On Monday, the Vancouver Canucks put up…not much of a fight against the Los Angeles Kings. They’re now 29th in the league standings, and not far off from the 31st spot. Here’s what else we learned from their 3-0 defeat.
We know the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames have quite a rivalry., but you have to think the good folks of Alberta are quite displeased with how Travis Green’s squad played, and rightfully so.
A Canuck victory over the Los Angeles Kings would have helped the Flames — who are barely hanging on in the playoff race. Surely, they needed Vancouver to pull off an upset on the road, and it didn’t happen. Unfortunately, the Brock Boeser-less Canucks couldn’t do much of anything right in L.A.
For passionate Canucks fans, I’m guessing most of them were fine with the result. With the Ottawa Senators winning on Monday, Vancouver now falls down to 29th in the league standings — four up on the idle Arizona Coyotes — who have two games in hand.
Now, the fun part. Let’s examine three takeaways from the loss.
Scoring is impossible…how?
Doesn’t matter if Boeser, Sven Baertschi and Loui Eriksson are hurt, it’s unacceptable for any NHL team to go seven periods without scoring a goal.
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The Sedins are sure-fire Hall of Famers, and Bo Horvat is cruising to another 20-goal season. Sam Gagner‘s a former 50-point guy. Surely, somebody could score, right?
Nope. Not this year. The Canucks have found ways to play worse than the forgettable 2013-14 squad that couldn’t do anything right under head coach John Tortorella. And this year’s squad has more speed and youth in the lineup. How is the scoring this putrid?
Well, get used to it. Even if Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Dahlen make the team next year, they’re certainly not filling up all the holes. General manager Jim Benning can’t afford to throw more money around in free agency, given his poor track record in that area.
The Canucks barely generated any chances against the Coyotes. Credit them and the Kings for keeping Vancouver away from their net, but that’s also a bad look on this franchise. Coach Green better look at finding a new system for next season, and Benning better be ready to start moving out some of these unproductive forwards.
Another reminder…change up the defence!
Sorry, but you won’t convince me that Michael Del Zotto, Erik Gudbranson, Derrick Pouliot, Ben Hutton and Troy Stecher will anchor this blue line and turn them into a postseason contender. We know Alexander Edler wants to stay, and the team would be foolish to trade Chris Tanev.
But goodness, it’s long overdue for Benning to start overhauling this defence. I don’t care about Gudbranson’s extension, swap it for a comparable contract. Just cut your losses while you can, because ‘Guddy’ just isn’t fitting into Vancouver’s system. Get him a fresh start.
This type of break down just can’t happen:
Jake Muzzin sends Toffoli on a breakaway and the Kings are up 1-0 in the second period. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/qZDR3IXDwS
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) March 13, 2018
Related Story: Vancouver Canucks need to blow up the defence
During the Canucks run of excellence (2001-2012), they always had a formidable defence. Even if scoring was a problem, they could squeeze out the tight 1-0 or 2-1 victories. With this current core of defenceman, that’s just impossible.
Envision next season. Boeser, Horvat and Baertschi all stay healthy. Sedins come back and each post 40-50 points. Pettersson and Dahlen make the team and have productive rookie seasons. You think they’re a playoff team? Not me. Not with this group of blueliners. Time for Benning to realize changes are required.
Cool down on Brendan Leipsic
Many fans couldn’t help but get excited when newcomer Brendan Leipsic became an impact player right away. He had two goals and four assists through his first three games in a Canucks uniform, and the hype was slowly going through the roof.
But Leipsic has been extremely unproductive in his last three games, failing to garner a point and registering just six shots on goal. As we warned before, lower your expectations on Leipsic a bit. Don’t get too excited because of a nice and short sample size.
Next: Canucks top prospects: Petterson makes history
Coach Green is doing the right thing in giving Leipsic his ice time, but let’s be honest here. It’s way too early to get excited in thinking he can be a top-six forward. Over the last three games, we’ve seen a player who looks destined to be in the bottom-six instead. We’ll see if he can regain that hot form once again.