The Vancouver Canucks managed to escape San Jose Friday night with a last-minute 3-2 win. Yes, you read that correctly.
Now, the cynical amongst you might bemoan the fact that, at times, it felt like the Canucks were playing the 1976 Montreal Canadiens. Trying their best to keep it a low event game lest the mighty Sharks offence come to life. They often tell you the only game plan for trying to shut down Luke Kunin is to pray he misses the net.
Now the optimistic amongst you will celebrate the fact that Kevin once again showed the world that Nashville runs a highly illegal Finnish goaltending factory out of their basement. You will also celebrate that the much-bemoaned Elias Pettersson had his absolute best shift of the season at a time when the team needed him most, helping secure the win with a brilliant shift that resulted in a Pew Pew Pius Suter goal.
All of which kind of brings us to the talking point of the season so far, just what is Rick Tocchet hockey?
We know from last year it’s a very defensively structured style of play. After watching Travis Green…do whatever it is Travis Green does, and then watching Bruce Boudreau play pond hockey, there was a sense of relief in many corners when Rick showed up and established a defensive system of hockey that prevented the multitude of odd-man rushes against that Vancouver became known for under the Jim Benning Era.
The system worked so well that the Canucks surprised the entire league by winning the Pacific Division last year and pushing the Oilers to seven games in the second round. The only problem? The Canucks’ lack of offensive production derailed their playoff run in a big way.
Which is why after the season ended, Rick talked about learning how to make actual edible spaghetti improve the offence without losing too much of their defensive identity. If you’re not protecting the GOTI, then you better get the eff out of here, sort of thing.
This brings us to this season, which despite being on pace for 107 points, has, to quote Love is Blind, given many people the ick. So let’s be like Hannah and be direct about why the ick is here, and it lies in the stats.
Last year, the Canucks were a top defensive unit, and it showed in the numbers: 2nd in the league in shots against, 4th in the league in goals against, 3rd in the league in scoring chances against, 5th in the league in high danger scoring chances against, and 3rd in high danger goals against.
And this year, despite the fact the Canucks have given up more odd-man rushes than normal, despite the fact it often feels like they are behind the play, their defensive numbers are shockingly similar to 2023: 3rd in the league in shots against, 10th in the league in goals against, 2nd in the league in scoring chances against, 2nd in the league in high danger scoring chances against, and 6th in high danger goals against.
Obviously sample sizes play a part in this, but overall, the numbers do showcase a team still playing a good enough defensive system to put up good underlying numbers.
So what’s been the difference? A couple of things, mostly on the offensive side of the puck.
Last year, the Canucks were first in PDO (explained by Statsies guru Michael Liu, but to tl/dr it, it essentially tries to quantify puck luck), 7th in the league in save percentage, 3rd in the league in high-danger goals for, 5th in the league in high danger chances created, and finally, they led the league in shooting percentage.
This year, the Canucks have the 10th worst PDO, the 9th worst save percentage, the 12th best high-danger goals for, the 10th worst high-danger chances created and the 11th best-shot percentage.
Now, that is a bunch of numbers I have just thrown at you, but it essentially boils down to the goaltending hasn’t been as good (Silovs impacts these numbers a lot), the offence isn’t getting many threatening looks on net, and they aren’t getting every bounce to go their way like it did for most of last season.
The question that remains, then, is where does Rick Tocchet hockey land? Was last season the outlier? Is this year the true Rick Tocchet system, a style of hockey we saw flail about in Phoenix? Or is this year just a combination of bad luck, injuries to the top centers, and goaltending?
Now clearly the sample size is small, and we can’t draw any full conclusions from this season yet. All we can do is point out how things have gone this season and track how it continues to play out. It is just interesting to note that the Canucks defensive side of the game is actually pretty solid, but the offence remains very much a work in progress.
On to the gifs.
Best setting the tone for real
Instead of Tyler Myers making a bad pinch that led to a 1-0 deficit, JT Miller instead threw a hit as if to let the Sharks know, “Hey I’m here, and I might be injured, but I can still hit and make the occasional nice pass and hey why are you skating so fast, relax.”
And to his credit, JT Miller almost outhit Kiefer Sherwood on the night, but could only get four to Kiefer’s five. This is still impressive, considering Sherwood is a serial killer who feasts off of the fear of his opponents and the sounds their bones make smacking into the glass.
