The Vancouver Canucks entered the 2024-25 NHL season with understandably lofty expectations. In any case, they had been coming off their first division championship in a number of years in 2022-23 whereas additionally advancing to Recreation 7 of the Western Convention Semi-Finals.
Regardless of bowing out towards the eventual Western Convention champion Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver might be excused in the event that they pointed to some premature luck that helped trigger their undoing within the postseason.
Not solely was Canucks beginning goaltender Thatcher Demko unavailable after Recreation One of many opening spherical towards the Nashville Predators, however additionally they misplaced main purpose scorer Brock Boeser on the eve of the decisive Recreation Seven towards the Oilers as a result of a blood clotting challenge.
Regardless, the brand new marketing campaign introduced renewed hope in British Columbia that Vancouver wouldn’t solely proceed the success of the earlier 12 months, however construct on it with the assistance of reigning Jack Adams Trophy successful head coach Rick Tocchet.
With a 9-5-3 file by means of the primary 17 video games of the brand new marketing campaign, Vancouver finds themselves in third place within the Pacific Division. So, what are the most important surprises and disappointments to date?
Canucks’ largest shock to start out the 2024-25 NHL season
A signing that seemingly got here out of nowhere and has reaped large advantages, the Canucks determined to signal Kevin Lankinen to an affordable one-year contract due to the struggles of Arturs Silovs in addition to the delayed return of Demko.
And he made probably the most of his time with the group, entering into the starter’s function and giving the group a stable and dependable possibility. The transition to Vancouver was a comparatively straightforward one, as he defined by way of NHL.com.
“As a goalie, it’s in all probability simpler since you’re simply stopping the puck. That’s the job,” he stated with amusing. “On the finish of the day there’s much more that goes into it as nicely, the off-ice stuff, the chemistry and attending to know everyone and feeling comfy. Everybody’s been doing a very good job to make me really feel good and comfy. That’s helped me to carry out at my finest stage right here.”
Moreover, he was singled out for reward by Tocchet, who famous his calmness between the pipes.
“I like the truth that he’s a fairly unflappable man however I actually like his puck abilities,” Tocchet stated. “I imply, it’s an underrated factor nevertheless it actually helps our defensive construction, on breakouts.
“Groups prior to now used to rim pucks out on us so much. Now I discover the final couple of video games ‘Lanks’ was in web, they’re not rimming as a lot as a result of they know he’s going to cease the puck. That’s a bonus for us.”
Whereas Lankinen has instantly confronted a bout of inconsistency in his final handful of outings, he nonetheless sports activities a file of 8-3-2 with a goals-against common of two.71 and a .901 save proportion – numbers that the group will gladly take as they await the inevitable return of Demko.
Canucks’ largest disappointment to start out the 2024-25 NHL season
The excellent news for Vancouver is that ahead Elias Pettersson has heated up of late, having scored 5 objectives in his final seven video games. The unhealthy information is that he was an incredible disappointment within the first 5 weeks of the marketing campaign.
He wasn’t residing as much as the hefty eight-year, $92.80 million contract that he agreed to, protecting him in Vancouver for the long run. He solely scored as soon as in his first 10 video games, and was clearly displaying indicators of frustration.
This did not go unnoticed by former Canucks coach and present analyst Bruce Boudreau, who opined that the Swedish ahead did not appear to be he was having enjoyable enjoying and was fast to get down on himself, by way of The Province.
Associated Vancouver Canucks InformationArticle continues under
“He doesn’t look excited when he performs and will get pissed off very simply,” Boudreau stated earlier in November. “I’ve all the time stated if you’re a coach, you’re additionally like a psychiatrist. Your job is to see what makes 23 guys tick.”
Whereas Pettersson’s play has improved of late, he’ll have to preserve it going with a purpose to justify his AAV of $11.6 million.
Shock commerce!
The Canucks raised quite a lot of eyebrows after they determined to ship ahead Daniel Sprong, who they signed to an affordable one-year contract, to the Seattle Kraken earlier within the month.
Sprong, who was signed to deliver worthwhile scoring depth, had solely tallied as soon as in 9 video games with the membership after registering 18 objectives with the Detroit Pink Wings final season. In return for Sprong, the Canucks acquired nothing however future issues from Seattle.
The Canucks return to motion on Tuesday evening, hoping to bounce again from their loss on Sunday towards the Nashville Predators after they host the New York Rangers at Rogers Enviornment in downtown Vancouver. The puck is scheduled to drop at 10:00 PM EST.