The Vancouver Canucks are 0-4-2 to start the season and are perhaps the NHL’s biggest early-season disappointment.
Once again, the Canucks can’t generate meaningful offence – a factor so constraining it’s already putting the team’s postseason hopes into question. I cannot imagine how frustrated the fan base is right now, because this story has been written so many times before.
The organization is already searching for answers. Head coach Bruce Boudreau remarked on Saturday he had grave concerns with the effort level his team is putting forward, this after a blowout loss courtesy the Buffalo Sabres.
If Vancouver can’t dig themselves out of this hole, we are going to veer quickly into talks about whether the team needs to pull the proverbial Band-Aid and start selling off assets, igniting a rebuild some have argued is long overdue. Others argue there is enough talent on the roster, and other components (front office, coaching, specific holes in the lineup) should be addressed first. I circle back to the offence with the Canucks. It’s a paradox. Either we have greatly overstated the individual skill sets of forwards like Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and Conor Garland, or there is something else impeding Vancouver’s core from regularly producing.
It is admittedly hard to stare at this lineup – the one the Canucks iced on Saturday night – and think they are too thin on scoring prowess (via DailyFaceoff):
The fourth line leaves something to be desired, but there is plenty of playmaking and shooting ability inside of the top nine to qualify for the playoffs.
But set aside our qualitative opinions about the skill across this forward group. This, along with goalie Thatcher Demko, should be the core strength of this team. It’s certainly not the defence, which is a horror show – more on this in a moment.
Let’s look at Vancouver’s five-year offensive production at even strength. Despite this talent across the lineup, they haven’t cracked league averages once. In fact, they are as sure a bet as any to finish in the bottom third of the league offensively – certainly in the Pettersson (2018-present) era:
So, what’s going on here? Are we being unrealistic about the skill in the lineup, or is something else causing Vancouver to be about 8 per cent less effective than the league-average team at even strength – and as high as 11 per cent this season?
I think the defence, or lack thereof, is contributing to a lot of this. And how Vancouver’s front office chooses to attack this issue, considering how tight their salary cap situation currently is, feels nebulous to me. Because if you watch a Canucks game, the amount of difficulty this team has moving the puck out of the defensive zone is impossible to miss. It not only impedes any chance of a transition or counterattacking game, but it also sucks the forwards deeper into the defensive third, working harder to stave off goals against and sacrificing offensive opportunities as a result. Unless puck-moving sensation Quinn Hughes is on the ice (he’s currently day-to-day with an injury), it’s a grind.
Consider Vancouver’s four preeminent scorers, and how they produce with and without Hughes on the ice over the past three seasons. Quality of teammate can have an obvious impact on production, and across the league, first-line forwards playing with first-pair defenders are always the most productive; swap the first pair with the third pair, and you will see a performance drawdown.
But these performance drawdowns are staggering:
The Canucks have scored like one of the better teams in the NHL when the top units have been on the ice. The problem is as soon as the first-pairing defence comes off the ice, the offence immediately moves in reverse – players like Miller and Boeser see nearly 10 per cent less production, and Pettersson is as high as 20 per cent. (Curiously, Bo Horvat sees his numbers improve with Hughes away. I haven’t figured that one out yet!)
This, of course, also ignores the defensive component at play here. These forwards – when not playing with the first pairing – have less meaningful offensive zone time per shift, and because their shift lengths remain unchanged, we know they are spending more of their minutes cleaning up the defensive zone or working their way through the middle of the ice. That’s certainly a significant part of hockey, and these forwards aren’t just compensated to score goals. They are also paid to play reliable defensive hockey and, most prominently, drive favourable goal differentials for their team.
And that’s the rub. This Vancouver group has a hard enough time controlling play with their best units on the ice. Take away their top pairing, and it’s a war of attrition.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Tyler Myers, Kyle Burroughs, Luke Schenn (Hughes’ most common partner so far this season), Riley Stillman, Tucker Poolman, and the rest of the Canucks’ blueline depth chart have redeemable skills. But as a collection of talent in comparison to what other teams are dressing around the league, it’s deeply underwhelming. And sometimes a bad defensive group doesn’t just mean poor defensive play and big goals against totals.
In this case, Vancouver’s defensive problems are manifesting all over the ice.
Data Via Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Evolving Hockey, Daily Faceoff, Hockey Reference
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
