Reunion of the Lotto Line For a while, it appeared as though Jake Virtanen was becoming a mainstay on the Canucks’ first line. He filled in on Brock Boeser’s usual spot and looked right at home alongside J.T Miller and Elias Pettersson. Virtanen has gone pointless in the Canucks’ last two games, which gave head…
The Canucks have been around for 50 years now, and at few points in that history have they ever been considered a physical team. It’s even rarer that the team has had a first line player leading their team in hits. In fact, since the NHL began tracking hits in 2007-08, the Canucks’ team leader…
No, you’re not reading that wrong, it’s really me, David Quadrelli, writing a game preview. Always90Four’s replacement, my podcast partner Chris Faber, needed a replacement of his own. Who better to deliver you the important notes you need to know ahead of tonight’s tilt with the San Jose Sharks than me? The Canucks are on…
The Canucks probably aren’t winning the Stanley Cup this year. The prospect of the Canucks running the table in the first three rounds and beating out the winner of a much stronger Eastern Conference is a bit like the prospect of Erik Gudbranson getting another multi-year deal from an NHL team: not technically impossible, but…
Brandon Sutter was in the midst of something of a renaissance campaign before suffering an injury in mid-November. Sutter was the team’s nominal third line centre to start the year, but was facing some of the softest competition of his career thanks to the team’s increased depth and thriving offensively thanks to the newfound freedom….
Hockey is a team game, but goaltenders have proven time and time again to have a larger effect on a team’s success than any other player. For the Vancouver Canucks, this has certainly been true of starting netminder Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom was the Canucks’ most valuable player through the first half of the season. Without…
The NHL announced the participants in their annual All-Star Game earlier today. Elias Pettersson was named to the Pacific Division team, and while that’s all fine and dandy, last season’s Calder Trophy winner is the lone representative from the Canucks. That’s an issue that ought to be remedied in short order. Quinn Hughes deserves to…
10 minutes, 25 seconds. That’s how long it took for the Vancouver Canucks to register their first shot on goal against the LA Kings in tonight’s 3-2 victory. The Kings were aggressive and peppered goaltender Jacob Markstrom with nine shots before the Canucks even managed to get one on Jonathan Quick. Lucky for the Canucks,…
No, you won’t hear anybody talking about how they’re #DrunkOnFantenberg. Not yet at least. The Vancouver Canucks’ newest seventh defenceman may have a while to go before achieving Alex Biega’s folk hero status, but he’s actually been an upgrade on his predecessor over the small sample of games he’s played. Teams want their extra d-man…
Chris Tanev called Quinn Hughes the most skilled defence partner he’s ever played with, and aside from Thursday night’s game against Carolina, Tyler Myers has also looked incredible on a defence pairing with the rookie defenceman. Hughes has had an almost immeasurable impact on the Canucks, similar to the one Elias Pettersson had last season…
The only thing more challenging than winning the Calder Trophy as a goaltender is winning it as a defenceman. Since the NHL’s rookie of the year award was introduced for the 1936-37 season, 15 goaltenders and 13 defencemen have won the honour, with forwards securing the hardware the remaining 55 times. This season, however, two…
Quinn Hughes has gotten off to a roaring start to his rookie campaign. Early on, his impact on the Canucks has shone brightest on the power play and in the team’s newfound ability to control the offensive zone. Toward the beginning of November, Hughes led all NHL defencemen in offensive zone possession and ranked eighth…
