CANUCKS MILESTONES: 2016-17 EDITION
By Taylor Perry
7 years agoAnother NHL season is upon us, meaning predictions and projections are all revving into motion. Canucks
fans haven’t much to be optimistic about this time around — as countless outlets last place predictions can attest. That doesn’t mean you should check out on the Canucks, though.
There are a couple of Swedish twins, at the very least, on the cusp of breaking ground on some hefty career milestones. That’s exciting in its own right. But they’re not the only Canucks worth watching for in that sense either.
The list of players with similarly lofty yet ascertainable goals is by no means exhaustive. And for brevities sake, we’ll not discuss games played, or goal and assist marks not divisible by 100 — with one exception. This list also acts under the assumption that players will dress for all 82 games. I’m sure you’re all aware of at least one of these milestones (a fairly significant one at that), but a few others are lurking right around the corner. It would be a shame to leave those out, so here they are for your enjoyment.
Jannik Hansen
Milestone: 100 goals
Current Total: 99 goals
Having first broken into the NHL with the Canucks during the 2007 season, the old “Honey Badger” is now one of the longest-tenured Canucks and one of the few remaining players from the 2011 squad. After his career season last year, Hansen nearly reached the century mark for career goals. Barring an absolute disaster, he is poised to achieve that milestone early this season. While the rest of these predictions are a little more complicated, we only need to guess when Hansen scores his first goal of the season. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we predict he will get it out of the way early – but not in the first game. I mean, it’s not like he will open the scoring for the Canucks two seasons in a row, right?
Estimated Game: Game 2, October 16 vs. Carolina
Sven Baertschi
Milestone: 100 career points
Current Total: 58 points
Admittedly, “Bae” reaching the the century mark in career points would require a better NHL season than he has thus far produced. He would need 42 points to eclipse the 100-point barrier. According to our own JD Burke’s projected point totals for each Canuck, 42 points would probably be at the high end of expectations for Baertschi. But if he continues to develop and builds off of his promising preseason, there is a small chance that he could reach that mark this year. Assuming he does, it likely won’t be until late.
Estimated Game: Game 81, April 8 vs. Edmonton
Bo Horvat
Milestone: 100 career points
Current Total: 65 points
It is fairly reasonable to suggest that if Baertschi reaches the 100-point mark, it will be well after his expected centre does so first – and probably very much because of him. If he stays healthy, Horvat will almost certainly get to 100 career points sometime this season. Referring to JD’s article, a common prediction has Horvat scoring around 48 points, with some prognostications into the low 50s – all of which would be career seasons for the young centre. Needing 35 points to reach the century mark, it will take Horvat a little over three-quarters of the season scoring at roughly that clip.
Estimated Game: Game 67, March 9 vs. New York Islanders
Alex Burrows
Milestone: 400 career points, 200 career goals
Current Total: 364 points, 184 goals
It is a little remarkable, more than ten years after his first call-up from the minors, that we’re in the position of discussing Alex Burrows reaching 400 points and 200 goals. Yet here we are. It’s a testament to both his skill and longevity. While his production has been trending downward in recent seasons, we still predict Burrows will score around 20-25 points this season. That might not be enough for him to reach the 400-point plateau (he would need to be closer to his 2015 production to challenge for that), it should be enough for him to surpass Greg Adams, Petri Skriko, and Andre Boudrias for the 13th position on the Canucks all-time scoring list. He also needs 16 goals to reach 200 (joining an exclusive Canucks club that only includes seven other players), but that might be difficult to accomplish in a fourth line role. In all likelihood, this will probably be Burrows’ last season with the club, so the chances of him moving up the list further are quite small.
Estimated Game: He will fall short of both 400 points and 200 goals, but pass Andre Boudrias in all-time points in Game 82, April 9 @ Edmonton
*NB: If he plays just 15 games, he will also surpass Mattias Ohlund and Harold Snepsts for sixth in all-time games played. I know I said we wouldn’t discuss games played, but that’s still a pretty impressive feat for an undrafted player.
Alex Edler
Milestone: 300 career points
Current Total: 279 points
The native of Ostersund, Sweden could become just the fifth defenceman in Canucks history to reach the 300-point mark. If he stays at his current level of production, he should reach that mark this season. We predicted he would score around 33 points this season, which seems reasonable (especially if the power play improves). Should he score that many points, he would also pass Doug Lidster for fourth on the all-time Canucks defensemen scoring list (he needs 29 points). If not, he should certainly reach the scoresheet enough for him to reach 300 career points.
Estimated Game: Game 56, February 12 @ Buffalo
Brandon Sutter
Milestone: 200 career points
Current Total: 194 points
Due to Sutter’s multiple injuries last season and the notion that he still feels relatively new to the team, the fact he sits just six points away from 200 on his career might come as something of a surprise. This particular milestone may have also flown under the radar because it’s not an especially momentous one. Recording 200 career points is not insignificant – only 38 players have done it with the Canucks – it just doesn’t register as a particularly memorable event. That said, Sutter should reach the mark this season. Given we predicted he would score somewhere in the low-30s this season (keeping with his historical production), it is more likely to be sooner than later.
Estimated Game: Game 14, November 8 @ New York Rangers
*NB: Provided the world doesn’t end with the U.S. election after that date, Sutter should also reach 100 career assists soon thereafter.
Loui Eriksson
Milestone: 250 career goals
Current Total: 212 goals
One of the newest Canucks also brings with him a decent pedigree of scoring goals. As a result, he is one of only two current Canucks to have scored over 200 goals in the NHL (can you guess the other two?). While he has twice reached the 30-goal plateau, he would need to score 38 to reach the quarter-century mark. That total might be unlikely, but if he continues to demonstrate chemistry with the Sedins, then it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Still, 38 goals would be a career year, goal-wise, for Eriksson. A lot would have to go right for him to reach 250 career goals this season.
Estimated Game: Eriksson will have to wait until the following season to reach 250.
Henrik Sedin
Milestone: 1000 career points
Current Total: 970 points
This is the big one. One thousand career points have long been a major milestone of NHL greatness. Only 89 players have ever reached that plateau, and many of them are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. No player has ever amassed 1000 points in a Canuck uniform. Before the Sedins, none had reached the 800 and 900-point marks, either. Needing only 30 points, Henrik will undoubtedly reach this major milestone this season. With one of the Sedins leading essentially every major Canuck career scoring record, it is fitting that the first Canuck to reach 1000 points would also bear the ‘Sedin’ surname. Assuming he scores around 60 points this season, as forecasted earlier, Henrik might even eclipse that mark before the new year.
Estimated Game: Game 43, January 10 @ Nashville
Daniel Sedin
Milestone: 1000 career points
Career Total: 942 points
Wouldn’t this be something? The Swedish twins both reaching 1000 career points in the same season? They wouldn’t have it any other way. In the near future, Daniel, already the Canucks all-time leading goal-scorer, will follow his brother into the record books as the only Canucks to score 1000 points, and if recent production holds, it could even be this year. Needing 58 points to reach that exclusive club, he will be in tight to make it by April 9th. We’re betting he does.
Estimated Game: Game 80, April 6 @ Arizona
Recent articles from Taylor Perry
