Anybody else’s head hurt after watching the past two Vancouver Canucks games? A well-rounded, complete performance in a 4-0 win against the Stanley Cup champs on Thursday, followed by yet another home ice no show against the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Rick Tocchet was running hot at the podium moments after the loss to Boston. He questioned the emotional engagement of some of his players.
Well, there’s never an issue with emotional engagement when it comes to Monday mailbag time here at CanucksArmy. We put out the call for questions and you – dear readers – understood the assignment. Lots of good questions this week, so let’s jump right in.
Hello? Are you new around here? Drama is a big part of the Vancouver Canucks very existence. Mike Keenan once worked here. It used to be a goalie graveyard before that gave way to regular goalie controversies. It wasn’t that long ago the Canucks had players calling out the team and the league for its handling of COVID and the wild schedule forced upon them after a series of pandemic-related postponements. They had one of the biggest organizational house cleanings in franchise history just a few years back, hired a coach before a new management group was assembled, and then had another head coach in waiting lined up before they had relieved the old coach of his duties. That storyline got a little bit of attention. So sure, this year has had its share of drama before the 30-game mark – without question. But aside from last season, when just about everything went according to plan, this just feels like more of what this market has been conditioned to dealing with through the decades. 
Let’s agree that there is a collection of high-end talent on this team. Has that talent been evident and on display every night out this season? We can probably agree on the answer to that, too. As for the question about the Canucks being a good team, I’d say the jury is still out as they hit the 30-game mark tonight against Colorado. There are glaring weaknesses on this roster. The entire hockey world knows that. The Canucks have done well to arrive at a 15-9-5 record despite missing significant pieces to this point. But now, outside of Filip Hronek, who is out and isn’t returning any time soon, this team is healthy. This is the group for the most part. And aside from the composition of the club’s defence, it’s also fair to wonder if there is enough scoring depth up front to truly make noise when the postseason rolls around. Rick Tocchet has called out his club a couple of times. He’s apologized to the fan base. He’s clearly seen some things that concern him. I think the potential exists for this to be a good team, but to this point, too many others have left Quinn Hughes and Kevin Lankinen to do the bulk of the heavy lifting.
With 35 points through 29 games, the Canucks are currently on a 99-point pace. That would easily put them in the playoffs, but it may not be enough to lock down one of the three Pacific Division slots. All along, I’ve predicted this team would take a step back from the 50 wins/109-points and division title achieved last season. That was before the team encountered much of the adversity it has faced. So stepping back and looking at the situation as it stands now, I’m going to suggest the Canucks will get better on home ice, that players that have missed chunks of time will find another gear and management will bolster the line-up. As such, my prediction is that this team will cross the finish line with 102 points on the season. But that means the Canucks need to go 32-18-3 the rest of the way. Is that too bold? As I read it back now, it feels like it may be a tad ambitious.
Did you not enjoy Saturday’s loss to the Bruins? Okay, you’re not alone. Lost in all the wild statistics about the team’s home-ice performance is the fact that it’s mid-December, and the Canucks have not strung consecutive victories together in front of the home fans. Oh, and by the way, it didn’t happen during the playoffs either. So you have to go back to late last season to find back-to-back wins on home ice. Beating Colorado tonight won’t be easy. But after a quick trip to Utah and Vegas, the Canucks have four home games from December 21st through January 3rd – all against teams currently below them in the standings (Ottawa, San Jose, Seattle and Nashville). That doesn’t guarantee success, but it certainly feels like opportunity will be knocking for the Canucks to start moving things in the right direction on home ice. Then again, if they play like they did against Boston, they’ll be fortunate to post a win in any of those games.
I’m not sure there is a direct correlation here. Some insurance, perhaps, but I don’t think one is absolutely related to the other. DeBrusk was brought in to beef up the scoring ranks on the wing and to provide a capable finisher to play with Elias Pettersson. The Canucks felt their scoring wing depth was an area that needed to be addressed, so they made a splash in free agent waters last summer. With the cap set to rise significantly, they can find ways to make a new deal for Boeser’s work. He’s currently making $6.65M so the leap to $8M isn’t going to break the bank. It’s far more about term and fit under the current head coach. With Jonathan Lekkerimäki waiting in the wings, do the Canucks want to commit long-term to Boeser? Jim Rutherford seemed pretty non-committal at this stage on After Hours on Saturday. I think there is a way to make it work for Boeser, but I don’t think DeBrusk’s deal really has much impact on the decision management will make other than they’ll be glad they added him when they did.
Well, Jett Woo made it rain Teddy Bears with the opening goal in Abbotsford on Saturday. And it was a pretty toe drag for the rugged defender — so full credit for that. Woo has decent numbers in Abbotsford, scoring two goals and eight points in 24 AHL games this season. He also leads all defencemen down on the farm with 28 penalty minutes. I don’t ever want to write a guy off completely from making his dream of playing in the NHL come true. But Woo is 24 now. It feels like Cole McWard is ahead of him on the right side of the organizational defensive depth chart. And, of course, Tom Willander is on the way. It wasn’t that long ago that the big league team had five right-side defencemen on the roster, and Woo wasn’t one of them. So that underscores the challenges for him. I consulted our prospect writer, Dave Hall, on this matter, and Dave said Woo has been ‘fine’ and added that he’s a big part of the team’s penalty kill. When asked for his thoughts on the chances of an NHL call-up this season for Woo, Dave pegged them at 4 out of 10. That’s higher than I would have expected.

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