The 2021 Vancouver Canucks are objectively not a good hockey team. Oh sure, once in a while they put together a solid period, but for the most part they’re like the middle Harry Potter novels: a few likeable but wildly inconsistent characters meander through overly long situations. Meanwhile, gaping holes leave even the most devoted fans wondering if and when we’ll see light at the end of the tunnel.
Elias Pettersson scored his first goal against the Habs on Saturday, but he has literally stumbled out of the gate so far this season. But even when he’s stayed on his skates, EP40 has looked ever so terrestrial thus far. Here’s an egregious giveaway that turned into a shorty for the rouge, blanc, et bleu:
Petey hasn’t been the only one. The Canucks as a team have been awash in unforced errors, a fact not lost on social media of all stripes.
Here’s last year’s leading scorer, JT Miller, showing us why his return was what this Canucks team needed to get off to the races. Oh. Wait.
The only bright spot this season has been Bo Horvat, whose five goals in seven games positions has him tied in the early race for this year’s Rocket Richard trophy. Not only is he milking that bumper spot on the power play like a young Mike Bossy, Horvat is getting up in the grill of opponents who take liberty with Vancouver goalkeepers:
Okay, but back to that Bo Horvat, Goal Scorer thing for a minute. It is imperative that the Canucks build multiple looks into the power play. When teams take away the Pettersson one-timer, or when Pettersson is in a funk and misfires, or when the mother ship comes to take Pettersson back to Planet Hockey, this beautiful tic-tac-toe routine has to do the heavy lifting. And in the first seven games, both Canuck wins dumped freaking pianos on this play’s back.
No matter what happens between the pipes at the other end, however, Vancouver needs some serious work on the back end. Even if it’s the lowly Ottawa Senators, giving the opposition this much open ice is going to end badly for the good guys:
Coverage like this, coupled with all of those giveaways mentioned earlier, is unacceptable in fricking beer league. This despite the fact that the Canucks have well over $20 million wrapped up in their top seven defenders. Good citizens, that’s more than a quarter of the salary cap!
I enjoy chaos as much as the next guy — well okay, maybe not as much as Jeff Marek — but frankly this team is lacking what we call in soccer, ‘shape’. At any given time, a team with good shape is in a position to react to their opponent. If there’s a loose puck, there’s a player nearby to go after it. If there’s an attack, a defender can mitigate the situation. If there’s a chance to advance, there’s a player ready to move forward.
Good teams support the puck; that means, when your defenceman pinches into a forward position, you cover their patch of ice. If you’re defending a two-on-one, you don’t slide feet first into the corner; you take away the pass and diminish the puck carrier’s options. And for crying out loud, you don’t give a talented goal scorer like Tyler Toffoli acres of open ice to play around in on multiple occasions over a three-game stretch. The Canucks are successfully executing pretty much none of these things for long stretches at the moment. Like a minivan full of toddlers, they seem to just pile onto the ice whenever their number is called and mindlessly chase the puck en masse until the referee stops play.
As a result, the Canucks have allowed 33 goals in just seven games. That’s not just worst in the NHL, it’s the worst by a full 10 goals. Edmonton is atrocious and sit at 30th overall, and they’ve only given up 23 goals in that same span.
There may only be 56 games on the schedule this year, but if this continues, it’s gonna be a helluva long year for Canucks fans.