The Vancouver Canucks have had recent troubles finding the back of the net lately. It’s not only due to the loss of their star rookie. Several players have gone under the radar without a goal.
It’s crazy. The Vancouver Canucks had the 11th ranked offence in the NHL not too long ago, yet it feels like a distant memory. Their 130 goals for ranks 16th in the league and their scoring touch has dried up for the last couple of weeks.
Elias Pettersson has only been out of action for one week, so it’s not just due to the Canucks missing one of the best offensive threats (although it certainly doesn’t help). They have been shut out in four of their last eight. It’s sad since January was supposed to have their light schedule going into the All Star break.
In those last eight games, the team has scored 14 goals. That’s not good enough, especially when the guy with five of them is injured right now. But it’s not just these last eight games. The offence has dried up for several players on the team.
You have already heard me mention Markus Granlund (one goal in his last 19 games). I like Nikolay Goldobin, but he has one goal in his last 13 games. As much as it frustrates me when Green benches him, he’s not producing enough, especially when not on Pettersson’s line. That being said, he can generate chances better than Granlund, but he has to start finishing on these shots before the team gives up on him (they may have already).
I don’t want to alarm the Shotgun Jake movement, but Jake Virtanen is barely on pace for 20 goals now (assuming he plays all 82 games this season). He has gone goalless in his last nine. Speaking of nine-game goal droughts, Bo Horvat hasn’t scored a goal in that stretch as well.
The six million dollar man, himself has put up another pitiful effort. I don’t mean his muffin of a shot or dumping the puck in the corners on every other odd-man rush. Loui Eriksson hasn’t scored a goal since December 20th (nine games ago). And to be honest, that goal was against a St. Louis team that had already given up after the opening faceoff.
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Brock Boeser has only one goal in his last six games. At least Sven Baertschi is picking up the slack, but he can’t do this alone. The team’s top two contributors from the defence are Alex Edler and Ben Hutton. Hutton hasn’t scored a goal since November 8th. That was 30 games ago. Edler has been consistent for points even though he has a lone goal in his last six.
And we have Derrick Pouliot. The player many assured would not regress after losing his cushy, soft minutes from last season. Well, Pouliot is on pace for 12 points and has not collected a goal in 16 games. He has two on the season. At least Hutton and Edler have four each. Yikes. That really illustrates how little the blue line helps when the top two offensive defencemen combine for 8 goals.
When one injury decimates what a team can do in the offensive zone, that doesn’t scream “playoff team” to me. And if the Canucks want to believe that they are a legitimate playoff team, they need to start getting more offence from the rest of the roster. It’s the biggest reason why we keep saying you can’t pin it on 1-2 players to do all the lifting.
You have to outscore your opponents to win in this league. It’s a fundamental fact that can be understood by newest of hockey fans. The Canucks need to figure out how to provide a better and deeper supporting cast. I’m of the mindset that the best defence is having the puck more often than your opponent. They are less likely to score on you when your team is applying pressure in their zone. Or you can compliment your stars with players that have limited offensive upside. Why have depth when you can be forced to send bottom of the roster players out in overtime situations? It should rather telling how fragile this team is without Elias Pettersson.