Settling in for the National Hockey League's Olympic break, Dave Nonis has lots of options to ponder before the stretch run begins for the consistently inconsistent Vancouver Canucks.
The general manager has six players in Turin and two who didn't go because of injury. Ed Jovanovski and Markus Naslund have time to recuperate while Nonis weighs the trade possibilities with his roster.
He has several options when dealing with personnel, with salary cap conditions probably determining which direction he takes the Canucks, who have been an enigma at best so far this season.
The Canucks reached the 16-day Olympic break in fifth place in the Western Conference and second in the Northwest Division. For most followers of the Canucks, there's an aura of underachievement that holds back the team.
The Canucks made few changes after the lockout-lost 2004-05 season. Nonis and his assistant, Steve Tambellini, elected to show faith in most of the holdovers, adding only affordable free agents Anson Carter and Richard Park and trading for Steve McCarthy.
The results have been mixed. Carter has thrived playing alongside the improving Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, scoring 21 times. McCarthy and Park have had injury hang-ups to weaken their contributions.
Nonis has several areas of major concern. For one, he needs a proven backup netminder so that overworked Alex Auld can get some rest.
Auld has met expectations in replacing injured Dan Cloutier, but Auld needs a night off on occasion to ease the mental pressure.
Maxime Ouellet was brought in as a cost-efficient reserve netminder, but hasn't excelled, except for a 42-minute stretch last week when Auld was yanked after giving up three goals in the first period against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
Ouellet finds himself in the minor leagues to get much needed playing time over the Olympic break, and the Canucks filled the roster spot yesterday by adding Rob McVicar from the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL, a paper shuffle to satisfy the NHL.
Nonis's wish list also includes a proven centre who can win more than 50 per cent of his faceoffs.
Not one of the Vancouver centres (Brendan Morrison, Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler or Trevor Linden) has been reliable on faceoffs.
Sedin has been the best of the Canuck centres and is second in team scoring behind Naslund. Vancouver coach Marc Crawford has shown he's losing patience with his centres because he used rookie winger Alexandre Burrows at centre last game, relegating Linden to the wing.
Linden is still a useful penalty killer, but the 35-year-old veteran is no longer capable of contributing offensively, as he did earlier in his career.
The Canucks could use depth on defence, especially with puck-moving Jovanovski sidelined after abdominal surgery. Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo wore down through overuse and now they're playing for Sweden and Finland, respectively, in the Olympics.
The addition of an experienced defenceman could come at the expense of one of the forwards, should there be a market for any of the Canucks' forwards outside the top two lines.
The unit of Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison has been ineffective most of the season, prompting Crawford to break up the trio before the team's game last Sunday and place them on three lines.
It's hard to imagine Naslund playing with Burrows and Jarkko Ruutu for any long period after the NHL schedule resumes on Feb. 28, leaving Nonis looking for solutions between now and the end of the Olympics.
There's an NHL trade embargo at the moment, but expect the Canucks to be active once play resumes. The trading deadline is March 9, and by then, the Canucks need to upgrade their talent if they are to be considered contenders for postseason success.
It was interesting to note yesterday that Nonis didn't send Burrows to Vancouver's minor-league affiliate, the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, with Ouellet and defenceman Tomas Mojzis for playing time.
The energetic Burrows got the attention of management during his 21 games since being called up on Jan. 2, and at times, his enthusiasm has been contagious.
Burrows is not a highly skilled player, nor is he thickly built, but he gets under the skin of opposing players with his in-your-face approach.
Ryan Kesler, a hustling, hitting fore-checker, also has had his good moments after a slow start to the regular season. Kesler has started to score and his ice time has been increased.
Nonis has yet to make the type of trade that puts his personal stamp on the team since succeeding Brian Burke as the general manager in May of 2004. They met last Friday before a game in Vancouver, and Canucks followers hope Nonis picked up more than the tip after lunch.