The initial sting of being eliminated in six games by the Calgary Flames has now likely worn off for most Vancouver Canucks fans, being they can look back and reflect on the 2014-15 campaign in an unbiased light, instead of having what was a relatively successful campaign spoiled by the raw emotions of a playoff elimination. When one looks back on what was expected of the club at the start of the season and compare it to what they ended up accomplishing, it’s hard not to see an abundance of positives surrounding the team.
Vancouver Canucks 2014-15 Season Review
Are there still problems? Certainly, the mobility and offence from the blue line was an issue throughout much of the regular season and the entire post-season and should be a priority heading into the off-season. On a somewhat related note, the power play was streaky over the course of the campaign and was unable to come through when games were on the line versus the Flames. However, the positives far outweigh the negatives for the 2014-15 edition of the Canucks, a version that saw rookie Bo Horvat emerge as the most exciting youngster to make an impact in the organization in ages, Henrik and Daniel Sedin return to form as top-10 NHL scorers and free agent signing Radim Vrbata score a whopping 31 goals.
Those are of course the three headlines that will steal the spotlight, but there’s more to their success than those four players. Rookie head coach Willie Desjardins finally turned the Canucks into a four-line hockey team, leading to a balanced attack that produced a dozen double-digit goal scorers, 11 of those being forwards, an improvement on last year’s eight 10+ goal scorers (a group that included Mike Santorelli, whose injury coincided with the collapse of the John Tortorella-led group). Another major improvement under Desjardins was the revival of the power play which, while admittedly streaky throughout the year, finished ninth in the league, a ridiculous 17 spot increase on last year.
It wasn’t just the team as a whole that saw a tremendous rebound campaign though, as there were multiple individual skaters who bounced-back in a big way. Aside from the Sedins, Jannik Hansen quietly had a very nice campaign after struggling mightily last season (largely due to the fact that he was forced into a top-six capacity), Alex Burrows, after not scoring a goal until mid-March under Tortorella, scored 18 goals in 70 games this year, and Alex Edler, who finished a league-worst minus-39 in 2014, had the biggest rebound of any Canuck, establishing himself as their go-to defenceman in all situations and playing big minutes alongside Chris Tanev.
Desjardins did great things in terms of development for some of the young talent on the roster, even for the players not named Horvat. Look at Zack Kassian, who was shown some tough love leading up to the trade deadline, and it eventually ended up with him becoming an integral part of the team up until his injury. Kassian has shown flashes of brilliance throughout his tenure as a Canuck, but it looks like under Desjardins he’ll finally start putting it all together. In addition to Kassian, Eddie Lack looked like a capable #1 goaltender when Ryan Miller went down to injury. Under Tortorella, Lack was forced to play 18 consecutive games after the Roberto Luongo trade and he simply did not look ready to take over, even early in that stretch. However, this season, Lack looked more poised and confident than he did under “Torts,” which gives management the option of trading a goalie, whether that be Lack, whose value is at an all-time high, or Miller, a more proven option for a team in need of a goaltender.
To put into context just how successful this season was for the Canucks, their 48 wins ranks within the five best win totals in franchise history. Yes, that probably says more about the franchise itself, but it remains an impressive stat nonetheless. The Canucks were also able to establish themselves as an elite level road team, with the fifth best road record in the entire NHL and the third best in the Western Conference. The Canucks road win total this season, 24, also ranked as third most in franchise history, trailing only the President’s Trophy winning clubs of 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Not everything worked this season however and this was especially evident in the playoffs, when Desjardins failed to make the appropriate adjustments (sticking with a four-line system late in games, playing the likes of Linden Vey over Sven Baertschi early in the series), while veteran defenders Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Bieksa showed their age, looking slow and ineffective more often than not, and forcing General Manager Jim Benning and the rest of Canucks management to consider making major adjustments on the back-end. The defense is just one of several decisions for Canucks brass this summer however, as they must also sort out their goaltending, make room for rising prospects, and attempt to stockpile some more draft picks, specifically those of a 2nd or 3rd-round variety (the Canucks don’t have a pick in either round at the upcoming draft).
It should be an interesting off-season to cap off a largely successful 2014-15 campaign. Of course fans won’t be pleased with the playoff results, but all things considered, this season was very much a success, and a massive step in the right direction for the organization.
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