On today’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal discussed the optimal opponent for Vancouver to meet in the first round of the playoffs come late April. If the season ended today, the Canucks would be facing the Vegas Golden Knights in round 1.
“It doesn’t really matter if the team doesn’t get the results, win-loss-wise,” started Harm. “Finishing first in the conference doesn’t carry the same stakes if you’re just going to end up playing Vegas. With the Golden Knights, I’ve had a tough time figuring out exactly what they are this year. Without Mark Stone and Tomáš Hertl, it’s hard to judge them because they’re so inconsistent this year, playing pretty bad hockey lately. Watching them in person, they don’t even look like the same team that won the Stanley Cup last spring. They’re having problems breaking the puck out, are permissive defensively, and there are even question marks in terms of which version of Jack Eichel we’re going to get. In the past, when he’s been hurt and comes back from injury, it takes him a while to get going. He only returned from injury a few games ago. I think he’s had a couple of multi-point nights recently, but that’s always a concern with Eichel. Adin Hill, since coming back from injury in late January, has a .902 save percentage. He’s slipped a lot, and like I said, they just bleed chances defensively.”
The discussion shifted to Nashville, who was brought up by a fan in the YouTube live chat.
“Nashville is the most favourable one,” said Quads. “I saw someone on Twitter say this, and I appreciated it: ‘You should never wish for an opponent, because the minute you do, that opponent will show up and kick your teeth in.’”
“If we’re talking most and least favourable, I don’t want L.A.,” Harm stated. “Not only because of the whole defensive aspect, but also just entertainment. This is the first time you’re going to see playoff hockey in Vancouver (not talking about it in the bubble in Edmonton). It’s in Vancouver, and you want that type of entertainment factor. It would still be really fun and exciting, but I don’t want to watch L.A. trap it up in the playoffs. That’s boring.”
“To some extent, you need to be confident if you’re the Canucks and say, ‘We’re one of the best teams in the NHL, teams should be hoping they don’t have to play us, not the other way around.’ They’ve got to have some swagger about them at this point in the season and heading into the playoffs,” concluded Quads.
Who do you think the Canucks would fare well against in the first round? Let us know in the comments!
You can watch the full replay of the show below:
Be sure to check out the live show Monday-Friday at 2 PM!
The show can be found on the CanucksArmy YouTube channel and the CanucksArmy Twitter account here. Clips of the show are also posted daily to the CanucksArmy YouTube channel, which you can find by clicking here.
The show is also available in podcast format around 3 PM every day wherever you get your podcasts! Be sure to subscribe to the CanucksArmy YouTube channel, and join in on the fun with the live chat!
