{"id":460342,"date":"2025-01-09T12:32:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T17:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460342"},"modified":"2025-01-09T12:32:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T17:32:35","slug":"its-not-a-vancouver-canucks-talent-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/09\/its-not-a-vancouver-canucks-talent-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Not A Vancouver Canucks Talent Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

The supposed “Vancouver Canucks<\/a> talent gap” isn’t the cause of the team’s recent woes. That’s because, for the most part, there isn’t one.<\/p>\n

Blame on Vancouver Canucks Talent Gap Misplaced<\/h2>\n

First things first. Where did you think the Vancouver Canucks would end up this season? Most fans were optimistic and had good reason to be. The Canucks pushed Stanley Cup finalist to seven games while getting only one game from their star goaltender. But there was also a note of caution to the optimism – again, for good reason. Here’s how we put it<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Lots of players hit career highs, which you can\u2019t expect will repeat. This has the strange rating of being a better team than last season but with fewer points. They should flirt with triple digits, assuming everyone stays healthy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Last year’s club hit 109 points when (almost) everything went perfectly. That’s hardly a reasonable target in a game where injuries of one sort or another are the norm. Their seven highest point-getters played 80 or more games in the regular season. Five Canucks were named to the All-Star team and they came home with a sixth. It was a pretty good year is what we’re saying.<\/p>\n

So even beyond injured players or division rivals improving, plain old regression would have an effect. The team lost Elias Lindholm<\/a> and Nikita Zadorov<\/a>, but their effect was felt in the playoffs more than the regular season anyway. Brock Boeser<\/a> probably wouldn’t have another four hat trick season, and that would be fine. That’ll do if he keeps his career average of 30 goals per 82-game season.<\/p>\n

Other reasonable assumptions for this season are here, too. Thatcher Demko<\/a> being healthy enough to start the season, with a stable Arturs \u0160ilovs behind him. A point-per-game pace from J.T. Miller<\/a> and Elias Pettersson<\/a>. The usual astonishing play from Quinn Hughes<\/a> with a solid Filip Hronek<\/a> beside him. Nils H\u00f6glander<\/a> finally taking lessons learned to heart and carrying that forward.<\/p>\n

Not everything the Canucks did would work, but not because of a “talent gap”.<\/p>\n

Then What Happened<\/h3>\n

Clinging to a playoff spot halfway through the season wasn’t part of the plan. Re-emerging stories of a rift between players weren’t expected, either. Demko being out far longer than hoped for with \u0160ilovs unable to secure the net is an unpleasant surprise. H\u00f6glander’s production falling off a cliff, Pettersson’s falling short, and Miller up and vanishing for several days was hard to predict.<\/p>\n

Then there are the injuries to Hughes and Hronek. Hughes has been with the team for nearly the entire season and has been excellent for 25 minutes per night. But his return against the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> revealed a large brace on his left hand. He misses Hronek, who has played just 21 games this year and will likely miss another month. Carson Soucy<\/a> taking a while to find his game hasn’t helped.<\/p>\n

But plenty has gone right, too. The streaky scoring of Jake DeBrusk<\/a> hasn’t been predictable, but he has led the team with 17 goals. Dakota Joshua<\/a>‘s absence has had some compensation in Kiefer Sherwood<\/a>‘s physical play and surprising scoring. Kevin Lankinen<\/a> is a serious contender for second place as the Canucks MVP. Conor Garland<\/a> is on pace for his first 60-point season.<\/p>\n

The idea that Vancouver lacks skill isn’t really true. That Tyler Myers<\/a> is playing 21 minutes isn’t because of the Canucks talent gap if he wasn’t supposed to be there at all. Depth has been an issue, but it is for many teams missing key players. All teams have weaknesses, and Vancouver’s is in their defence as far as personnel goes. But it was last year, too.<\/p>\n

(Don’t Call It A) Canucks Talent Gap<\/h3>\n

The Canucks aren’t going to reach 109 points this season, but not because of their talent. It is essentially the same as last season when they all hit their highs. Lindholm was a fine defender, but his contributions during the season were limited. His six goals and 12 points in 26 games were decent for a middle-six centre, sure. But Pius Suter<\/a> is doing fine in his place, especially comparing today’s stats.<\/p>\n

