Pavol Demitra’s all set with playing defense, thanks
The Vancouver Canucks are what you’d call a defensively responsible team.
For starters, Demitra said he’s not a fan of line juggling. And if he’s playing centre, he’d like to take a pass on the position’s responsibilities which are accompanied by the adjective “defensive.”
“When I was in Minnesota, I preferred playing the wing because the centre in Minnesota has to stay back and play defence,” Demitra admitted Monday. “In St. Louis, I preferred centre because I had the puck all the time.”
That’s going to go over big. But Demitra wasn’t done there. The number of inexplicably selfish, stupid things he says in one small interview is pretty impressive.
Some other choice highlights:
“I’m hoping they’re going to try to change it here and they’re going to play a little bit of offence here,” Demitra said.
Uh huh. Getting a 33-year-old past-his-prime Pavol Demitra is going to cause the Canucks to completely rethink the way they go about playing the sport.
“We have a top goaltender and I think we can open it up a little bit,” Demitra said.
You’d know.
I can’t tell what’s worse, the fact that this article blathers on and on about how he’ll be the sure-thing No. 2 center or that he seems to think so as well. Just make sure he gets all the ice time he wants, with the linemates he wants.
In his two years with the Wild, Demitra scored 64 and then 54 points.
“I don’t know what happened,” Demitra said. “I had a good time when I played with Gabby. But what bugged me there, is that I never had a chance to play with the same guys. The first year, I played with Gabby for stretches but not really much in the the second year. The way it works there, the coach [Jacques Lemaire] was always switching guys and the lines around. I didn’t like that.
People thought Markus Naslund was a pain in the ass the last two years in Vancouver because he, too, was not a fan of playing in the back third of the rink. Imagine how Demitra’s going to feel when he’s asked to pick up the defensive slack for Kyle Wellwood. It could turn into a serious problem, and one that’s not going away for another season after this one.
And it’s not like he’ll be insulated against line juggling. The article points out that there’s no one that’s really slotted into the second line. Mason Raymond, Wellwood, Taylor Pyatt, Steve Bernier, etc. could all get second-line minutes and that’ll make for a sad Demitra, who will not be shy about bitching to the media about it.
This really is shaping up to be an outstanding pickup for the Canucks.
