Vancouver Canucks: Another win, lower draft lottery odds

Following a 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers, the Vancouver Canucks have won four of their last five and are now 28th in the NHL standings, but are on the cusp of escaping the bottom-five.

Give the Vancouver Canucks plenty of credit for piecing together a strong performance, shutting down the Edmonton Oilers high-flying offence for their fourth victory in five games. It was one of Jacob Markstrom‘s best games in a Canuck uniform, too.

But take a look through your Twitter timeline, and you’re bound to see many disgruntled Canuck fans — and (not) rightfully so. This team now sits 28th in the league standings – just a point behind the Montreal Canadiens and two behind the 26th-placed Detroit Red Wings.

Vancouver has the regulation plus overtime wins tiebreaker over those two teams, as well at the Ottawa Senators (29th), and Arizona Coyotes (30th). And as the Canucks continue to play good hockey, they’re really just hurting their chances of getting lucky in this year’s lottery.

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As of now, the Canucks would only have an 8.5 percent chance of winning the draft lottery, and they have significantly higher odds of moving outside the top-five and picking anywhere from 1st to 3rd.

Yes, Markstrom had a great outing. Yes, it was great to see Sam Gagner and Derrick Pouliot break their goalless droughts.

Yes, Adam Gaudette’s NHL debut was fun to watch — even if head coach Travis Green only played him for 10:39. And yeah, Jussi Jokinen continues to roll. Pretty cool huh?

But unfortunately for the Canucks, Arizona, Detroit, Ottawa and Montreal have all been slumping at the worst time, and it’s safe to assume the Buffalo Sabres will finish 31st. Suddenly, your draft day parties are looking a little less exciting.

Picking in the top-five this year is more crucial than most draft classes. Rasmus Dahlin is the cream of the crop; the undisputed best player available and a guarantee to go first overall. After that, big-time scorers Andrei Svechnikov and Filip Zadina are going to be top-five picks. Smooth-skating blueliner Adam Boqvist and big forward Brady Tkachuk are also can’t-miss.

Yet, the Canucks just may find a way to strike out on landing either of them. Unless the lottery is planning to be nice this year, they’re staring at a high chance of picking outside the top-three once again, and outside of the top-five.

For those fans on #TeamTank, they’ll be happy to learn that the Canucks next two games are against the surging Columbus Blue Jackets and the Vegas Golden Knights — an expansion team they’ve yet to defeat.

After that, it’s two games against the lowly Coyotes and Oilers. Even if the Canucks don’t pick up another point this season, they may have already blown an opportunity to finish in the bottom-two, which would have ensured a top-five selection.

Next: Tanking can be important to me and not to you

We know the players and coaches are pleased about this late surge, but it’s safe to assume a large portion of the fans are not.