Best give it time
Pew Pew was an integral part of the Canucks team last year because he was utilized as Mr. Fix It type of player, a guy who can play in your bottom six and top six if needed. The Chris Higgins minus the abs of steel of his time. To be fair, maybe he is shredded, but he doesn’t wipe his face with his shirt constantly like Chris used to.
Bashful or not, Suter is still a player you can deploy throughout your lineup, even if he draws upon Loui Eriksson energy when going one on one with a goalie:
Notice the long bank pass off the end boards from Daniel Sprong to set this play in motion. I enjoy watching Sprong play quite a bit, due to the fact that he is clearly very offensively creative, but also because I know one defensive mistake might get him sent to Russia. There’s a certain thrill you get from watching a player and never knowing if it will be their last shift in the NHL.
But that bank pass was golden, and for a first period that was absolutely starved of offensive highlights (showcasing those earlier stats of a team being unable to generate dangerous looks on net), this was one of the few times you actually considered a goal being scored as a possibility. You found yourself thanking the hockey Gods that this first period wasn’t played in Vancouver, because with such minimal on-ice action, all you would have heard was Crazy P screaming at people to make some noise, utilizing a combination of manic intensity and a deep loathing of Simon and Garfunkel.
Best not great but not bad?
The good news is the Canucks were giving up odd man rushes to the San Jose Sharks, who have a tendency to make your recovery defence look like aces:
The first one they missed the net, the second one the Canucks actually recovered quite well.
Now, would this work against the Devils? We saw how that went for the team.
The underlying defensive numbers being similar aside, I do think the Canucks are giving up more odd-man rushes this season, it just hasn’t been burning them by turning into goals against, or even high danger chances against. It feels like the Canucks are trying to find their rhythm offensively, and we’ve heard Rick bang the drum about moving your feet and skating through players, which has resulted in some very aggressive forechecking from this team. Forechecking that when over-zealous has resulted in this team getting countered at a decent clip.
I think there are probably several reasons why the forecheck isn’t clicking yet, and it honestly starts with the top two centers in JT Miller and Elias Pettersson. JT Miller was injured to start the season, was barely taking face offs, and it clearly looks like he is still dealing with some sort of physical ailment.
Elias Pettersson we have talked enough about, but suffice it say, him not playing at an elite level also hurts this club. Also, if you’re reading this Elias, get off the internet.
The end result, we aren’t seeing a lot of extended shifts in the offensive zone, and even when they do get set up, they rarely get a high danger shot on net.
Best you’re the real MVP
Quinn Hughes is worth the price of admission alone:
I have no idea what would entice someone to try and chase down Quinn Hughes behind the net, because the result is either going to be you fail to get the puck, or you fall to the ice and get turned into a gif that you have to explain to your grandkid one day.
“You see, our coach wanted us to forecheck hard, and even though I knew I could never catch him, I had to try. I had to try little Jimmy. My job was on the line. I had to provide for my family Jimmy. Don’t look at me with disgust, you weren’t there, you don’t know what it was like Jimmy. He was so god damn fast. So fast. Like a Pegasus sent by Odin himself to mock me.”
Best we’ve got Quinn Hughes at home
Now, the underlying numbers from HockeyStatCards on Twitter paint a low-end defensive effort from Erik Brännström on the night, but I thought he was perfectly serviceable. Especially because he can provide the kind of puck movement that a lot of the Ents on the back end cannot provide. Case in point, Derek Forbort blindly backhands a deep pass along the boards into a turnover, and when the Sharks re-enter the zone on a delayed offside, Erik takes over and secures a safe zone exit:
Just having that confidence to hold onto the puck and skate around until he can draw in two defenders and get the puck back over to Quinn Hughes for the zone exit is the kind of play that makes me want the Canucks to keep playing Brännström and see what they might have in him.
Best it’s just a flesh wound
We talked about the Canucks getting caught up the ice trying to establish their forecheck, and it happened once again late in the period when the Sharks’ most dangerous player on the night, Mikael Granlund, picked the pocket of Derek Forbort, who for reasons I cannot and do not wish to explain, was deep in the Sharks zone:
The end result was Daniel Sprong and Quinn Hughes going full Canadians entering a Tim Horton’s at the same time, with both men saying “After you” and “No, no, I insist, after you.” until they both decide to peel away, leaving Granlund all alone in front of Kevin Lankinen.
But since it’s Kevin, I merely sat back and took a calm sip of water whilst watching this play out, merely wondering how Lankinen was going to make the save, and not if. I assume this is the same sense of serenity one feels when they have rich parents, ones who buy you a house, thus allowing you to write a self-help blog about how being able to afford to buy a home is easy in Vancouver if you just follow these easy steps.
