Do Vancouver Canucks Stand A Chance This Season?

The Vancouver Canucks were almost completely in chaos this time last year. Jim Rutherford, the team president, addressed the awful season that started with eight straight losses and didn’t get much better after that at a press conference in mid-January. At that moment, Rutherford declared, “I’m pretty disappointed in the job I’ve done.”

The supporters of the team had similar sentiments, particularly about how the group handled former coach Bruce Boudreau, who was allegedly set to be fired and replaced by Rick Tocchet, who was ostensibly already waiting in the wings. Rutherford was limited to saying at the press conference, “Bruce is our coach, and that’s the way it is today.” A few days later, the Canucks let Boudreau go, and, as expected, Tocchet took over. Things were sloppy.

However, success makes everything plain, and the Canucks have done so frequently this season. The Canucks lead not only the Pacific Division but the entire Western Conference when the NHL takes a break this week for the All-Star break. Before the break, they had won eight of their past ten games, which was a record second only to the Edmonton Oilers in the West. The Oilers had been on a roll heading into the season, but the Canucks had upset them with back-to-back losses that left them reeling for months.

Vancouver is successful with what? Pretty much everything, even the undesirable aspects. Goalie Thatcher Demko, for example, has a 2.44 goals-against average and a.920 save percentage, indicating outstanding play. Though 1,061 shots have been made against him through the first half of the season, the fourth most overall, Demko’s stats conceal this fact. As an example, Alexander Georgiev of Colorado has faced 1,133 shots and has a more respectable save percentage of.898.

Simultaneously, the Canucks are second in the league in goals scored (186), behind only the Avalanche (190). Not the actual number of goals, but rather Vancouver’s shot economy, is what strikes me this contrast. Despite having roughly 200 fewer shots than Colorado, the Canucks have managed to almost tie their goal total. In summary, Vancouver scores a lot of goals and doesn’t give many away.

At this point, Vancouver has three top-10 individual point-getters in JT Miller, Elias Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes. The transformation of Miller in particular since — once more — the previous season is astounding. During that time, Miller’s main real criticism was that he was a terrible teammate with an attitude problem, largely stemming from an incident in December when he yelled at Collin Delia to leave the ice to make room for an additional attacker during a delayed power play.

Currently? In many respects, Miller is the “effective… engine that drives” the Canucks. He has demonstrated his ability to be a productive two-way player, earning 67 points for his efforts. Meanwhile, Hughes, the 24-year-old captain of the Canucks and the youngest player in the NHL, is killing opponents from his defensive position. Examples of this include:

Or this:

Can Vancouver maintain this level of play for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs, when the seasoned teams of the Avalanche, Stars, Golden Knights, and Oilers will be waiting? They’ve started getting ready. Elias Lindholm was acquired by Vancouver from Calgary on Wednesday night to bolster their depth at center.

Top cheese: Time to go streaking

Few people could have imagined that by January, everyone would be talking about the invincible Edmonton Oilers, given their unexpectedly poor start to the season. Now, though, at the All-Star break, the Oilers are just one victory away from matching the NHL record of 17 wins set by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992–1993.

Stuart Skinner, who enters the break week with an Oilers record 12 straight victories, has been the team’s pillar of support. Because it was 3.99 at the beginning of November, Skinner’s goals-against average has decreased to a slightly insane 1.41 throughout that time.

Regarding Connor McDavid, he has steadily climbed the points standings, currently tied for fourth place overall with 67, following a difficult start that saw him score only two goals in October and go scoreless in six games near the beginning of the season. Similar to this, forwards Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman have also been abruptly inspired, contributing 30 and 23 goals apiece thus far this season.

How did things change? Mentorship. Paul Coffey, the legendary Oilers player, and Kris Knoblauch took Jay Woodcroft’s and assistant Dave Manson’s places around the end of November. Darren Raddysh, Taylor, Alex DeBrincat, Travis Dermott, and McDavid were all coached by Knoblauch while he was an OHL coach with the Erie Otters. Over four OHL seasons, Knoblauch finished with 50 wins. With Edmonton, he has already made significant progress. The Oilers are a whopping 26-6-0 since Knoblauch joined the squad.

These days, though, streaking isn’t limited to the Oilers.

