While the Canucks have, overall, had a strong start to the 2014-15 campaign, they’ve been slumping as of late. Over the past four games, Vancouver has gone 0-3-1, allowing a total of 17 goals, an average of 4.25 goals against per game. In addition to that, they’ve only managed a mere seven goals in those same four games. Yes, this is a team that has some issues right now, so here’s what they’ll be asking for from old Saint Nicholas this holiday season.
Stability from the back end
The value of Dan Hamhuis to the Vancouver Canucks blue line is huge. He’s the glue that keeps it together; without him everything falls apart. Credit where credit’s due, up until this past week and a bit, the Canucks had been holding down the fort in the absence of Hamhuis. Unfortunately, things have come undone recently, largely because of how incompetent the pairing of Kevin Bieksa and Luca Sbisa has become, and the fact that Ryan Stanton and Yannick Weber haven’t been a whole lot better. However, things are looking up, as head coach Willie Desjardins has split up the two aforementioned pairings in hopes of a turn around. One thing is clear, if Vancouver is serious about making some noise this year, they need to tidy up in their own end.
A consistent power play
It seems like it’s one step forwards, two steps back for the Vancouver Canucks powerplay. One game they’ll score a couple of goals with the man advantage, then they’ll go five without one. Given the weapons they possess, there is no reason for the power play to be this wildly inconsistent. This is a team that has the Sedin twins, Alex Edler, and Radim Vrbata, and they can’t even get into the top half of the league in terms of powerplay percentage? Ridiculous. And it’s not just this season either. After finishing near the top of the league on the man advantage in both 2010-11 and 2011-12, it’s been all downhill (despite the fact that the 12-13 and 13-14 powerplay units had both Ryan Kesler and Jason Garrison at their disposal.) It’s a problem that needs to be resolved, and fast.
A consistent Ryan Miller
While Miller certainly can’t be blamed for the debacle on Saturday against the New York Rangers, he simply has not been good enough lately. Excluding the defensive disaster against New York, Miller has posted save percentages of .917, .714, .880, and .862. The obvious exception here is the match against the Montreal Canadiens (.917), but Miller has not been nearly up to par throughout the other four contests. For a guy who makes six million dollars a year, that is not even remotely close to acceptable. Miller had a fantastic start to the season, and the Canucks will need that Ryan Miller back if they want to do some damage.
A return to form for the top-six
No, I’m not talking about the Sedins and Burrows returning to 2010-11 form. I’m talking about them returning to even November form. The production from the top line, made up of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and former- Coyote Vrbata, has seen their production drop from an almost 90 point pace, to a borderline 70 point pace. Now, before the season started, no one would have complained about a 70 point campaign from the Twins, but they set expectation high early. As for the second line, their paces have simply come down to earth rather than completely plummeted. For example, Nick Bonino is no longer on a 65 point pace, but on pace for something in the mid- 50’s, still very respectable numbers. That said, Vancouver still needs that line of Bonino, Chris Higgins and Alex Burrows to step it up a notch.
A game against the Edmonton Oilers
The Canucks have played four games against Edmonton this season. They have gone 4-0-0 in those four games. The way Vancouver’s going right now, a game against a club they’ve dominated recently may be just what they needed. Please Santa?
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