“The years before if we didn’t score, everyone blamed Nassy. All of a sudden, we’re in the spotlight and we need to score. It’s easy to say you want it, but it’s not easy to have to be there every night.”
– Canuck Henrik Sedin, last October, on becoming a first-line player
BOSTON – Already the first-line burden weighs heavily on Bo Horvat, who is learning what it was like for Hank and Danny Sedin all these years in Vancouver, and Markus Naslund before them.
Horvat surpassed the Sedins last season when he led the Canucks in scoring and became the NHL team’s best player. One summer and a $33-million contract extension later, the 22-year-old began his fourth season as the Canucks’ No. 1 forward with all the trappings that go with it: fame, expectations, unyielding scrutiny, criticism and relentless attention from opponents.
Being a first-liner in the NHL is not a destination. It’s a dare.
The Sedins aspired for years to become first-line players in the top league in the world. But it was only when they finally succeeded Naslund and the West Coast Express in Vancouver that they realized they had to be first-liners every night. Not once in a while, but every night. They thought they had to score every night.
“It was super hard,” Henrik recalled before the team cancelled practice here Wednesday. “Mentally, it’s draining. You either wake up on a game day and know you need to be freakin’ good. Or it’s the night before a game and you know you’re going to wake up and have to score. We did put a lot of pressure on ourselves to step up and score every night. It helped us, but it was really, really tough, too.”
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It has been less than two weeks for Horvat, but already he knows how tough this is even if he hasn’t sustained a sliver of the criticism the Sedins endured.
Canuck coach Travis Green singled out Horvat as “average” last Saturday, then added that a lot of players were average in Vancouver’s 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames.
Three nights later, after Green reiterated his gloved criticism, Horvat was dropped from the power play and top line in Vancouver’s 3-0 road win against the Ottawa Senators.
Horvat is pointless in four games heading into Thursday’s contest against the Boston Bruins. His ice time in Ottawa of 16:39 was his lowest in five games and well below his season average of 18:10.
So, how do you like being a first-liner so far?
“It’s definitely a little bit different,” Horvat said. “A lot more is expected of you every night. But if you want to be a great player in this league. . . all the great players hear about it if they’re not scoring. If I want to be in that elite group, I’ve got to be prepared for it.
“This thing is no joke. It’s tough. To be a first-line player every single night, it’s not easy. For me and Sven, if we want to carry on and become first-line players we have to be consistent every night. That’s something we have to get used to.”
After scoring 20 goals and 52 points last year, Horvat is stuck at two goals – both scored in the season-opener against Edmonton. Baertschi, who had 18 goals and 35 points in 68 games last year, is goal-less in five games this season, although he has assists the past two games.
Baertschi wasn’t outed by Green as “average” but has felt the coach’s unhappiness.
“There were moments (on Tuesday night) he was screaming at me,” Baertschi said “That’s the way he makes sure you check and do the right things out there. Obviously he wants the best for every single guy. I think he knows Bo’s potential is so high and he can be a special player. So expectations for him are higher than for some other players.”
There are, of course, some fundamental differences between the landscape the Sedins inhabited upon their arrival as first-liners and what Horvat and Baertschi see now.
The Sedins were second- and third-overall draft picks expected to become first-line NHL players. Horvat and Baertschi, mid-first-round picks, have surprised many people with their offensive improvement in Vancouver. Horvat was initially projected to be a checking centre, and Baertschi flopped on his first NHL try with the Calgary Flames.
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Also, the Canucks a decade ago had a handful of excellent young players already established in the NHL and the Sedins were expected to lead the team towards greatness. Horvat’s Canucks are in a rebuild and nobody outside the organization thinks they’ll make the playoffs this season.
And by the time former coach Alain Vigneault turned the Sedins into first-line players for the 2006-07 season, the twins were 26 years old and clearly viewed as the most powerful drivers of the Vancouver attack. Horvat, 22, and, especially, Baertschi, 25, haven’t separated themselves from teammates to the same degree.
But they still feel pressure to score. They should.
“You’re in a big spotlight now,” Horvat said. “The transition is coming and we want to be first-line players and we want to make a difference on the team. And if we don’t, whether it’s fans or media or the coach, we’re going to hear about it.”
So he wasn’t upset at Green’s assessment of him.
“I wasn’t surprised by it, wasn’t bothered by it at all,” Horvat said. “Travis said he was going to be honest with me and honest with the team. Somebody asked him how I played and he’s going to be honest. I’m just glad he said I was average and not bad. But I’d rather him say I had a great game.”
