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!
It was a record-breaking week for Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals across the continent, and the Vancouver Canucks had a few records of their own to break. Their 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks saw them break the franchise record for five fastest consecutive goals.
In the first period alone, Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek, Brock Boeser, Conor Garland, and Dakota Joshua all scored in the same five-minute window. Alas, the Canucks giveth five goals, and they taketh five goals away.
In their previous game, they put on a tragic play to rival Shakespeare himself and were shut out by Seattle 5-0. The Kraken are a fun team to watch but carry a slight “little brother” inferiority complex as the youngest of the two recent expansion teams, and continue to be the perpetual thorn in Vancouver’s side. On the subject of expansion teams, the Canucks also dropped 3-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights after a late third-period goal prevented the tie game from overtime.
Tacking on a low-event 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets earlier in the week, it wasn’t the most glamorous of runs for the team, but it definitely was confusing. That is the fundamental Canucks experience. 
Here’s the thing: there aren’t really any Canucks stars this week, or, at least not the ones one might think. Since they played four dramatically different games, it is hard to justify a player having a decent to fantastic game, only to absolutely nosedive in the following match.
Take Thatcher Demko alone, who had a great effort against the Connor Hellebuyck-led Jets after he was left hanging by the skaters in front of him, just to be nightmarishly shut out in the following game. Even Quinn Hughes hasn’t looked like himself, despite racking up 2 assists and first star of the game against Anaheim. Much like the stock market, the team is completely unpredictable and unstable right now. It’s the same old story this season.
Even with their showing against the Ducks, they were still outshot 26-32, which reflects more on the Ducks not being able to stop the pucks headed their way rather than the Canucks briefly turning into an offence-driven powerhouse. 
These might not be your picks, but with only five games left in the season, it’s time to just have some fun with it. Putting away advanced stats and cap projection calculations to say, “Because I say so.” I’m digging into the B-sides and rarities for this set. Welcome to 3 Canucks Stars of the Week: “Oops, all defencemen!” edition.

Elias Pettersson (Defence)

D-Petey has had an understated yet incredibly valuable run as a Vancouver Canuck thus far. While the more recent call-ups from Abbotsford have been getting the most attention, understandably, Pettersson has been a part of the Vancouver lineup since January and is likely to become an NHL mainstay on the bottom pairing. He’s young, spry, an efficient skater, and is already looking promising at frustrating opponents under pressure. He’s achieved this while playing fairly limited minutes, averaging out at just over 12 minutes a game on the year, though he logged over 15 against Anaheim this week. This was his big game of the week, and he scored right from the slot in a picture-perfect moment.
In a season where the Canucks defensive depth has suffered and varied – Carson Soucy and Vincent Desharnais already seem like eons ago – a player like Elias Pettersson gives some insight on stability well into the franchise’s future. There’s a long way to go in the details in his game, but few making the NHL jump at just 21 carve themselves out a spot immediately, and it’s been a pleasant surprise. Even though the focus on Pettersson’s role is by far not his offence, his first career NHL goal was a celebratory moment nevertheless, and his name will remain part of the new franchise record for years to come.

Derek Forbort

It makes sense to have D-Petey’s current third-pairing partner on the list, too, for the art of the defensive defenceman cannot be forgotten in a world of Norris Trophy phenoms. Forbort has been an unexpectedly solid pickup for the Canucks this year.
Quite frankly, he didn’t have the best week in the world – especially against the Winnipeg Jets, where he got dog-walked like a well-trained terrier – but he’s been remarkably consistent for the Canucks since February. After a slow start in the fall following the loss of his father and injury, he’s managed to make a difference in the latter half of this season and is one of the best penalty killers they have on hand.
He’s been a guiding veteran presence for young defencemen like Elias Pettersson and Victor Mancini, plays a responsible game and sets the example for them, and he’s provided insurance, allowing them to make the odd rookie mistake. Forbort factored in on Elias Pettersson’s first career goal against Anaheim, and actually put up the highest Corsi For in this game and played over 18 minutes, taking on a bigger role with Tyler Myers out of the lineup.
While the team won’t be making a trip to the playoffs this year, he’s played up to his $1.5 million one-year deal. It might be wise for Vancouver to re-sign him with another team-friendly amount to have their back-end defence covered and a pretty reliable shutdown player for the future. 

Filip Hronek

Last week, I talked about how Aatu Räty and Fiip Hronek were worth the loss of Bo Horvat two years ago. This week, Räty managed to get a loose puck off Hronek’s signature shot and knock it right past Vegas’ Adin Hill for a good goal – after some deliberation. I rest my case.
This season, Hronek underwent a procedure in December, and he still came back to complete his current campaign of 56 games, 5 goals, 25 assists to date. While Quinn Hughes has either been out of the lineup or uncharacteristically off his usual standard this spring – completely understandably so, after he practically carried the entire team to the finish line – it’s become abundantly clear how important the support around him on the blue line really is. Right-handed defencemen of Hronek’s calibre do not grow on trees in the National Hockey League.
Hronek is a penalty killer who doesn’t let offence fall by the wayside and can hold his own on the secondary power play unit. He has his weaknesses, but don’t we all? I have no problem with Filip Hronek continuing as second-in-command on the blue line, though you could argue that the title belongs to Tyler Myers.
I’m a defender of Hronek, even when he’s blatantly struggling to defend off the rush. I defend so he doesn’t have to. Here’s his absolute firecracker of a shot from the blue line against Anaheim in case you forgot what the Canucks have in this player. 
Or this, which is a better summary of how the Canucks season has gone.
Sponsored by bet365