Canucks mid-season report: After surprising start, can players maintain pace?

PITTSBURGH — Forty-one games into their season, it seems impossible that the Vancouver Canucks could still be surprising people by winning.

After three years of chaos and upheaval, each of those seasons sabotaged by dreadful starts, the Canucks returned from their difficult, season-opening road trip in October at 4-2-0 and people were surprised. They beat Conor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers three times in the first three weeks by an aggregate score of 18-6 and people were surprised.

They built a nine-game points streak on their NHL-leading offence, a 14-6-1 first quarter, and the best goals-differential in hockey, and still people were surprised.

And then their second quarter was even better. The Canucks’ three-game rampage through Metro New York over the weekend took them to the midway mark in their season at 27-11-3. They could have five guys at the All-Star Game next month. And a lot of people will still be surprised.

That’s fine with the players.

“When we started 10-2 or whatever it was, everyone was like: ‘Wow, this is crazy,’” defenceman Ian Cole told Sportsnet at the Christmas break, which the Canucks spent atop the overall standings. “But we think we have a really good hockey team. We don't think that we're playing above ourselves right now. I love where we are. And I love how we've gotten here. And if we can keep that chip on our shoulder -- the underdog that no one believes in -- even better.”

Believe it or not, through half a season, the Canucks are one of the NHL’s best teams. They look like a Stanley Cup contender. No, seriously.

KEY STATS

Record: 27-11-3 (first in the Pacific Division)

Goals per game: 3.90 (1^st in NHL)

Goals-against per game: 2.59 (4^th in NHL)

Power play: 23.1 per cent (12^th in NHL)

Penalty kill: 77.5 per cent (23^rd in NHL)

BEST SURPRISE

Well, there’s a loaded question. And a really high bar. The bounce-back seasons of goalie Thatcher Demko (20 wins, three shutouts, .916 save rate) and winger Brock Boeser (25 goals) have been exceptional, but nobody ever doubted they had talent and a high ceiling. And although defenceman Quinn Hughes (11 goals, 51 points, plus-32) is playing as well as anyone on the planet, his ability and influence have always been evident to anyone who stayed up late enough to watch the Canucks’ West Coast games.

The biggest surprise of the first half for the Canucks is the significant contributions from the bottom half of their lineup, which was an area of uncertainty before the season. Third-liner winger Dakota Joshua has 11 goals and 20 points and has become a key penalty-killer. Nils Hoglander has 12 goals, mostly from the fourth line, and Sam Lafferty has nine. Depth centre Teddy Blueger has 17 points and been one of the most consistent Canucks, and backup goalie Casey DeSmith is 7-3-2 and has matched Demko’s .916 save percentage.

On defence, Tyler Myers, often a scapegoat for fans in recent years, has 18 points and is plus-16, while steady Ian Cole is third among Vancouver defencemen with an average ice time of 19:23. The Canucks are not only surviving at the bottom of their lineup, but thriving and winning the depth matchups most nights.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Second-year winger Andrei Kuzmenko is a runaway winner as the most disappointing Canuck of the first half. But it is mostly the second quarter that has sewered him. Since missing one game after taking a slapshot on the chin from teammate J.T. Miller on Nov. 16, Kuzmenko has gone pointless in 15 of 19 contests while missing five others as a healthy scratch under increasingly frustrated head coach Rick Tocchet. Halfway through the season, Kuzmenko has eight goals and 19 points. Last year, the Russian scored 39 times as an NHL freshman, earning a two-year, $11-million bridge deal. A darling of fans until recently, Kuzmenko is suddenly the Canuck most likely to be traded before the March 8 deadline.

BIG QUESTION FOR THE SECOND HALF

Can they keep it up? The Canucks have been turbo-charged by five-on-five shooting percentage of 12.5, which over a season would be easily the highest by any team since the NHL began tracking that statistic in 2009-10. They should score less, possibly significantly less, in the second half of the season. But their structure and defensive fundamentals have become so good under Tocchet, and the team’s top-end talent level is so high, that it’s difficult to envision a major crash unless Vancouver endures an injury crisis.

In the end, the players will determine whether the team is for real. Halfway through the season, their appetite for success remains ravenous.

“If I were to say something in the dressing room for our group, it's that we haven't done anything,” Demko said on New Year’s Day. “If we're not careful or we don't respect the work that we’ve put in and realize that we have to continue doing that, we're going to lose what we've accomplished in a hurry.”

Hughes said: “We haven't earned the right to just, like, put our feet up and cruise to the playoffs. We haven't earned that because we haven't been in before. So every game is a test for us, a challenge for us, to keep it going.”