Best Lesnar impersonation
I will say that despite the struggles from the team offensively, even their top players are out there working the trenches and throwing hits:
It straight up looked like Jake Walman (Whose player card looks suspiciously like Wolverine’s cousin who works the night shifts at Costco) arm and/or shoulder was going to fall off, especially as he left the game after this hit. The good news is that he did return to start the second period, and ended the night playing 20:35 of hockey, all of which is to say you’re going to have to do better than that to beat the Costco Weapon X.
Best Whale team struggling?
The Sharks got the game’s first goal after the Canucks tried swinging the puck around their own boards, only to watch as San Jose stole the puck and eventually scored on the possession:
I kept hearing Rick Tocchet mention earlier this week about how the Canucks are one of the worst teams in the league in situations where the puck is rimmed along the boards, bad at rim jobs if you will, and on this play, the Canucks try to swing the puck around their end boards only to get stuffed at the blue line.
Which in and of itself is still fine. Turnovers happen, it’s how you recover that usually matters most. And in this case, the recovery was dog water, as four Canucks skaters turn towards Luke Kunin, leaving Nico Sturm wide open for the rebound. Which on one hand I get it, I do. We talked about Luke Kunin and how most nights you just have to pray he isn’t in the zone, burning you with a hat trick. The impulse to try and block his shot is the number one fear factor out on that ice.
But Erik Brännström and Danton Heinen both play this one really poorly, even taking into account the Kunin Konundrum.
Brännström, for his part, just looks undecided about what he’s going to do on this play, and as a result, he just ends up skating back and forth, eventually giving up the shooting lane to Sturm and triple covering Kunin (which, again, it’s Kunin, maybe you have to do that).
When you add in Heinen releasing Sturm, and for some reason also going over to cover Kunin, well now you’ve given up a direct line to the net on the rebound, and what is essentially an empty net for Nico with the puck.
And look, maybe it’s easy for me to write about this because I have never had to try and shut down Kunin. Maybe if I’m out there, I’m panicking and trying to offer up quad coverage on Luke.
But on this play, it just felt like hey, maybe one guy could have stayed back and watched Sturm.
Best faint pulse
The Canucks did respond to that goal, I assume mostly because they suddenly realized the media and fan questions they would face if they lost to the Sharks.
First it was Elias and Corolla Garland combining on a couple of passes to generate a couple of shots on net off of a face off:
I don’t think anyone on the Canuck passes from the corner or behind the net better than Garland right now.
The Canucks then had a tremendous blue line hold from the Chaos Giraffe, looking like a young Brent Sopel, which led to Teddy KGB Blueger finding Kiefer Sherwood for the one timer:
I’d like to think Mackenzie Blackwood was slightly concerned about that shot, but he looked straight up unimpressed sliding over to stop the puck.
You have to remember, though, that through two periods this was low event hockey, so even these two shots on net felt like the 1980’s Edmonton Oilers just showed up on the ice.
Best Mighty Ducks inch theory
This game had two very pivotal moments, one of which was the end of the game, and one of which was near the end of the second period. And the moment that occurred at the end of the second was a very bad highlight for Elias Pettersson:
Elias Pettersson’s shot has been under more scrutiny than poorly fleshed-out Porsche-based rumours on HF Boards, and it sure didn’t get any easier with that shot selection. Like on one hand, I get it, you’re just trying to get the puck on net and seeing if one of your guys can bang in a rebound. I also understand that living with the knowledge that Luke Kunin is on the ice must be terrifying and sometimes you’re just thinking about how to get off the ice as quickly as possible.
But if you’re going to flip in a piss waffle of a shot like that, you at least need to hustle back on defence if it gets blocked. Which is exactly what didn’t happen here, when Elias walked into Christian Bale’s set and sort of tra-la-la-la-la’d his way through the scene.
The end result was William Eklund getting a breakaway, and I know what you’re thinking: Thank god that wasn’t Kunin.
The other thing you’re thinking is “Thank god that was Kevin”, because I cannot remember the last time I had this much faith in a Canucks back up goaltender.  I very clearly remember the terrifying lows of having Eddie Lack in net, and wondering which shot was going to go in next, but I can’t remember the last time I had this much faith in the backup to where I was looking forward to shots instead of fearing them.
