Canucks mid-season review: Despite woeful start, rally shows resiliency

VANCOUVER – Rarely has a team’s first half been such a tale of two disparate quarters as has been the Vancouver Canucks’ season.

The Canucks were so poor in the first quarter that both coach Travis Green and general manager Jim Benning were fired on Dec. 5, 25 games and eight wins into the National Hockey League season. Then, the Canucks started 8-0-1 under new coach Bruce Boudreau and president Jim Rutherford before they were battered by schedule breaks extended by COVID-19 and seating capacity restrictions, and Canadian government border guidelines that trapped Canuck players in the U.S. for periods at least double their quarantines.

Through all this, the team is 12-5-4 since the franchise’s seismic shift two months ago, and entered the NHL All-Star break at 20-20-6 and at least in the vapour trails of the Western Conference playoff race.

“I don’t know how good we can be, but I know we’re resilient,” Boudreau said before the Canucks, playing on the road for the 13th time in 16 games, lost 4-2 Tuesday to the Nashville Predators. “I know there’s a lot of character on this team. Right now, they’re playing the right way. Everybody is contributing – whether you score a goal, it doesn’t matter – but contributing defensively. We can compete with anybody when we’re on top of our game, and that’s encouraging for the last half, especially with the amount of home games we have. I’ve learned that these guys want to win.”

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The team is playing .667 hockey under Boudreau and, realistically, needs to sustain that pace over the final 36 games to make the playoffs. Taking two-thirds of available points from here on in would give the Canucks 94 points. It’s a big ask, a target they are highly unlikely to hit.

But two months ago, making the playoffs seemed like a mission to Mars for the Canucks. Now they merely need to get to the moon.

Key stats

Record: 46 GP 20-20-6, 6th in the wild-card race, 7th in Pacific Division

Goals for per game: 2.43 (28th)

Goals against per game: 2.67 (7th)

Power play: 18.9% (19th)

Penalty kill: 69.9% (32nd)

Best surprise

It’s not really a surprise, but easily the best story of the Canucks’ first half has been the ongoing evolution of Thatcher Demko, who proved last season that he could be an NHL No. 1 and has been one of the best goaltenders in the league this season.

The 26-year-old American’s save percentage is .917, but since Nov. 28 has spiked to .930. Analytics website naturalstattrick.com lists Demko second in the NHL with 14.85 goals saved above expectations, behind only New York Ranger Igor Shesterkin’s 15.56.

Demko is the only Canuck going to the All-Star game in Las Vegas. He is also in the first season of five-year $25-million contract that looks like a bargain for the Canucks.

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Biggest disappointment

Everyone could see before this season that the Canucks’ roster was flawed and the defence wasn’t deep enough nor efficiently priced. But Vancouver’s talent up front, and especially its young, core forwards, was supposed to fill in the cracks and allow the Canucks to challenge for a playoff spot.

Instead, the team is one of the lowest-scoring in the NHL, and has remained so even after the coaching change. The lack of production is exemplified by the struggle of Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson. Each young star was expected to be at or near a point-per-game this season. Instead, they are on pace for 89 points – combined.

Starting a three-year contract that makes him the highest-paid Canuck forward at $7.35 million, Pettersson has just 11 goals and 24 points through 46 games and has already endured goal droughts of nine games (twice) and seven games, longer than any scoring slump from the last two seasons. With 12 goals and 24 points in 40 games, Boeser did not score in his final 13 games under Green.

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There are reasons for their problems, of course. Pettersson’s season ended last year with a serious wrist injury, which impacted his summer training. Then he missed most of training camp during contract negotiations. Boeser was injured in the pre-season, missed the start of the regular campaign and just as he finally got going under Boudreau, turned cold when COVID and the Canadian border quagmire meant the winger went 25 days between games.

These guys are still going to be great players in the NHL, but they need to be a lot more productive than they’ve been this season if the Canucks are to make the playoffs as long shots.

Biggest question for the second half

When and how deeply will hockey-ops president Rutherford and new general manager Patrik Allvin remake the roster?

Rutherford averaged about one trade per month when he was winning Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but has yet to make a deal in Vancouver. He has said he admires the character and resolve the players have shown and “ideally” would like to reward them with the chance to make the playoffs as a group. But Rutherford has also acknowledged the roster isn’t where it needs to be, and he wants to create salary-cap flexibility to improve the team.

There are pressing decisions before the March 21 trade deadline on potential unrestricted free agents Tyler Motte and Jaroslav Halak, and an impending decision on Boeser, a restricted free agent due a $7.5-million qualifying offer than is untenable. And there are reports the Canucks are listening to offers on top forward J.T. Miller, UFA-eligible after next season, and Conor Garland, a handy depth scorer whose reasonable five-year, $24.75-million contract makes him attractive to other teams.

More change is coming in Vancouver. But when?

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