The 2024-2025 Vancouver Canucks are nowhere near as exciting, promising or entertaining as the 2023-2024 rendition of the team. Not even just by the eye test, but the numbers compared to last season don’t even resemble the same team.

The Canucks currently sit fifth in the Pacific Division and 20th in the league standings with a 21-17-10 record with 52 points. But at this point of last season, the Canucks sat first in the Pacific Division and tied for first with the Boston Bruins in league standings, holding a 33-11-5 record with 71 points.

There has been plenty to talk about regarding the ifs and the whys the Canucks are a shell of their former selves this season; nonetheless, as of this writing, the club sits outside of a playoff spot, trailing the Calgary Flames for the last Wild Card spot by one point.

While last year’s success is all but a memory and all we can do is watch highlights of that successful season.

Or, we could just watch the 2024-2025 Washington Capitals.

Have you thought about the similarities? Because they go as far as to reach uncanny levels.

Well, let’s think about it. What were the Vancouver Canucks coming into last season? They were believed to be playoff hopefuls who hadn’t made the playoffs in a number of seasons but had the young talent to start turning in the right direction. Heading into this season, the Capitals were presumed to be on the decline and the worst team who made last year’s playoffs.

Regardless, neither team was projected to be a contender for the NHL’s number-one seed past the halfway point of the following season.

However, significant acquisitions through offseason signings and trades, the types of players they brought in, and great goaltending have led to players on both teams having career years and the Vancouver Canucks and Washington Capitals shocking the hockey world and sitting in the top seed of the NHL standings.

Let’s examine these similarities and how each helped their respective teams through the first 49 games of their seasons.

Let’s start by looking at the Canucks deals.

In the 2023-24 season, Vancouver brought in forwards Pius Suter and Teddy Blueger and defencemen Carson Soucy and Ian Cole, all of whom had reasonably low cap hits and played crucial roles for the club.

Upfront, Suter proved to be a reliable Swiss army knife for the Canucks, having stints playing on all four lines before finding a home on the left side of JT Miller and Brock Boeser. Blueger centred what was at points of last season recognized as the best third line across the entire NHL, skating between Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland.

On the blueline, Soucy sustained an injury at the beginning of the regular season. However, once he returned, he became half of what was the Canucks’ go-to shutdown pairing alongside Tyler Myers. Cole was steady eddy on the bottom pairing, playing in an essential penalty-killing role, logging consistent minutes while being able to move up in the lineup when needed.

The Canucks also made come impactful trades in the offseason and during the season as well.

Before the season started, the Canucks made a trade to acquire a solid backup goaltender – one they hadn’t had for a few seasons – in Casey DeSmith. The netminder proved to be a reliable option when Thatcher Demko needed a break, stepping up in a big way when their starter went down for the final stretch of the regular season.

The club also took advantage of the Toronto Maple Leafs by acquiring Sam Lafferty, who was just a throwaway after roster cuts. Lafferty was a ball of energy that added some scoring and, at points, was trusted to play on the top line with Elias Pettersson.

The club also made two trades within the season, acquiring two Calgary Flames: Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm.

The Zadorov acquisition helped round out the Canucks’ blueline very nicely. While Myers is a big body on the backend, Zadorov instilled fear into opponents with his level of hitting and intimidation factor that was unmatched before he joined.

Lindholm didn’t work out as well for the acquisition cost, but he brought an added element that the Canucks didn’t have in the faceoff dot and defensive centre responsibilities.

The Capitals signed forwards Brandon Duhaime, Taylor Raddysh, and defenceman Matt Roy during the 2024-25 offseason, all of whom have contributed to Washington’s success this season.

Duhaime can be compared to a Lafferty acquisition. He doesn’t have the same point totals as Lafferty, but in terms of his bottom-six role as a heavy hitter, he similarly matches the contributions. Raddysh can be compared to Suter. Again, not points-wise, but in terms of his ability to play wherever in the lineup (having spent time on the second, third and fourth line), he provides a variability similar to Suter.

Roy is like Soucy and Cole. He’s a reliable defensive defenceman, logging close to 20 minutes per game and is a strong penalty-killing option for the Capitals. Roy has spent most of the season playing alongside Rasmus Sandin, being the steady rock defensively that allows Sandin to shine offensively.

While the Capitals have received important contributions from their free agent class, they really acquired their impact players this offseason through their trades, one pivotal player for all three positions.

Washington took a chance when they traded for Pierre-Luc Dubois. Many questioned his effort levels or lack thereof, but since joining this Capitals team, he has transitioned his game to more of a power forward role and has become a solid second-line centre they so desperately needed.

