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Speaking of confidence, it’s potentially been shaken in Vancouver of late when it comes to the hometown Canucks. After blasting through the majority of the 2023/24 unopposed and unimpeded, the Canucks, like many of us, had a tough time getting through February. The Canucks will be lucky to get out of the month with a .500 record, largely the result of an ugly four-game slide right smack-dab in the middle.

We at CanucksArmy definitely noticed a bit of a shift in the feelings of some commenters as the streak progressed. We’re not going to accuse anyone of jumping off any bandwagons or anything like that, but we do wonder about the amount of sore ankles and road-rash going around right now. It was, after all, the Canucks’ longest losing stretch of the season thus far, and it was one in which the team looked particularly putrid.

So, it’s natural that some have lost a little confidence in the Canucks as a result. Some, we suspect, but not all. Amidst the cries of “regression, finally” and “PDO come due,” there are those who welcome a little mid-season adversity – especially when that adversity seems to conclude with a dramatic comeback against the Boston Bruins.

Still others fall somewhere in between.

Which camp do you belong to?

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

Cole has been a consistent defender, but his contribution in the dressing room is something that can’t be measured in keeping the team from getting too high or low.

It’s funny to say this, but Elias Pettersson isn’t getting enough credit for the teams success.

Many observers have been dragging his name through the mud, but he is on pace for another 100-point, top-10 scoring season.

Give the man some credit!

Well, I think Roget is baiting someone into this and I know I will get laughed out of this forum, but I am going with Jim Benning.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not praising him for almost a decade of poor cap management and mis-conceived trades.

Where I do give credit is with bringing in the core for this team. Demko, Boeser, Pettersson, and Hughes were all drafted and Miller was traded straight-up for a first round pick.

Benning was unable to successfully build around this core, which is something that the current regime appears to be doing better at, but I do give credit to Jimmy for bringing these guys to the team.

Maybe it seems hard to miss when you have almost a decade of top-10 draft picks, but if it were that easy, then there are a number of other teams in the league, such as Columbus and Arizona, who also should be improving but are not.

My picks for unsung heroes are Foote and Gonchar.

I would say J.T. Miller isn’t getting enough credit for his season so far. Tocchet has him playing centre on the shutdown line and he’s been effective. He has been a consistent and prolific scorer. He is fifth in NHL scoring with 75 points in 58 games. His defensive mishaps have been greatly minimized. I think we’re seeing Miller at his best this year after four stellar years with the club.

I’ll go with Francesco Aquilini. He finally hired competent people who are not afraid to tell him to butt out of hockey business.

What’s enough credit? The 3rd line is exalted all the time. Glory is regularly attributed to the coaches. Boeser was anointed the second coming of Mike Bossy four months prematurely. Don’t hear much about Miller. He has a lofty two more points than Pettersson who is the most vilified player of all. Everyday the media and others swoon over the immense talent Hughes has.

I don’t know how to divide credit amongst them but the front office doesn’t get enough credit. They quickly assembled a team around a decent core under a difficult cap situation and now have a first place team. We’ll never know how the meetings went or who said what but this management group has a very high success rate on the moves it’s made over the last year.

Looking for a name not mentioned yet, let’s go with Nils Höglander. Much talk has been made about finding a fit for Höglander in the top-six, but that’s ignoring all the contributions he’s made thus far in the bottom-six. Höglander is fourth on the team with 17 goals, and given his limited ice-time for much of the season, that’s simply remarkable.

If he can turn into a reliable and positive linemate for Elias Pettersson on top of his existing contributions, Höglander will truly become one of the most valuable members of the team this year.

He’s got credit, sure, but perhaps too much focus has been on what he could do, and not on what he already has.