Vancouver Canucks likely to finish as NHL’s worst team
By Alex Hoegler
As the injuries pile up and the quality of play gets worse, the Vancouver Canucks look like a team that’ll finish 31st in the league standings, along with the best draft lottery odds.
We know that Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning and president Trevor Linden expected major improvement in 2017-18. The Sedin twins did as well, along with a handful of optimistic fans and pundits (myself included).
But despite bounce-back years from the Sedins and an excellent season from rookie Brock Boeser, the Canucks may remarkably finish worse than the last two years. With 11 games to go, they’re just two up on the 30th-place Arizona Coyotes (who have two games in hand), and three up on the Buffalo Sabres (two games in hand).
The Coyotes have been on a major surge over the past month, going 11-3-2 since Feb. 8. And unlike the Canucks, Arizona is fairly healthy, so they should have no problem using their games in hand to eventually jump ahead of Vancouver in the standings.
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Consider that the Canucks have a ton of injuries that they just can’t overcome. They haven’t been able to score with Markus Granlund, Sven Baertschi and Loui Eriksson done for the year.
Chris Tanev hasn’t been able to stay healthy all year, and now Erik Gudbranson‘s done for 2017-18 with a shoulder injury.
As for the Sabres, they too have been playing better hockey as of late, with a 5-3-1 record over their last nine games.
Given the talents of Jack Eichel and Ryan O’Reilly, plus a much easier schedule (six games against bottom-10 teams), it’s safe to guess that Buffalo jumps ahead of Vancouver as well in the league standings.
Now, consider the Canucks remaining opponents. They have two games left against the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, plus one more meeting apiece with the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues. We can’t think they’ll have an easy time against Connor McDavid in their final two meetings against the Edmonton Oilers, either.
Add it all up, and it’s not looking like the Canucks will be able to finish outside of the league’s cellar dweller. Too many injuries, gradually worse play on the ice and a really, really brutal schedule. The Coyotes and Sabres have easier opponents, and are simply playing better hockey.
Now, this is good news for those who are on Team Tank. If the Canucks truly finish last, they’ll have the best draft lottery odds at 18 percent, and the lowest they could move down to is the fourth spot.
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But for the players and front office, finishing last in the standings will be inexcusable — considering how much Benning worked into making this team better. But if it lands them Rasmus Dahlin, it’ll be well worth it.