Maybe Bob Essensa for a couple of weeks? Andrew Raycroft for a single period?
I don’t count “the next big things” in Demko and Schneider in this conversation by the way. I am talking about the random journeyman who joined the team and provided top level goaltending.
Regardless, if the Sharks score there on a horrible Elias Pettersson miscue, the narrative from this game would be massively different than what it ended up being. Instead of a shift that might turn around his season in a Canucks victory, we could be talking about a Canucks loss in which Elias’ spoiled milk of a shot and lackadaisical defence led to the Sharks icing the game away.
But that’s the joy of a good goalie, because the Duct Tape Man Kevin allowed Corolla Garland to forecheck and harass the Sharks into turning the puck over to Nils Höglander, who then found Pew Pew:
We all know the pig man has the goods offensively. That play right there? If I was allowed to curse in this article, I would drop several f-bombs about the beauty of that fake shot and slick tap back of a pass. It’s just his defensive game that still has Nils in that “Oh Rick Tocchet is going to murder this man” if he misses even one defensive assignment. Only JT Miller is allowed to do that. We have rules around here.
And Pius Suter, well, he might end up being a pretty important part of any offensive role the Canucks get started on this season. His ability to play throughout the lineup was on full display, and oh boy, just wait until we get to the final goal.
Best scouting report
The book is out on Pettersson’s butt:
At no point is Jake Walman concerned about Elias Pettersson trying to drop the stinkface on him. Like, full credit to Walman for making that look so easy.
To Elias’s credit, though, he continued skating like nothing happened. It’s like when you fall on the sidewalk, sometimes you just have to get up quickly and pray nobody was watching.
Best just as everyone thought
I mostly want to show this clip because Garland straight up just tries kicking the puck into the net while he’s face down on the ice:
If you ever wonder where Corolla gets his name from, it’s because the guy’s motor never quits.
Best keep on grinding
The beauty of having Kevin in net? He can make three saves to start the third period and you’re not even surprised by it:
That’s just good greasy hockey from San Jose to get the puck on net and crash the crease, which forced Kevin to make the brilliant second save on the shot on the rebound.
Now I know what you’re thinking, if that is Kunin, that’s a goal. Luckily, it was Ethan Cardwell, so Kevin was able to stop it.
Now, should you need your goalie to “keep you in the game” against San Jose? Probably not. But that’s still nice to know Kevin can do that for you if you need him to.
Best speaking of Kevins being right
The Canucks’ power play is at the point where quick puck movement is met with “ooohs” and “ahhhs,” as we continue to lower the bar further than my fourth year university grade expectations.
The good news? The Canucks managed to get an actual shot on net, as a result of a Quinn Hughes clapper:
The bad news? Backlund got the best chance of the powerplay on this shorthanded odd-man rush:
At least this counterattack was the result of a weird bounce off the glass combined with a weird bounce on the ice, and the Canucks ended up defending the rush really well. But the point remains that the Canucks powerplay continues to be a complete non-factor this season, and is something they clearly have to get back on track.
The Canucks second powerplay fared little better, with the best chance coming from Brock Boeser trying to get a shot off in the slot:
Puck movement was solid enough, but they still aren’t generating lethal enough looks on the net. For whatever reason this team just hasn’t found a powerplay identity that works ever since Bo Horvat left town and abandoned the bumper spot.
Best soft interference
Soft interference is the Homer Simpson style of play where he’s just going to chomp his mouth and hey, if a pie ends up in front of him, it’s not HIS fault he ate it.
In other words, instead of hooking and holding like the good old days, players just subtly drift into players skating lanes to slow them down, or in Hronek’s case, not so subtly:
Drance is right in that the league doesn’t tend to call this a lot, so it’s very firmly one of those penalties the refs can call when they feel like evening up the calls or are angry at Alex Burrows. But it’s something a lot of teams do and something that once you see it happen, it’s hard to ignore just how often it happens in the league.
Tyler Myers, for my money, is one of the best at utilizing this soft interference. Hard to skate around that wingspan.
Best bang for your buck
I have no idea whatsover why the Nashville Predators let Kiefer Sherwood go (or Kevin for that matter):
The guy is a straight-up dawg. He leads the league in hits, he has soft enough hands and enough hockey IQ to be an underrated playmaker, and it feels like his mission is to destroy the willpower of anyone who stands before him.
He is the type of guy you cannot wait to see perform in the playoffs because you absolutely know the moment will never be too big for him, and you’re mostly worried about avoiding that first round match-up with Luke Kunin.
