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…
In his third season, Brock Boeser’s development has taken an unpredictable turn. As a key to the Canucks offense, Boeser has seen his goal production dip, but has made up for it in other ways. In his third full NHL season, he’s made strides towards becoming a more well-rounded player, and has actually had a…
As one of the last cuts to Sweden’s U20 roster last year, Hoglander came into this year’s tournament using his disappointment as fuel. His skill, vision, and motor propelled him into third-place in tournament scoring with 5 goals and 6 assists and helped earn his country a Bronze Medal. Hoglander has played predominantly against men…
It’s a new year and a new edition of the roundtable after a long holiday-induced hiatus. The Canucks are now just past the halfway point of the season, which makes now as good a time as any to take stock of how they’ve performed so far and what we can expect heading into the remaining…
Early on this season, the only line with a better expected goals share that the Canucks fourth line of Jay Beagle, Tim Schaller and Tyler Motte was their top line of Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser. Though they were still getting outshot, the fourth line was limiting thei opponents’ shot quality to the…
Former Vancouver Canucks GM Brian Burke joined The Starting Lineup on Sportsnet 650 this morning where he was asked about what the Vancouver market is like comparative to others in the country. And in his first appearance of the year, Burke took aim at what he called a small group of Canucks followers.
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…
Finally, some good news on the Olli Juolevi front in this week’s edition of Blackfish. We’re also talking World Junior selection camp and a couple of Swedish prospects continue their hot streaks. CHL Carson Focht was held pointless this week. Focht has cooled off after his strong start to the season. He is now 5th…
The term “top-six forward” gets thrown around a lot by fans and media alike, but most people don’t really know what it means. While some observers can certainly recall a time when second-line forwards were putting up 50-60 point seasons, the reality is that those days are long behind us. Unfortunately, it seems that a…
As the resident stat-head at Canucks Army, I pride myself in digging deep and finding the numbers that matter. This piece is no different. The Canucks have impressed early on this season and are making a convincing push towards entering the playoffs for the first time since 2015. They’re scoring goals at a pace that…
Travis Green and the Canucks have been without Brandon Sutter and Jay Beagle since November 12 and November 21, respectively. They have missed a combined 17 games and while neither player is necessarily a key component to the success of the team, losing two centers at the same time is going to take a toll on…
When last we met, the Vancouver Canucks were coming off an October to remember, but as we once again gather to assess the team top-to-bottom the situation looks a little less rosy. As of the end of November, the Canucks had slipped out of the top-three in the Pacific Division – albeit with games in…