When facing the Florida Panthers and on a penalty kill? Sam Reinhart should not be near the puck. Reinhart has now surpassed the previous Panthers record of 19 power-play goals, which was established by both Scott Mellanby and Pavel Bure, with 20 goals this season. In addition to his skill on the power play, Reinhart has a 13-game scoring streak. Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado has also been quite successful, at least when playing on home ice. MacKinnon was in the midst of a 25-game home point streak when the league took a break; his most recent victory came against LA:

Aspirants

For the past month, the NHL’s top places haven’t seen much movement, but the real activity has been in the wildcard spots, where a pretty constant rotation of clubs has taken place. Toronto and Detroit now share one of the final two spots in the postseason chase after strangely dropping out of the top three in the Atlantic in January. Both teams are from the East. The Flyers go into the All-Star break on a five-game losing streak, but Carolina has turned things around and jumped up to second place in the Metro rankings.

Through a five-game winning streak that lasted through January, the St. Louis Blues in the West were able to edge off Seattle and Nashville for the final conference place, opening up the possibility of a postseason appearance. The Winnipeg Jets, who finished the month with two straight losses to the Leafs, had temporarily led the Central Division both in the NHL and the West. Vancouver and Colorado are still very much in the picture, and Edmonton has finally joined the conversation—complete with a recovered and contrite Corey Perry.

Defendants

In Chicago, where the Blackhawks are still in the lower half of the league, there is both good and bad news. Connor Bedard indeed broke his jaw during a game against the New Jersey Devils on January 5; he won’t likely play again for six to eight weeks. But even if his recovery period is still the same, Connor Bedard has already resumed skating. The Blackhawks are level with the still-terrifying San Jose Sharks despite not having Bedard.

With Columbus sitting toward the bottom of the East, forward Patrik Laine has taken a temporary hiatus from hockey to participate in the NHLPA/NHL’s Player Assistance Program to focus on his mental health. Earlier this month, Patrick Roy became the new head coach of the New York Islanders, another team in the Metro. With five points separating them from a postseason berth, the Iles are currently in the bubble. Since the Devils are currently three spots out of a wildcard slot, the hoopla surrounding last year’s playoff appearance in New Jersey has subsided.

Somewhere in the realm of hockey

London, Ontario – London police have charged individuals connected to Canada’s 2018 World Junior championship team with sexual assault, more than a year after we first learned of the allegations. A statement claiming his innocence was released by former Ottawa senator Alex Formenton, who made an appearance in London on Monday.

Three more players were charged with sexual assault on Tuesday: Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames, Cal Foote and Michael McLeod of the New Jersey Devils, and goalie Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers. All of the clients’ attorneys have stated that their clients do not admit to any malpractice. A press conference is scheduled for Monday, February 5th, to provide updates to the public, according to London Police.

The Flyers and Devils announced their respective leaves of absence—for Hart, Foote, and McLeod—with brief remarks that did not explain. Meanwhile, the Flames publicly announced that Dube had been given an indefinite leave of absence “while he attends to his mental health.” The Flames provided an update on Tuesday night, saying that they

 “had no knowledge of pending charges at the time Dillon’s request for a leave of absence was approved.”

Salt Lake City – Owning both the Utah Jazz of the NBA and Real Salt Lake of the MLS, The Smith Entertainment Group said in a statement at the end of January that it has officially asked the NHL to start the process of expanding to include a Salt Lake City team. “We appreciate the interest,” the NHL said in response. 

“We appreciate the interest.” We look forward to continuing our negotiations, the NHL stated, adding that Utah “is a promising market.”

Los Angeles – Records-breaking attendance, fully booked season ticket packages and some excellent goals. As of now, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which began play on January 1st, has just one month under its belt. Will the good times last? Provided the PWHL can effectively sell itself, recent polling data released this month provides a peek at the possibility of that steady rise.

Abacus Data was contacted in January and found that 45% of Canadians had “little awareness” of the PWHL, while 20% were completely unaware of its existence. However, the PWHL, as well as its goals and effects, are widely respected.

To illustrate, 42% of respondents said the PWHL was “crucial for women’s sports,” and roughly 33% thought it would encourage more women to play hockey and provide them with career-advancing chances. More potential is in store for February, when Toronto takes on Montreal at Scotiabank Arena on February 16. A gathering of around 19,000 people is anticipated for the “Battle on Bay Street,” which could set a record.

Pittsburgh – This month, Sidney Crosby‘s agent Pat Brisson’s son, Brendan Brisson of the Vegas Golden Knights, whom Crosby once babysat, got the opportunity to play against another current NHL player that Crosby closely affected in their childhood. When Vegas played the Penguins on January 20, Brisson scored the game-winning goal, his first NHL goal. Crosby has reached formal old age. Even yet, he remains amazing.

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