Vancouver Canucks: Week 5 Preview, Predictions
By Jeff Godley
The Vancouver Canucks dropped the first three games of their six-game road trip last week. TCW previews and predicts the last three.
It’s hard to gauge the mood of the Vancouver Canucks right now.
On the one hand, they’ve lost eight straight games. They’ve only managed 10 goals in that span.
At the same time, the players don’t seem to be panicking. When they give interviews they aren’t whining, or shifting blame. It doesn’t seem like they are despairing.
Instead, they just seem more determined. They don’t believe the season is lost; they just believe.
We can debate whether this Canucks roster is built to win. And we can agree or disagree with the approach Jim Benning is taking in rebuilding the team.
Either way, you cannot question the camaraderie the team has built this year. Certainly not after the team takes 96 minutes in penalties trying to fight every Toronto Maple Leafs player in sight.
So here we are. The team is stuck at nine points, the same number they had two weeks ago. But the players are still acting like they don’t know it.
Good for them. They may need to come together even more now. The team has already lost top two defensemen Alexander Edler and Chris Tanev. Now it looks like they’ll have to live without Jannik Hansen:
Hearing jannik Hansen Could be on IR now. If so, add it to the list of reasons Canucks front office should have wanted to be fined today.
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) November 6, 2016
Replacing Hansen is an interesting quandary for Willie Desjardins. Will he stick Loui Eriksson back on the top line? Will he promote Jake Virtanen?
Keep an eye on the lineup card during the coming week.