Vancouver Canucks are getting burnt out by their own schedule
By Chris Faber
Getting off to a good start is a key for any team in any sport, an early advantage tends to conclude with good results. The Vancouver Canucks have for the most part exceeded fans’ expectations this season and something that should also be mentioned is how hard their schedule has been as we finish up the first quarter of the .year
The Vancouver Canucks are off to a respectable start to their season, “The Pettersson Elevensson” to begin the year was a dominant start that even had Toronto radio stations talking about the possibility of Elias Pettersson being an early consideration for the Hart Trophy.
Fast forward to the middle of November, and Canucks fans are starting to see the team slow down.
There’s good reason to believe that the recent slump is due to injuries, lack of depth or a slumping power play. For myself I turn to the schedule, the Canucks have not only played the most games so far this season (22) but they have also played the most road games (14).
There has to be fatigue among the players, as they have been away from home for so long. Playing every second day along with flights and hotels doesn’t make it easy on a team that is already decimated with injuries to topflight contributors. This includes Brock Boeser, Alex Edler and the centre duo of Brandon Sutter and Jay Beagle.
The power play definitely misses Boeser and Edler, but likely the loss of Sutter and Beagle is toughest on Bo Horvat. The ice time of Horvat has noticeably jumped up since the loss of the more defensive minded centremen, Horvat is averaging over 22 minutes of ice time since the 5-2 win over Minnesota, where Sutter went down with the shoulder injury, before that night Horvat was averaging under 19 minutes a game.
More from Canucks News
- Canucks are in “wash, rinse, repeat” mode after Monday’s 5-1 loss
- Canucks send Jack Rathbone and Vasily Podkolzin down to Abbotsford
- Canucks acquire Ethan Bear, Lane Pederson from Carolina
- Brock Boeser, Curtis Lazar placed on injury reserve
- Canucks officially unveil Reverse Retro jersey in latest aesthetic change
The Schedule is the schedule
The Canucks didn’t decide to play 14 of their first 22 games on the road, and surely a homestand would be ideal at this time in the season, but unfortunately that is not the case. After the Canucks home game against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night, the Canucks will take off on a California swing.
They’ll play the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday and follow that up by back to back games on Friday and Saturday night against the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings, respectively.
When the Canucks return home from that road trip, they will have played 17 of their first 26 games on the road, including two separate six game road trips.
Road games or mind games?
Positive thoughts would say that this can be a good bonding experience for this team as they try and gel as teammates, but the problem is adding on the injuries. This team has had a tough go again when it comes to injuries. Missing defencemen and centres has turned the Vancouver Canucks from a team that had to scrap to be able to succeed, to a team that needs to scrap to be able to compete.
The Canucks have powered through this tough time as they close out the toughest two months of their NHL season. It’s only logical that the team is rewarded down the road as we will see some long homestands and hopefully some extra days off.
From this point on, the Canucks will have four different occasions where they will have a homestand of at least five games, and will only be on the road again once more for more than five games.
With multiple injured players expecting to make their return in the next few weeks, the Canucks will enjoy more time at home with a healthier team.
A team that will scrap to compete.
On to Quarter Two
We will see a more balanced roster the more we see returning players and though we will be seeing Sam Gagner soon as a Canucks again, we must know that we are only a few weeks away from seeing Jay Beagle and Brandon Sutter make their return, not to mention Sven Baertschi, who’s head injury seems to be more of a scary situation, though Baertschi has apparently started skating again.
dark. Next. Pinch me, because the Vancouver Canucks called up Sam Gagner
So the Canucks have definitely seen some positive things in some negative situations so far this season, it seems very acceptable to accept this first quarter of the season as a success. The emergence of some young players is promising, and since the season schedule is about to turn to more-friendly, the team will have an easier ride for the rest of 2018-19.
If they can stay healthy…