Gage’n The Canucks: Home Stand Starts To Define Canucks

With two decades worth of leadership in Linden, Naslund and Morrison no longer here and a Player Agent moving into the GM’s chair after what appeared to be a knee-jerk decision by new Ownership, there weren’t many prognosticators out there who could say anything about this team, good or bad, and do it with any degree of confidence in what they had just said. 

How could they?  

This was an Organization that had made a major change in direction on and off the ice and the questions surrounding the team were endless, so how the hell could anyone predict anything about anything with this team and really think they knew what they were talking about? 

11 games in, after surviving 8 of them on the road a nose above 500, it was still a team that was extremely difficult to label. Every team needs an identity and at that point, the Canucks were looking like a mishmash of everything, a tossed salad … a little bit of everything. It was almost a feast or famine type-thing and you could tell the players themselves were a little unsure how things would develop. 

16 days later and with a successful 4-1-1 home stand under their belt, we are starting to see a little more definition taking shape.  The opposition managed to produce a whopping 6 goals for over those 6 games between the start of November and last night. To make it sound even better, only 1 of those goals against came at even-strength and that was in the 3^rd period of last night’s 4-2 win over the Leafs … 366 minutes between goals 5-on-5 or 4-on-4. 

Even with their top 10 status in goals-for, this team has started to come to the realization that it is still a defense-first philosophy that works best for them. The early weeks of the season were a little confusing for them, as they maybe got a little too fond of their sudden scoring prowess. This is a team that hadn’t scored 6 goals in a game in over 2 years and then went out and did it 3 times in their first 11 games!  

Pretty tough not to get a little full of yourselves with that kind of lamp lighting going on, but upon the return to Vancouver they found the style of play needed, and with it comes more balance. Nothing special, just your good old fashioned doing the little things right away from the puck on every shift, making it difficult for the opposition to play their game. Luongo has obviously returned to Luongo form, but it is the attention to detail defensively that will lead to more wins for this team. 

On its own that ain’t much new, in fact it’s pretty much same-old/same-old, but that newly reborn attention to detail is no longer all alone in the Canucks’ arsenal, as has been the case in recent years. Those 6 goal outbursts in October obviously weren’t the norm, but I wouldn’t bet against it happening again, maybe even 2 or 3 more times, who knows?  

There are only 9 teams in the NHL who have scored more goals than the Canucks, and with the current mix of scoring balance available on three lines, and the various interchangeable parts throughout, it is very encouraging. Finding a balance between Defense, Offense and Grit were stated goals of the new regime entering the season and while still far too early for any final judgments, it definitely appears that they are on the right track. 

Being as old as I am I’ve seen it all through the 38 years of this Franchise, and never can I remember a team that had as many options offensively, and that’s on a team with a more-than-solid 1-to-7 group of Blueliners who just so happen to play in front of the best goalie in the world … what’s not to like about that? 

If last night’s instant chemistry that was discovered between Wellwood and Demitra continues to grow the Canucks would have 3 very solid duos anchoring the top 3 lines. It’s all about the twosomes in the NHL, and those guys’s compatibility and similar vision on the ice added to the Sedin and Kesler/Burrows combos looks pretty good to me. Throw in the fact that the “extra” forwards in Bernier, Pyatt, Raymond, and Hansen all have enough versatility to their games that they can play on any line and not hurt you too much, and you have a very nice mix up front. 

It all starts in your end though, and as long as they all continue to try and ensure that they’re always in the right position away from the puck, doing all the little things defensively, this team should continue to score goals at a better rate than this city has seen in years.  

Regardless of how this season ends up standings-wise, there is no question that we are not only watching a better team than we have had recently, we’re also watching a far more entertaining style of play which was a definite necessity in this Market.  

Call me crazy, but I think there’s a decent chance that we’ll continue to be pleasantly surprised and entertained in the goals-for department … so much so that finishing inside the top 10 rankings league-wide, in both the plus and minus sides of the ledger, is actually possible with this team.

 

 

The Grades …  

 

A … Luongo, Mitchell, O’Brien

B … Ohlund, Wellwood, Demitra, Burrows

C+ … Salo, Nycholat, Davison, Henrik, Daniel, Kesler, Hansen, Johnson, Bernier, Hordichuk

C … Pyatt, Raymond

 

 

Next up is a 4 game roady to put the team’s forging identity to a stern test, starting tomorrow in Long Island against the Islanders. Tilts against Naslund and his Rangers along with the Wild precede a date with Sidney and the Pens to close out the trip on Saturday.

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