Canucks over-estimated Hodgson’s talent or that his back injury slowed Cody down a step from his previous evaluation? Only time will tell.

This should be an interesting four plus days leading up to the trade deadline.

To catch all the news, updates and new articles as they occur, along with the Canucks farm team, the Manitoba Moose, you can follow me @twitter.com/nucksiceman.com  (I love this tweeting because it’s like small 140 character type articles).

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Filed under: Vancouver Canucks