Canucks year by the numbers: 23 stats that tell the story of 2023
6 months ago
With Thursday’s 4-1 loss to Philadelphia, the Vancouver Canucks wrapped up the 2023 portion of their National Hockey League schedule and won’t play again now until they’ve rung in the new year. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at the past 12 months of Canucks hockey by the numbers:
1) The team went 45-30-7 in the 82 games it played over the calendar year picking up 97 points along the way. Rick Tocchet was 43-22-7 while Bruce Boudreau was 2-8 in the 10 games he coached in January before being replaced
2) On the year, the Canucks outscored opponents 284-251. They were fourth in the league in goals scored in 2023 behind Edmonton, Colorado and New Jersey. Eleven teams allowed more goals over the past 12 months
3) In a photo finish, Elias Pettersson edged JT Miller for the 2023 Canucks scoring crown picking up 35+66=101 in the 82 games he played while Miller finished the year with 34+66=100 in 81 games
4) Brock Boeser was the team’s goal scoring champion over the past 365 days recording 36 goals. He may not have recorded a 30-goal season yet (although he’s well on his way), however he can say he’s had a 30-goal year. A 36-goal year, in fact
5) A total of 32 players found the back of the net for the hockey club since January 1st. There were 23 multi-goal scorers led by Boeser (36), Pettersson (35), Miller (34) and Andrei Kuzmenko (32). Single goal scorers in 2023 included Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Luke Schenn, Ethan Bear, Travis Dermott, Jack Rathbone, Guillaume Brisebois, Cole McWard, Aidan McDonough and Vitali Kravtsov.
6) Quinn Hughes racked up 91 points over the last year. He scored 16 goals and added 75 assists. Of his 91 points, 35 came on the power play.
7) It may be a flawed statistic, but Quinn Hughes led the entire National Hockey League in +/- over the past 12 months at a whopping +40. And even if you’re not a fan of the +/- statistic, when a player leads the league in a particular category, it paints a pretty accurate picture of the way he plays and his value to his hockey club
8) Hughes’ goal differential in all situations was an absurd 162-83 and at 5-on-5 was 88-54. The captain was on the ice for 28 more goals for than any other Canucks teammate in 2023
9) No one on the Canucks took more face-offs than JT Miller in 2023 – he took 1376 and won 766 (55.7%). Elias Pettersson took 1018 face-offs while Nils Aman, who spent portions of last season and this one in the American Hockey League, was third on the team over the past 12 months lining up for 324 draws.
10) Dakota Joshua led all Canucks in hits over the past year with 255. JT Miller was second with 196
11) Tyler Myers was the Canucks runaway leader in blocked shots this year stepping in front of 152. Perhaps surprisingly,Elias Pettersson was second with 83 blocks
12) Tyler Myers also led all Canucks in penalties in 2023 taking 25 minors and a major. JT Miller was assessed 22 minors and a couple of majors while Quinn Hughes was third on the team with 21 minor infractions
13) Dakota Joshua and Kyle Burroughs led the club with four majors apiece over the last calendar year. Sheldon Dries was third with three scraps. In all, 13 different players dropped the gloves for the hockey team
14) Five different players each scored one overtime goal for the Canucks in 2023: Andrei Kuzmenko (at DAL), JT Miller (vs ANA), Quinn Hughes (vs NYI), Elias Pettersson (at STL) and Conor Garland (at ARZ)
15) No surprise here, Quinn Hughes led the Canucks in ice time over the past 12 months. Perhaps the surprise comes with the fact he leads all skaters in the NHL in 2023 logging 2082:21. With an average of 25:24 per game, Hughes was third in the league behind only Drew Doughty and Miro Heiskanen. Over the past 12 months, Hughes logged 26 games over 27 minutes, had three games of more than 30 minutes punctuated by his February 23rd effort in St. Louis when he logged 30:48 of ice time
16) Thatcher Demko led the Canucks in goaltender starts (42), wins (28) and shutouts (4). He also finished the year with the best goals against average (2.44) and save percentage (.918) of the five netminders the Canucks used in 2023. Collin Delia — remember him? — was second in victories with eight
17) The Canucks power play scored on 62 of its 280 opportunities for the year. The team was third in the NHL in power plays and tied for fifth in goals scored. At 22.1%, the Canucks power play was 10th best in the league over the past 12 months
18) The Canucks penalty kill was successful in 188 of 248 short-handed situations. They were 16th in terms of how many penalties they had to kill off and the 60 goals they surrendered was the fifth highest total in the league. At 75.8%, the Canucks PK was 29th overall for the year
19) The Canucks used 41 skaters and five goalies over the past 12 months. Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Conor Garland were the four skaters to appear in all 82 games the team played. Aatu Raty and Linus Karlsson both appeared in three games for the NHL Canucks and were the players that saw the least game action
20) The Canucks made 13 trades over the course of 2023. They are documented in great detail in this article by colleague Stephan Roget
21) The Canucks scored 10 goals in San Jose on November 2nd. That was their largest offensive output of the year – and largest in a few decades. The nine goal win represented their largest margin of victory
22) The Canucks surrendered seven goals in a game once: in a 7-4 loss in Winnipeg on January 8th. However, they were handed a pair of 6-1 losses by Seattle and Detroit marking their largest margin of defeat for the year
23) The Canucks played 0 playoff games over the past 12 months. But with 49 points in 36 games this season, they have positioned themselves well to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the post-season begins in April
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