How about those five minutes against Nashville? For a few moments over the past week, the vibes were surprisingly high for the Vancouver Canucks. A late third-period surge against the Predators allowed the Canucks to reach the 20-win mark on the season. That highlight, however, was sandwiched between a shutout loss to Ottawa and a stinker against Seattle. But that’s all in the past now. The Canucks are looking forward to brighter days and visits from the two Florida-based teams in the National Hockey League as the club’s eight-game homestand continues. To help pass the time until the two-time defending champion Panthers come calling on Tuesday night, we present another edition of the CanucksArmy Monday mailbag, where we answer your burning questions. The mail was piling up this week and we thank you for your submissions. Let’s get down to the business of answering some of your queries.

Despite the best efforts of Filip Hronek’s agent Allan Walsh pouring ice cold water over any thoughts of the Canucks moving his client, this market continues to insist on banging this drum. To hear Walsh tell it, any trade speculation around Hronek is ‘wasted air.’ Hronek’s had an incredible season given the environment he’s in and what’s gone on around him. He really should be commended for how hard he’s played and there’s little doubt he’s this season’s team MVP. I think Hronek should remain to help pave the way for the next chapter of Canucks hockey. That said, when you saw the price being paid for right shot defencemen at the trade deadline, the Canucks may want to revisit the idea in a couple of seasons.

And depending where the rebuild is at that point, perhaps Hronek will be ready to re-examine the situation, too. But in the short term, I think it makes sense for the 28-year-old to push his young teammates to compete as hard as he does on a nightly basis. The likes of Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson, and Victor Mancini could all learn plenty from Hronek over the next couple of seasons. By the time a few of them are ready to lead and be part of the next core here, maybe then there will be an opportunity to gauge the trade market for a minute-munching, hard-nosed right shot D and I’d imagine Hronek would still carry remarkable value at that point. I don’t always agree with Allan Walsh, but on this one, I think the notion of dealing Hronek this summer is wasted air. And I think the hockey club feels the same way.

Let’s move this discussion beyond Nils Höglander for the time being. Tom Willander played a career-high 23:04 on Thursday against Nashville. That is giving a young player plenty of opportunity. Zeev Buium logged 22:59 on Saturday against the Kraken. That is giving a young player plenty of opportunity. Liam Öhgren is been firmly planted on the second line for the past week and is starting to see more and more penalty killing duty. That is giving a young player plenty of opportunity.

Nikita Tolopilo just started the past two games ahead of Kevin Lankinen. The Canucks are running with four defencemen under the age of 24 right now. Aatu Räty has dressed for the last five games since the team moved out David Kämpf. So, really, outside of Höglander, the young players are playing as they should. I think there have been plenty of reasons to question Adam Foote’s deployment over the course of the season, but I actually think he’s doing his best to play the young players in a variety of situations right now.

The obvious answer is around 8:30pm PT on Thursday April 16th when the final buzzer sounds on Game 82 in Edmonton. But there are a few markers to pass before then. The Canucks still haven’t been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention yet, although that will likely occur in the next week to 10 days. The Canucks can still attain a maximum of 80 points.

That number will drop with each loss the team suffers. Meanwhile, the teams in the playoff chase are now hovering around 70 points and climbing. So you can see that gap closing perhaps daylight will turn to darkness for the Canucks by this time next week. Remarkably, though, it will be longer than that before the Canucks lock down last place in the overall standings. As tough as this season has been, that last spot in the standings — and accordingly the best draft lottery odds — may not be finalized until some time in early April. However, I draw your attention to the fact the Canucks have a massive March 28th game against the Flames in Calgary and that could speed the process.

In a word, no. If this season has taught us anything, it’s that people will still watch this hockey club. And if the Canucks wind up with Ivar Stenberg, they’ll be getting an incredible prospect that has just finished a remarkable season in the Swedish Hockey League. He’ll instantly become the best prospect this organization has had since prior to the pandemic and he’ll be a massive part of the rebuild. That said, I’m on Team McKenna simply because I don’t think you can discount the hype that has built up around this player for years now. If the Canucks win the lottery, I think they’ll take McKenna. But that’s simply a hunch at this point still more than three months from the draft. And, of course, if (when?) they don’t win the lottery, this could very well be a moot point, and the decision may be taken out of their hands entirely.

The Pacific is not a good division this year. It’s as simple as that. Vegas has been kept afloat by its 14 loser points. When you have some idle time, look at the Golden Knights game by game results and see how they’ve fared against really good teams this season. Spoiler alert, they haven’t done very well. Anaheim’s point total is artificially inflated by an 8-0 record in shootouts. The Ducks lead the division yet they have a -10 goal differential. Anaheim and Edmonton are both bottom five in the league in goals against. All three of those teams are in the bottom five in terms of 5-on-5 save percentage in the league. All are covered in defensive warts and have questions about how their playoff goaltending will stack up. While somebody is winning the division in the regular season, the same may not hold true come playoff time. All three of these teams could easily be knocked off by a lesser opponent. It’s just the way this season has gone in the league’s weakest division by far.