Welcome back to Stars of the Week at CanucksArmy! Every week, we’ll be bringing you our Top Three best and brightest performers on the Vancouver Canucks that week. Disagree with our picks or have your own stars to nominate? Let us know in the comments below!
Did we all make it through trade deadline week? Well, there are a lot of players around the league who didn’t, for better or for worse.
The Canucks looked better this week – more confident with their passes, their speed, and shooting. They’re still mostly only scraping by wins with small goal margins and losing out on other games that they should probably win. They left this week with four out of a possible six points. At least it’s better than last week.

Teddy Blueger

I loved Blueger’s game this week, and I hope you did, too. He hadn’t scored in 28 games and landed himself two goals this week. It looks like the kind of centre depth we’ve been missing lately. Maybe the secret to Blueger’s game could be putting Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland back on the same line, or it could be wishful thinking. Seeing remnants of last year’s Canucks team creates a more hopeful outlook. The pieces of the puzzle are there.
Take this sequence alone – in a game that certainly didn’t end the Canucks’ way, Blueger had chemistry and the team as a whole had shots on goal – something that’s been hard to come by.

Filip Hronek

I seem to say this a lot this year, but Filip Hronek has done an exceptional job stepping up in Quinn Hughes’ absence. Hronek had four points this week against the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild, but it isn’t all just about finding the scoresheet. It goes to show his abilities in isolation from Hughes and just how much he’s capable of supporting the defensive core when needed. He looks good paired with D-Petey, who provides a guiding hand to a rookie defenceman who has been needed more than ever in a chaotic year. When your captain and D-partner is down for the count, it’s nice to have other leadership in the room amongst a week – and a season – of uncertainty. 

Conor Garland

For several reasons, Conor Garland looked like his scrappy self this week, which couldn’t have come at a better time.
First of all, simply for morale. Again, with Boeser the focus of both attention and the chopping block this week and Hughes still out, it might have been very easy to take the wind out of the Canucks’ sails. He looked engaged, getting to net-front, which is one of his sweet spots, not for the prettiest attempts on goal, but ones that matter nonetheless. 
Secondly, he took the last few seconds of their tilt against the Anaheim Ducks to challenge Trevor Zegras to some fisticuffs. Knowing these two players, I’m sure they had some very friendly conversation going throughout the game.
With a few seconds left on the clock, the Canucks knew they had this 3-2 game signed, sealed, and delivered. This was a prime example of Conor Garland knowing when to step up on his team and providing a little entertainment value at that.
For some self-indulgent promotion, you can read my profile on him for this year’s iteration of the Botchford Project. He could not have known that this would be published this week, but it certainly was excellent timing. 

Honourable Mentions

Brock Boeser
He gets a mention for somehow, whether you want him to be or not, leaving trade deadline week as a member of the Vancouver Canucks. 
Will he get all the way to free agency, or will he be extended until then? Patrik Allvin does not even have the answer to that question.
Carson Soucy
He gets a mention for somehow, whether you want him to be or not, leaving trade deadline week no longer a member of the Vancouver Canucks.
Soucy scored his last goal as a Canuck against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, and was traded on Thursday, which is a fitting farewell. He could be a decent defenceman on occasion, which was maybe the issue.
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