Vancouver Canucks move down in NHL power rankings
After a frustrating week that saw them go 0-2-1, the Vancouver Canucks moved down significantly in NHL power rankings across the web. See where they rank below.
The Vancouver Canucks opened up their season with a convincing 3-2 win against the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Arena, and they were extremely dominant in all three phases.
However, the win appears to be nothing more than a mirage at this time. The Oilers have just one win through four games, while the Canucks dropped contests to the Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames last week.
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As usual, the Canucks power play has been abysmal, the offence is dreadful and the defence looks completely lost without Alexander Edler. With such a poor start to the season, Rogers Arena hasn’t looked so empty in nearly 20 years.
Overall, it looks like the Canucks are going to have another long season ahead of them. That is unless head coach Travis Green has some tricks up his sleeve to fix the issues with this team.
And what happens when you have a bad week? The folks who create power rankings move you down significantly.
This week was no different for the Canucks, who dropped significantly in almost all power rankings across the webs.
We have searched through the internet to see where the Canucks landed. Here is a look at where the Canucks placed among the media outlets.
- USA TODAY: Kevin Allen ranks the Canucks 25th
- TSN: The Canucks moved way down from 19th to 27th
- NBC Pro Hockey Talk: Adam Gretz has the Canucks at 29th. Only the Arizona Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres are ranked lower
- Blackhawk Up: The Canucks actually moved up from 29th to 25th this week. They’re not as bad as some people think…
- The Hockey Writers: The Canucks fall seven spots down to 29th this week.
So the Canucks fall in that 25th-29th in the web-wide rankings. Without a win in three contests last week — along with the fairly low expectations this season — the significant drop shouldn’t surprise anybody.
Thus far, you can make a case that only the aforementioned Coyotes (no wins) and Sabres (one victory) have been playing worse. The Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Vegas Golden Knights were teams that many expected to be worse than Vancouver — but all of them are off to surging starts.
It’s still very early in the season. You can’t possibly think the Oilers, Montreal Canadiens and Anaheim Ducks will be among the league’s worst teams. Other teams like Colorado, Detroit and Vegas will inevitably decline.
Next: Prospects Watch Week #1: A Dominant Start
Now, many will claim that power rankings don’t mean anything. But the higher you are, the better you’re playing. For the Canucks, their goals are to obviously play better and win more games, then they’ll continue moving up to the power rankings. After all, it has been a while since we’ve seen this team rank in the top-10 anywhere.