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Canucks Army Post-Game: A Series of Unfortunate Event
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J.D. Burke
Dec 11, 2016, 20:17 ESTUpdated:
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Photo Credit: Brad Mills – USA TODAY Sports
There are back-to-back hockey games, and then there’s this. You have the Canucks, at the end of a road trip, on the second half of a pair of weekend games played fewer than 24 hours apart, on their fourth game in six days. Opposite them the Washington Capitals, who last played Friday.
If ever one wanted an example of scheduled loss, look no further. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Frankly, though, I wouldn’t force this game upon my worst enemies Clockwork Orange style. That’s a fate even the worst among us aren’t apt to suffer.
The Canucks were listless. Want one statistic to really draw the message home? It took Vancouver five power plays to tally their first shot with the man advantage — five power plays. That’s par for the course on the night, though. The Capitals outshot the Canucks and shut them out to boot, 3-0.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 26 of 28 shots for Vancouver. Braden Holtby stopped all 20 of the Canucks shots.

Stats


Quick Hits

  • So, there’s not a lot of meat on the bone for tonight’s game. Things just, well, they didn’t happen. It was an excruciating experience for everyone involved, I’m sure. I don’t think the Canucks did themselves any favours in the entertainment or skill department when they inexplicably decided to make Sven Baertschi a healthy scratch. Let’s get into just how insane that decision is. Baertschi’s the third-most productive player offensively among healthy Canucks skaters. Last year, he was among their most productive players at even strength. He’s struggling to tilt the ice this season and was the team’s single worst player by Cf% last night. But he’s traditionally been an extremely strong player in the neutral zone and he appeared to be turning the corner on a line with Bo Horvat and Alexandre Burrows. If you’re looking at this Canucks roster right now and draw the conclusion that it needs less Baertschi, you might need to reevaluate things.
  • Jannik Hansen is back, which is great if for no other reason than it spares us another night of Brandon Sutter with the Sedin twins. What a disaster that was. I thought Hansen looked good tonight. Still has that explosive first stride and he used it to pressure Capitals defencemen on numerous occasions. That’s encouraging. Perhaps less encouraging is the fact that the line carried about a 30% mark in Corsi For%. That’s uh… not good.
  • Okay, I have to ask what exactly the Canucks see in Michael Chaput. He centred the nominal second line for weeks. Not days. Not a series of games. Weeks. And when Hansen came back into the Canucks lineup, they kept Chaput in at Baertschi’s expense. Chaput is not an NHL player. He’s below replacement level by production metrics, shot metrics, goal metrics… you name it! He’s an AHL player. That’s why they signed him — to boost the AHL club.
  • Speaking of AHL talent, Jack Skille had another good game. Think he’s run out of goals for another 20-plus games in all likelihood, but he’s still contributing positively. He had a couple great chances on the night and generally looked good alongside Horvat and Burrows. 
  • The Canucks power play is terrible. Five tries tonight, and just the one shot to show for it. It goes without saying they didn’t score. Can’t preach this enough, but they need to get Sutter off the first unit and shift away from the 1-3-1 and into the Overload formation. Adding Troy Stecher to the first unit means they have a player that can shoot the puck well. It’s not enough to make their low-high power play much more effective though.

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