The Vancouver Canucks’ special teams are finally clicking

After finally moving some pieces around, the Vancouver Canucks’ specialty teams have been clicking like never before. Here’s a breakdown of why.

Specialty teams are a key component to a team’s success. They can make or break a team, especially in the playoffs. Last season, the Vancouver Canucks‘ powerplay and penalty kill were mediocre at best and they wanted to improve on it this time around.

The Canucks started the season extremely strong on the penalty kill and are currently third-best in the league in that department. They have killed 88.9% of all their penalties thanks to the hard work of the third and fourth line guys.

Brandon Sutter, Jay Beagle, and Tyler Motte lead Cancuck forwards in short-handed ice-time and they have been lights out for Vancouver. Having the depth players kill off penalties gives time for Travis Green to rest up his stars and create a mega line right after the kill.

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A big factor for penalty killing is confidence, and the Canucks certainly aren’t lacking in that department. Vancouver does a great job of preventing offensive zone entries and pressuring their opponents into making quick decisions. The team already has short-handed goals from both Tim Schaller and Beagle, which is tied for third-most in the NHL.

The powerplay, on the other hand, came out of the gate slowly. A big reason was Green’s head-scratching decision to create two even powerplay units instead of loading up on the first one. The result was Bo Horvat and Quinn Hughes on the bench while the “top” unit tried to score on the man-advantage. It didn’t work out well.

Against the New Jersey Devils, they had six powerplay chances and didn’t capitalize on a single one. Halfway through that game, Green finally put Hughes on the first unit and instantly saw a change in play. They didn’t score, but it looked much better.

They went 4-for-30 in their first seven games and after moving Hughes and Horvat onto PP1, they’ve gone 5-for-13 in three games. A much improved top unit has given the Canucks’ powerplay life and they’ve become a legitimate threat that opposing teams must try to contain. In fact, ever since the switch, Horvat already has three powerplay goals in those three games.

Hughes quarterbacking the powerplay seems so natural and having Horvat as the bumper adds more puck movement to the whole unit. With snipers like Brock Boeser and Elias Petterson, getting the goaltender moving will make goals rain for Vancouver.

The offensive and defensive depth on this team are on full display with the Canucks’ specialty teams and it makes Green’s job much easier when managing the lines. While they still have a lot to learn (like not giving up four-goal leads), this team is looking more like a threat as the season goes along.