With the emergence of Charlie Lindgren last season, they were able to ship off Darcy Kuemper, which allowed them to acquire Logan Thompson. Thompson quickly took over the starting role from Lindgren and is having a similar Vezina-calibre season as the Canucks had with Demko last season.

On the backend, the Capitals acquired Jakob Chychrun. The left-shot defenceman has provided this Capitals team with a secondary scoring option on the backend behind John Carlson. His 6’2″, 220-lb frame offers much more than offensive skill, using his body to his advantage in both ends of the ice.

The Capitals have made just one season trade thus far, acquiring a familiar face in Lars Eller – who scored the game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals in 2019. Since returning, Eller has provided solid third-line minutes and faceoff ability.

What do most of these acquisitions have in common?

They are defensively minded, big-bodied, physical players who all complement the style and structures so well.

It’s hard to have the level of success both these teams had without having players having career seasons. But the number of players on the Canucks who had, and the number of players who are on pace to finish with career years, is extraordinary.

Here are each of the Canucks players who had career years statistically, and the difference from their previous season high.

Miller (103 points, +4), Hughes (92 points, +16), Boeser (73 points, +17), Filip Hronek (48 points, +10), Nils Höglander (36 points, +9), Joshua (32 points, +9), and Lafferty (24 points, +3).

Washington has even more players who have career seasons. Here are each of the Capitals players who are on an 82-game pace to have a career year, with the difference of their on-pace numbers and previous career highs.

Dylan Strome (46 points, on pace for 77, +10), Aliaksei Protas (41 points, on pace for 69, +40), Dubois (39 points, on pace for 65, +2), Connor McMichael (36 points, on pace for 60, +27), Tom Wilson (35 points, on pace for 59, +7), Chychrun (32 points, on pace for 60, +19), Nic Dowd (18 points, on pace for 30, +5), Sandin (18 points, on pace for 30, +7), Duhaime (13 points, on pace for 22, +5), and Martin Fehervary (11 points, on pace for 18, +1).

And that’s not to even mention the goaltenders…

The success of a good team usually starts and ends with their goalies. If your goaltender is struggling, it’s hard to consistently put up the goal totals to minimize the team effect of poor goaltending.

Both the 2023-24 Canucks and the 2024-25 Capitals had one of the best goaltenders in the league during their respective seasons.

Through the 49-game mark, Demko started 35 games and held a 26-8-1 record, sitting fourth in the league with a .920% save percentage (S%) and fourth in the league with a 2.44 goals against average (GAA), adding five shutouts to his totals.

Demko also had a whopping 17.44 goals saved above expected and was neck and neck with Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck for the Vezina trophy.

At this point in the season, Thompson has started 26 games but holds an incredible 22-2-3 record. He is second in the league with a .925% S% and second in the league with a 2.09 GAA, and he has two shutouts to his credit.

Thompson has a similar goals saved above expected as Demko, sitting second in the league with 17.96 and has firmly cemented himself as a strong candidate to win this year’s Vezina trophy.

Unfortunately for Thompson, he’s likely to fall short to Hellebuyck, just as Demko did last season. Nonetheless, two Vezina finalist-type seasons from goaltenders who hadn’t shown that level of play before have helped both teams reach this feat.

What has really been put in the spotlight this season for the Canucks is the low-event style of hockey the team plays. Well, this isn’t something that has changed from last season.

To this point of last season, the Canucks had the seventh fewest shots on goal across the entire league through 49 games. You guessed it; the Capitals currently sit seventh in the league in terms of fewest shots on goal through the same number of games.

However, why the Canucks were so exciting to watch last season despite the low volume was because of their unsustainable shooting percentage. Vancouver had a 13.42% shooting percentage through the first 49 games, leading the entire league by over 1.3%. The Capitals this season don’t have as high of a shooting percentage as the Canucks had, sitting at 12.75%; however, they also lead the league in that category.

Both these teams hold identical 33-11-5 records for 71 points. They both sit tied atop the NHL standings with a team from the other conference (Bruins for the Canucks in 23-24 and Winnipeg Jets for the Capitals in 24-25) and second in total goals for across the league.

These teams have an uncanny amount of similarities, which has led to both having such successful seasons somewhat out of the blue. Sure, the Capitals made the playoffs last season, but without their offseason acquisitions, career years from a substantial amount of their players and stellar goaltending, they wouldn’t sit atop the NHL standings like they are today.

On the Vancouver side, they continue to struggle through this season, only dreaming of reliving some of their success last season. But for the fans, it’s all but a memory they can remember through the highlight reels. Or, given their down-to-the-record identical seasons, they can choose to watch the 2024-25 Washington Capitals.