Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet always looking to climb the corporate ladder.

Speaking of power plays, they’ve become a bit of a contentious issue in Vancouver. Again.

Last season, the Canucks’ power play ranked 11^th overall in the league at 22.7%. Which is, of course, not bad. It’s, technically-speaking, well above average. But that doesn’t necessarily equate with ‘good enough,’ especially for a team with its eyes on some future glory.

It got even worst in the postseason, where the Canucks turned in a paltry 13.9% success rate, good for 13th place amongst 16 playoff teams.

The situation in the early goings of the 2024/25 regular season fall somewhere in between those two past performances. As of this writing, the Canucks are at 20.0% on the nose, which has them ranked 16^th overall. That’s smack dab in the middle of the NHL. It’s not bad. But it’s not good. And it probably needs to be great.

One can look at the personnel the Canucks have available to call upon for each PP, and see that their numbers really should be better than they are. Quinn Hughes. JT Miller. Brock Boeser. Elias Pettersson. Conor Garland. And that’s just the (usual) first unit. There’s also Jake DeBrusk, Filip Hronek, Daniel Sprong, and others to consider.

Point blank: the Canucks’ power play needs to be better.

So how do they make it better?

We’re quite sure that it’s a popular topic of discussion inside the coaches’ room. But we don’t have access to those discussions. Instead, we need to rely on you, our beloved amateur coaches, to share your ideas and opinions about what needs to change in order for the Canucks’ PP to be more successful.

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

Greatest strength – Quinn Hughes.

Greatest weakness – Francesco Aquilini.

“Defense” can answer both questions.

Hughes has led by example from the start of last season to today. and the one-two of him and Hronek is an impressive combo.

But the 3-6 has been a mixed bag, and I don’t think the 3-4 of Myers and Soucy is working.

Strength is how much the unsung heroes have stepped up. Blueger, Lankinen, Sherwood to mention a few are really playing hard right out of the gate. These are real good character players.

Weakness, well, like Harry Neale used to say, your best players need to be your best players. In that lens, we’re still waiting for the highest paid player to ramp up his scoring, take over games, and be the guy you want out there when you need a goal. He may be playing well in a lot of respects but he has to be the best player on the ice. Otherwise this is proving to be a distraction that they don’t need.

The greatest strength is Rick Tocchet. Right from the moment he took over from Boudreau, he began implementing his vision while analyzing what he had for players. Before the end of the season, every player understood how the game under Tocchet required them to prepare in a different way for the upcoming full season. Almost all bought into the idea with lots of encouragement and input from Tocchet out of season. Last year, we saw the results. A system that can give everyone confidence. I do not see any reason that cannot continue this season. He works at his job.

The greatest weakness? This will vary, but at this time, the defense is not elite enough. Perhaps the coaching team will get new guys playing better in time, but so far, this defense is not good enough.

Greatest strength: First Pair Defence (especially the #1 defenceman).

Greatest weakness: Second Pair Defence.

Greatest strength is forward depth.

Greatest weakness defencemen after Hughes and Hronek.

Greatest Strength: Elias Pettersson.

Greatest Weakness: Elias Pettersson.

If Pettersson doesn’t perform at a superstar level, the Canucks will never win the Cup.

Greatest weakness is that one of their top two centres won’t shoot while the other isn’t taking faceoffs. Greatest strength is that they’re gonna fight each other at practice.

Greatest strength is Hughes. Biggest weakness is the rest of the defense. If Hughes gets injured, the Canucks are in trouble.

Strength: A decisive vision of how this team should play AND an effective methodology in executing that vision. Incredibly, a few short years ago this was the greatest weakness of this organization.

Weakness: Organizational depth with respect to top of the roster players. Undoubtedly, PA et al have added (potential) depth at the bottom-six, bottom pair, and backup goalie levels. The lack of high skill and impact players in the organization will be a limiting factor in this team’s progression.

Given where most of us saw this organization a few years ago, the progress made has been nothing short of stunning, IMO.

Greatest strength = deep, talented, and diverse forward group, probably deepest I’ve seen in years.

Greatest weakness = fragile goaltending and D depth beyond superstars at the top. Biggest challenge right now is not having real 3 and 4 D. The 1-2 and 5-6 look decent. And Brännström has real potential to be an excellent driver for the third pair and a good fit with whatever Shrek they put him with, but with the Sauce Man and Chaos Giraffe playing bizarro minutes in the top-four, that’s not going to cut it against talented and disciplined teams. Forget Zadorov, I think we miss Ian Cole more than I would have thought.

Strengths = Hughes and Miller, leadership by example. And coaching staff.

Weakness = Defense. The 3/4 pairing the way they are playing currently; and 5/6 (but I anticipate some real improvement with the current two working there).

These questions are based on scouting report evaluation it says. So it seems the focus is on players then not management or coaching and cap etc.

As for strength, you could go with forward group or depth. Maybe goaltending, if Demko returns to form. However, if we really want to focus on a player, then the answer is simple. Who’s the Hart candidate? Quinn Hughes. Not just a Norris D, but a superstar player.

As for weakness, that’s reserved to where does the team need to upgrade in position? That answer can be a two-part one in top-six scoring and top-four D. Though, not having a right-handed center did spark the Lindholm trade last season. It could be the same this season; no matter, how well Steady Eddy Blu performs.

The Canucks greatest strength is Quinn Hughes. The stats are clear that with him on the ice. we are awesome and amazing, and without him we are at least less than that (significantly). The greatest weakness of the team is its fragility. Demko is injured; Miller is banged up; Pettersson seems likely to be either injured and/or lacking mental courage; and Boeser’s and Soucy’s track records aren’t great when it comes to being iron men. Reflecting on Rutherford’s comments from last season “we are one injury away…” is even more true when it comes to the defense this year, though perhaps less true regarding this year’s forward group.

I would say the Canucks’ greatest strength is the excellence and consistency of their two best players: Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller. The greatest weakness is the lack of speed and puck-moving skills of their bottom-four defencemen (Myers, Soucy, Forbort and Desharnais).