The Vancouver Canucks haven’t been good through the first quarter of the season, but they haven’t been a tire fire either. In the end, mediocrity might qualify them for the post-season in the surprisingly weak Pacific Division. Despite an uninspiring 8-8-6 record, the Canucks are somehow holding down a playoff spot.
THE GOOD: Henrik and Daniel Sedin turned 35 in September, but the twins have remained high-end first-line caliber forwards.
Both twins are in the top-20 in NHL scoring through the first quarter of the campaign, and the top end of Vancouver’s roster is still capable of overpowering their opponents on any given night. When Henrik and defenceman Chris Tanev have both been on the ice at 5-on-5, the Canucks have outscored their opponents 10-2.
Vancouver’s even-strength play as a whole is improved over last season, largely thanks to the twins and a more mobile defence corps. The club has managed to outscore their opponents at even strength, and is in the top-half of the league by score adjusted shot attempt differential, according to puckon.net.
THE BAD: The Canucks haven’t been good on special teams, although their power play conversion rate is hovering around the 20 percent barrier thanks to an explosion of offence on Saturday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The club’s usually stingy penalty kill has been particularly permissive, and the Canucks are killing off less than 80 per cent of the penalties they take and are surrendering scoring chances and shots against at a bottom-10 rate when shorthanded.
Vancouver’s defence has also struggled on in-zone play. Only three NHL teams have surrendered scoring chances against at a higher rate in all situations than Vancouver, according to war-on-ice.com.
Finally, the club has a miserable 0-6 record in 3-on-3 situations this season, which is almost unthinkable. Those lost points could cost the club a playoff spot in a Western Conference race that promises to be tight.
TRENDING: The Canucks are trending down. They have lost 13 of their past 18 contests dating back to October 16. During that span they’ve banked only 15 points.
BOLD PREDICTION: Organizationally, the Canucks have spent the Jim Benning-Trevor Linden era straddling the club’s short-term competitive needs and the longer-term interest of refilling the prospect pipeline. The club’s hybrid rebuilding effort has occasionally resulted in some discordant moves, and we’ll see more of that in the coming months.
Regardless of where the Canucks are in the standings toward the end of February, I predict that they’ll be sellers at the trade deadline.
GRADE: C+. Through the first quarter of the season the Canucks haven’t performed like a good team, and they haven’t performed like a bad team either. If their current form holds, they’ll be the definition of ‘average’ at season’s end. The good news is that average should be enough to keep the Canucks competitive for a playoff spot in a weak division.
