Canucks proving naysayers wrong
Playoff contenders weren’t feeling the love during fearless pre-season prognostications
There are as many opinions about the Vancouver Canucks as there are stars in the sky, but as they head into the final two months of their NHL schedule, here’s the one thing we can say about this team without fear of contradiction: They weren’t overburdened with the weight of expectations at the start of this season.
The Canucks, if you need reminding, were pegged for another dreary campaign by everyone who had a laptop and access to the internet. NHL.com, for example, posted predictions from 18 writers. Not one had the Canucks in the playoffs. The Sporting News picked the Canucks to finish last in the Western Conference and added this: “The Canucks might be the only team in the Western Conference without a case for the playoffs. Seriously.”
Over at The Hockey News, it was noted Vegas had set the over-under on the Canucks’ point total at 77.5 and strongly advised to take the under.
USA Today had the Canucks last in the Pacific. ESPN rated the Canucks’ forwards 31st in the NHL — and might have been lower, but there are only 31 teams — the blue-line 28th and goaltending 30th.
I believe we’re making our point, but just to drive it home, here’s a few more items:
In its season simulator, EA Sports predicted the Canucks would finish 30th overall with 70 points, meaning they virtually had no chance in the virtual world. And Corsica — the analytics website, not the island off Italy — peered into the future and saw the Canucks finishing 27th overall and second last in the West.
Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s acknowledge there’s still a chance the oracles might be right about the locals.
They have 27 games left in the regular season. Before Friday night’s games they sat ninth in the West, but were part of a nine-team cluster within seven points of a wild-card berth.
This season, you must know, can still go anywhere, and if history has taught us anything, it’s taught us to guard our sense of optimism with the Canucks because it just hurts less that way.
That said, in watching this team perform on its recently concluded four-game road trip, there is — to quote the great Stephen Stills — something happening here.
True, what it is ain’t exactly clear, but even the most hardened Canucks’ cynic has to be encouraged by what they’ve seen this season. And if they’re not, let’s look back at the way this season has unfolded.
Back in October, your agent observed: “It’s possible to imagine a universe in which the Canucks are competitive. It just requires a great deal of effort,” then listed nine things that had to occur for this team to avoid another lost year.
As noted at the time, the odds of all nine hitting weren’t great, and this season hasn’t followed the script perfectly. But let’s look at their universe now:
If you would have approached any member of the faithful before Game 1 and told them this is how their season would play out, they would have cheerfully offered up their favourite limb to make it happen.
It starts, of course, with Elias Pettersson. At the start of the season, he was the consensus choice to win the Calder Trophy. But no one saw this coming. The Canucks now have a bonafide No. 1 centre whose numbers extrapolate to 47 goals and 90 points over 82 games.
The best part is, the Canucks haven’t had to wait for him.
He’s just dropped into the lineup as a fully formed star and he’s changed everything for the franchise.
Beyond The Alien, there have been some other happy developments for the Canucks, most notably a standout season for netminder Jacob Markstrom.
But looking up and down their lineup, it’s the collective that’s impressed more than any individual breakthrough.
Ben Hutton, Troy Stecher, Jake Virtanen and Tyler Motte have all taken big steps this season that has made for a faster team game while improving four spots in the lineup and that’s, well, something.
That something was also revealed during the four-game roadie that set up as a measuring stick for Travis Green’s team.
Again, 1-2-1 doesn’t exactly overwhelm, but over 12-plus periods, the Canucks had a bad first period in Washington, a bad 10 minutes in Philadelphia, and were the better team everywhere else.
In Chicago on Thursday night, they recorded 43 shots on goal against the red-hot Blackhawks and had Pettersson in alone during overtime before they lost in extra fun.
Two nights before, they had 27 shots over the final two periods against the defending Stanley Cup champions in the second game of a back-to-back.
The night before they took 42 shots in Philly but were beaten by Flyers goalie Carter Hart.
Look, we realize a lot of this registers as, ‘Isn’t this cool? The Canucks don’t suck as badly as we thought they would,’ and any positivity about this season has to be measured against the laughably low expectations under which they started the 2018-19 campaign. But when you’re a fan of this team, you learn to survive on these morsels.
The Canucks face Calgary at home on Saturday night, followed by San Jose on Monday, then embark on a three-game California road swing before settling in for their final 21 contests, 14 of which are at home.
You might not expect them to make the playoffs, but look at it this way: Four months ago, nobody expected them to have that chance.