Vancouver Canucks: 3 takeaways from 3-1 loss to Colorado

Once again, the Vancouver Canucks relied on the Sedin twins to do most of the scoring. Some guy named Thomas Vanek was missed. And oh, they lost 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche! Here are three takeaways from the game.

It’s safe to say a large portion that many Vancouver Canucks fans were in a bad mood on Monday. How can you not be after general manager Jim Benning dealt away one of his few reliable scorers in Thomas Vanek for a non-impact veteran and a career fourth-line centre?

Indeed, Tyler Motte and Jussi Jokinen are very unlikely to replace the 17 goals and 41 points that the 34-year-old Vanek left behind. And once again, the rebuilding Canucks failed to garner draft picks.

And things did not get better on Monday night in Denver. The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Canucks 3-1, but they probably could have won by more. Daniel Sedin supplied the only goal, as the Canucks continued their theme of “Let’s rely on the 37-year-old twins to score even though we’re rebuilding and should be getting more from the kids.”

Monday was all-around a bad day for the Canucks. Just another failed trade deadline by the front office, followed by an uninspiring and lackluster effort in the Mile High City. Let’s dissect the three main takeaways from this loss.

Wanted: A scoring winger

Unless newly acquired Brendan Leipsic has a trick or two up his sleeve, the Canucks are going to have to replace the offence left by Vanek. And no, we don’t mean by signing a veteran to a six-year deal worth $36 million.

But it was Benning’s choice to trade away Vanek without garnering much of a return. So let’s see him try to replace the veteran sniper. We’re not sure how he’s going to do that, but it’s his job. So we’ll leave it up to him.

Related Story: Canucks mess up the Thomas Vanek trade miserably

The Canucks just haven’t been able to get much of any offence out of Sam Gagner, Jake Virtanen or Loui Eriksson. Daniel, Brock Boeser and Sven Baertschi can’t be the only wingers out there who do the scoring.

And don’t think this was the only loss where Vanek’s departure will be felt. There will be many of them as another frustrating season nears its end. The Canucks made a risk trading Vanek, and now they’ll have to find a way to replace that for next season.

Dear Sedins: Don’t retire

The Sedins looked like they had nowhere to go but down after last season. Daniel only had 15 goals and 44 points. After scoring the team’s only goal on Monday, he’s up to 19 goals and 42 points in 2017-18.

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Amazing. The man could very well score 25 goals and 50-plus points. At 37 years of age. And he’s playing three lesser minutes per game. Head coach Travis Green has kept his twins fresher, and they’re turning back the clock.

As for Henrik, he only has two goals on the season, but that’s okay. His 41 points through 63 games will do, and he should come close to the 50 points he put up last season.

The twins haven’t given an answer on if they’ll come back for 2017-18, but pure logic suggests they come back for (at least another year).

The Canucks sure as heck better hope that’s the case, because there’s no replacing the offence and leadership by these two. At this point, why can’t they be effective for a couple more years?

All in for Dahlin

There is a silver lining with all of these Canucks losses: They do get better odds of winning the Rasmus Dahlin sweepstakes. After Monday’s results, they sit 28th in the league standings. If that holds up, they’ll have a 10.3 percent chance of winning the first pick. But there is room for them to slip further down the standings.

Vancouver is only three points up on the Ottawa Senators, but the team that didn’t trade Erik Karlsson has two games in hand. The Buffalo Sabres have been playing better hockey lately, and they’re only six points behind the Canucks.

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With Vanek gone, the Canucks are going to score less goals. With the team playing gradually worse as the season advances, their chances of winning the draft lottery are going nowhere but up. There’s one positive in what’s been a terrible three-month stretch for the Canucks.