When the entire Canucks roster was all “oh shit, we hated playing against that guy, thank god you signed him”, that’s when you know you’ve got a dawg on your hands.
If Don Cherry was around, he’d be making a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em dedicated to Kirk Sherdon.
Best damned if you do, damned it you don’t
I do agree that there is a play here where Elias picks the corner, but I also have this nightmare scenario of him going full Mason Raymond and putting the puck high and wide and catching his team deep in the offensive zone:
It would also help if JT Miller had his stick anywhere near the ice, instead of holding it above his head like he was heading towards the final stretch of the Olympic torch relay.
But for a guy who is struggling with the optics of being afraid to shoot the puck, this play didn’t help 40 in that regard.
Best Jake since Jake Wyler
The good news is less than 30 seconds later, the Canucks generated a breakaway that hit the post, and then a shot that went in:
First up, you have JT Miller, who, despite looking like he’s in his Dark Knight Rises phase, set up Brock Boeser with the perfect pass for the breakaway.
Yes, it hit the post, but the Canucks catch the Sharks on a sloppy line change and get the puck right back into the zone, wherein Quinn Hughes skates the puck hard into the zone, allowing Jake DeBrusk to slide into the GOTI and unleash that laser of a shot.
I get it from San Jose’s side of things, you want to hurry and try and get Luke Kunin back into action sooner rather than later. But going for that line change allowed the Canucks to enter the zone with no pressure from the back, and eventually, Jake made them pay.
Now, did DeBrusk do much of anything else this game? No. Has he done much of anything this season? No. But we’ve been told he’s a streaky player, so maybe this starts things off for him. Also, with JT Miller looking a bit broken, that doesn’t help DeBrusk who looks to be more of a top level passenger player rather than a play driver. If JT Miller finds his groove, that line probably starts clicking again.
Best slop ’em up
Despite those seasonal defensive underlying numbers being very solid so far, there have been stats like this where you can see the Canucks are very clearly playing looser than last year, even if they haven’t been burned as badly as they probably should have been by now.
Best two ships in the night
With the Jake DeBrusk redemption tour mere moments away from starting, the Sharks did the impossible: Someone other than Luke Kunin’s saved the day:
Yes, Mikael Granlund is him, as he managed to tie the game up with the goalie pulled.
The Canucks set up with a pretty passive defensive set up, allowing Granlund time and space to line up his shot, but you know what, give credit to the Sharks forward. Sometimes good players make good plays, and while I would love to rip the Canucks over this, sometimes you just have to tip your hat to a good shot.
I will gently suggest that Tyler Myers needs to take away time and space there, and that screening his goalie while also offering up token shooting lane resistance was an odd choice BUT that’s it. The Chaos Giraffe does what a Chaos Giraffe wants.
Best watch this in full
The Canucks would then tie the game up on what was clearly Elias Pettersson’s best shift of the season. I posted my own tweet so you can click on the video to watch the entire sequence, because a 15 second gif would not do it justice.
The play ends on an absolutely brilliant pass from Corolla Garland (remember how we talked about him being the best passer on the team down low?), and an even better finish from Suter, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that this is the Elias Pettersson this team needs. He was active on the puck, he made smart plays with his stick, he didn’t chase hits, and most importantly, he kept the puck in the zone and kept the play alive multiple times.
It also raises the question of whether Rick Tocchet will keep Suter on that line, and yes, it was just one goal, but it feels like a natural fit. No offence to Arshdeep Bains, but he didn’t provide much of anything to this line. Pius Suter has shown he can be a top six guy, and is someone who has no problem taking shots. Maybe you put him on to be the guy who gets the puck on net, and you sort of see if Elias can find his way back into feeling the offence again.
Either way, in a game that could have easily been a very deflating loss ended up being one of the biggest shifts of the season for EP40. If anything will help give him a bit of momentum (and relief from the intense public scrutiny for a day), it’s a shift like that.
Best lock it in
You have to do it.
Best chaotic finish
Leave it to Tyler Myers to make sure you didn’t get too comfortable out there:
I like how Kiefer solved it by just going full Raffi Torres and turning into a human bowling ball to stop Fabian Zetterlund.
I also have no idea why Heinen and Myers leave the front of the net to chase the puck behind the net.
Sometimes it’s just best not to ask too many questions and just be happy Luke Kunin didn’t end up with the puck.
The next game is against Anaheim.
See you Tuesday.
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