On today’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal were joined by Rinkwide’s Jeff Paterson to discuss Rick Tocchet’s mounting frustration, the Vancouver Canucks’ brutal home-ice record, and the situation on the blue line after Erik Brännström’s healthy scratch against the Blues.
“After another home-ice loss, the frustration there is mounting,” said JPat. “There’s an element of truth to the idea that he’s tired of answering questions about Elias Pettersson. That’s the St. Louis Blues, one of the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL. With all due respect to them, they aren’t a high-flying team with elite scorers, yet they scored four goals on us. It’s too simplistic to say the Canucks play differently at home than they do on the road, but there are some factors. A major one is that they’ve given up four or more goals in nine of their 14 home games. You’re not going to win many games giving up four goals per game. They’ve been a bit better away from home, but the margins are so fine — they had overtime wins in Buffalo and Detroit. At home, they’ve lost in overtime to Calgary, Carolina, and St. Louis. They’re finding ways to grind out wins in tight games on the road that they’re not at home. Hopefully, that rectifies itself over the long haul. I still shake my head that they’ve been to overtime eight times now and have won just three of them. There’s been some curious deployment. Quinn Hughes and Pettersson each got only one shift in overtime.
“For Tocchet, everything he touched turned to gold last year, but he hasn’t had the same effect this season,” JPat continued. “Like his team, there’s been some inconsistency in his decision-making. I’m not sure he’s levelled up in the same way he did a year ago when all his players had career years and made him look great. The struggles are real — four wins in 14 home games is unacceptable, and they have to find a way to grind out some victories in front of their paying fans.”
When it comes to trade urgency, JPat claims their ability to win against lesser teams has tempered the need for an upgrade.
“The road record has allowed them to stay above the playoff bar, but the home record is why they haven’t been able to separate themselves from teams like the Flames and the Blues,” said JPat. “Both Calgary and St. Louis have come to Vancouver and taken points, as have many other teams. The overall record allows management to be somewhat patient. They’re trying to accrue as much cap space as possible, which is more of a long-term strategy. I don’t think there will be a panic move, even though we know how aggressive this front office can be. I think there will be a wait-and-see approach. I’m looking at the next seven days, where they have games against the Panthers, Avalanche, and Golden Knights. If the Canucks aren’t able to squeeze some points out of those games, it’s fair to question how they stack up against the truly elite teams in the NHL, as they haven’t faced many of them through the first 27 games of the season.”
Finally, JPat addressed the situation on the blue line after Erik Brännström appeared to be once again the odd-man-out at practice earlier today.
“With [Mark] Friedman and [Vincent] Desharnais, it felt like when the puck was on their stick in the defensive zone, it resulted in icing,” he said. “They chose to healthy scratch one of the few players who can actually move the puck and make a pass to a forward. It was a curious decision. However, watching practice today and listening to Rick Tocchet, it sounds like Derek Forbort is going to play tomorrow against the Panthers, paired with Mark Friedman. I think Brännström is going to be a healthy scratch again based on what I saw at practice today.”
You can watch the full segment below:
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