As for Zadorov, his playoff run with Vancouver was possibly the best 13-game run of his career. He was huge for Vancouver then. And in Boston<\/a>, he’s definitely contributing with 2 goals and 10 points in 42 games while playing almost 20 minutes a night. If he were in Vancouver, he’d be… Tyler Myers, who also has 2 goals and 10 points in 39 games while playing 20:30 a night. Hm.<\/p>\n

There is an argument to be made for Ian Cole<\/a> being missed, as every defenceman other than Hughes played better with him. But how much does Vancouver miss Andrei Kuzmenko<\/a> or Sam Lafferty<\/a> or Anthony Beauvillier<\/a>? Or the highest scorer of the lot, Ilya Mikheyev<\/a>? Not enough to argue that their absence has made the Canucks substantially worse.<\/p>\n

The difference between Lankinen and last year’s Demko can’t really be made up for. But Lankinen hasn’t been the reason for losses, he just hasn’t stolen games as frequently as Demko did.<\/p>\n

Should They Change And Can They<\/h3>\n

There are obvious needs for the club. Defence has been one for a few seasons now, and no change there. Strengthening the wings a bit more would help challenge H\u00f6glander and Joshua to get back to form. Both of those moves would have helped last season’s team, too, and you can bet they were trying. If Patrik Allvin can swing a deal, you know he will.<\/p>\n

There are cascading effects that have seen the Canucks slide down the standings, comparing last season to this. And only a bit is “in the room,” promise.<\/p>\n

As much as has been made of the Miller versus Pettersson awkwardness, that’s not likely the cause of mediocrity. Stories like these come out because of the lack of success, not the other way around. They can make touchy matters worse for a team that is struggling, though. The Winnipeg Jets<\/a> are probably the most famous for recent locker room stories<\/a> before this year.<\/p>\n

What led to the flying rumours – other than it just being Vancouver – was a slow start. The plan going into the 2024-25 season was to open things up a little and look to produce offence. But with an absent Demko, that last line of defence was harder to trust. Some early losses, a couple injuries, and players not getting off to hot starts changed the plan.<\/p>\n

Coach Rick Tocchet<\/a> started reining players in again. The margin for error dwindled and as shooting percentages normalized from last season one-goal wins became one-goal losses. The Canucks have had 13 of their 39 games go into overtime. While many of those have been exciting to watch, Vancouver lost the coin flip more often than not, going 4-9.<\/p>\n

Listen to Momma<\/h3>\n

If just three of those overtime and shootout losses were wins, then we probably aren’t talking about explosive trade deals<\/a>. With just one fewer injury that flip probably happens. With regression coming gradually instead of all at once, Tocchet likely sticks to the original plan. The question is, what to do about all of it.<\/p>\n

The simplest course is, to our mind, the best. It’s the same advice you heard in childhood: stop picking at it and let it heal over. Injured players are going to return. The talent on the team right now isn’t perfect, but it’s good. If Miller and Pettersson can’t make up, they can shut up and move on – though that’s going to need a public announcement. It’s made national news, after all.<\/p>\n

Deals can certainly happen, and are almost certain to given who this management team is. But it doesn’t need to be as a seller. If you want to get dramatic, move Pettersson to Miller’s wing permanently and see what happens. Probably good stuff. Maybe not, but it’s worth trying.<\/p>\n

And in the meantime, use the talent you have until the talent you need is back in game shape. There’s half a season to go and Vancouver’s already in a playoff spot. That’s 42 games for the Canucks talent to open a gap in the standings.<\/p>\n

Main photo by: Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The supposed “Vancouver Canucks talent gap” isn’t the cause of the team’s recent woes. That’s because, for the most part, there isn’t one. Blame on Vancouver Canucks Talent Gap Misplaced First things first. Where did you think the Vancouver Canucks would end up this season? Most fans were optimistic and had good reason to be. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3171,"featured_media":458776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,2,4547,4548],"tags":[4894,1630,4037,2138,2012,852,5892],"class_list":["post-460342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canucks","category-featured","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-elias-petterson","tag-j-t-miller","tag-nils-hoglander","tag-quinn-hughes","tag-rick-tocchet","tag-thatcher-demko","tag-vancouver-canucks-analysis"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460342"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460476,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460342\/revisions\/460476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}