[trancehead]

the province:

I thought something was up when Booth was the last player on the ice this morning.

Like, he was about to be a healthy scratch.

Just didn’t see it happening quite this soon. Not when the Canucks have just 12 forwards anyway.

But Andrew Alberts is in against the New York Islanders, and David Booth is out. With that, we have Tortorella’s biggest message-sending moment of the season.

There have been clues along the way. Let’s face it, when Tortorella was calling Booth a “weird dude” he wasn’t complimenting him. The fact Alex Burrows has been out and Booth hasn’t got a sniff of the top six is telling.

Then, there was Sunday’s game when Booth played a few ticks more than 10 minutes.

There are obvious production reasons to scratch him. Booth has just one goal. Booth has just 12 shots in 10 games, a low number for a player with an impressive Corsi rate and Booth always has that going for him.

But it has to run deeper than simple production because Tortorella says he’s all about winning the game at hand. It’s counter-intuitive to suggest this team will be better with Alberts instead of Booth.

I will say this not the first message for Booth. Not getting into the top six when you’re collecting $4.2 million is a slap. So is playing 10 minutes against the CBJs. And if Tortorella believes he’s still not getting through, what choices is he left with?

Tortorella hinted at some things this morning when he was asked about how well his players were grasping his system.

“In certain situations, I think guys get it,” he said. “In some situations, I don’t think some guys do.”

In the context of the lineup shocker tonight is Booth one of the players who is not “getting it?”

There is a built-in excuse for Booth. He didn’t have a training camp and you could say he’s still playing himself into game shape, although that excuse is losing some steam three weeks into the season, and sitting out games is not going to help him there.

Before the scratch, I was wondering how Booth was going to get off the third line.

Now, I’m wondering if he’s a player the Canucks will look to move this year.

Jesus Bear Hunter sits out out for Andrew i-can-bench-300 Alberts