The Vancouver Canucks could (and should) load up their first line

Thanks to some key offseason additions, the Vancouver Canucks finally have the opportunity to load up their first line, but what would that look like?

Secondary scoring was something the Vancouver Canucks desperately needed to address this offseason. The load being put on their young star players was too much, and they fell off near the end of the season as a result.

Bo Horvat, Elias Pettersson, and Brock Boeser can’t do it alone; but what can they do together?

There were times last year when the Canucks were in need of a goal late in the third period that Travis Green gave us exactly what I’m proposing today — a loaded first line with Boeser, Pettersson, and Horvat.

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These three play together on the power play, and are almost always out there together when the Canucks have their goaltender pulled late in games in which they are trailing. But not once last season did the three start a game on the same line together. I’m proposing that changes and that the Canucks deploy what would in my opinion, instantly become one of the more dangerous lines in the league.

If this line were to be deployed, Horvat would be the center, with Pettersson moving to the wing, a position he played comfortably when he was with Vaxjo of the SHL. When Pettersson first arrived in Vancouver, there was plenty of speculation as to whether or not coach Green would deploy the young Swede as a center or a winger.

Pettersson proved that he was more than capable at the center position, and became known to skate hard on the back-check and do whatever he can to help his team win games. It’s because of this ability to be effective at any forward position that would allow Pettersson to seamlessly transition over to playing on the wing once again.

The other thing that a center needs to do, other than being among the first forwards back to help on defence in transition, is win faceoffs. Pettersson finished his rookie season with a faceoff percentage of 41.0. This isn’t a great statistic, and it is one of the few parts of Pettersson’s game that could use improvement.

Thankfully for the Canucks, Pettersson recognizes this as one of his weaknesses, and like nearly every other aspect of his game, he’s constantly working to improve it and find new ways to be successful.

Do you know who’s already really good at faceoffs though? Bo Horvat.

Horvat has a career faceoff percentage of 52.2 and owned a 53.7 faceoff percentage last season. He was taking key draws in both the offensive and defensive zone and is one of the Canucks most reliable faceoff men. Gaining possession of the puck then driving the offence is something Horvat is already extremely good at — but imagine if he had Pettersson and Boeser to pass to on a regular basis.

Here’s what the trio of Horvat, Pettersson, and Boeser have accomplished together so far, compared to what some of the NHL’s most dominant lines have been able to do together, in terms of Corsi%:

As per naturalstattrick.com, the Boston Bruins’ “perfection line” of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak had a CF% of 56.04, while the Avalanche’s top line, consisting of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog, had a CF% of 54.74. Calgary’s top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Elias Lindholm finished the year with a 54.13% Corsi.

As you can see by the graph, Pettersson, Boeser, and Horvat’s Corsi were much higher than all three of these other trios. Now, this is obviously inflated due to the majority of their time spent with one another being when their team is up an extra man, whether that be the power play or with the goalie pulled; but do we really think a line with two of the Canucks’ hardest working defensive forwards in Pettersson and Horvat is going to struggle at regaining possession of the puck if they lose it?

It’s something the Canucks can try at full strength for an entire game during the preseason, and if it’s a success, which I think it will be, they can roll with that loaded top-line right into the regular season.

You may be asking yourself how this will work, considering it certainly wouldn’t have worked last season, due to almost all of the Canucks’ offensive contributions coming from their “big three”. This season, however, the Canucks have the forward depth to make it work.

The newly acquired J.T. Miller can easily center the Canucks’ second line and have success with players such as Sven Baertschi, Micheal Ferland, and Tanner Pearson on his wings. Don’t forget about Josh Leivo either, who could be one of the dark horse candidates for this upcoming season.

The point is, the Canucks have options with their forward lines, and finally, have the personnel to make a loaded first line work, and they should certainly entertain the idea, especially during preseason, considering what their three best players have accomplished when on the ice with another in the past.