Canucks: 3 big disappointments of the 2019-20 season

The Vancouver Canucks’ rollercoaster of a season left certain players unable to live up to the hype. Here are three disappointments from the club’s 50th year.

The 50th year of Vancouver Canucks hockey in the NHL was a season filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, winning streaks, losing streaks, success and disappointment. But through all of it, Jim Benning’s message never wavered. A team was built in front of him, handcrafted by himself and management that was strong enough to earn and claim a spot in the 2020 playoffs.

Right up to the very point of the NHL freeze on the regular season, Vancouver looked to be holding down a wildcard spot, maybe even better. It really depends on who you ask, though. With all NHL teams having played a different number of total games, it’s hard to tell exactly who’s made it to the show, and who’s on the outside looking in.

The Canucks’ case for a playoff spot is especially tricky. In a shortened regular season with doubt of having time for completion in full, how does the league go about filling the playoff bracket? Would the decision be based on points percentage or would the league go directly into the dance regardless of games played?

According to the NHL website, the Vancouver Canucks sit in 9th place in the Western Conference. Despite being tied in points with the Nashville Predators for the final playoff spot while also having one more win in their pocket, the Predators actually fill the spot due to having accumulated more regulation wins.

As it stands now, the Canucks only fill a playoff spot if playoffs are based on point percentage whenever the game does in fact return. How the playoff picture is put into place is a conversation for another time. However, at one point the Canucks looked to be on the cusp of locking down the Pacific Division and that probably would have happened if it weren’t for a few disappointments through the 2019-20 campaign. Let’s take a look at three big disappointments from the season that more or less held the Canucks back for another year.

The concussion that rocked Micheal Ferland

The Canucks GM was a big fan of Micheal Ferland the day he signed a four-year, $14 million dollar deal with Vancouver. Benning made it clear he was retooling the teams top-six and on July 10th, he got exactly the man he was looking for. Ferland agreed to terms and was brought to Vancouver excited to be the brute force on the wings of Elias Pettersson.

It was crystal clear last season as the year went on that Pettersson was being picked apart from the opposition and deep down the team lacked a real bruiser that could prevent harm coming to their star player. Benning had the idea to put a quick, yet necessary stop to it all with the addition of a top-six power forward with bite.

Fans scattered across  B.C. were drooling in anticipation to see what the big brawler could do. Just imagine the fear he could place in the eyes of players everywhere? Unfortunately, Ferland’s big debut season ultimately flopped and quickly became a monumental disappointment and easily the biggest failure of the entire campaign. Canucks fans didn’t really get the top-shelf brand of rough and tough hockey they were expecting from Ferland.

Ferland arrived in Vancouver coming off some pretty crazy concussion symptoms he developed playing for the Carolina Hurricanes. It played a factor in him still being an available UFA nine days into free agency. He wanted term, but the Canucks were the guys who offered him an additional year, nobody else.

It was a red flag ignored by Benning that ultimately cost Vancouver in the long run. His concussion was worse than originally thought and the fact that other teams weren’t comfortable giving him term speaks volumes. It was brushed away and because of it, Ferland suited up for only 14 NHL games this year, hasn’t played a second of an NHL game since December 10th and has experienced brutal concussion symptoms all year long.

Brock Boeser only scored 16 goals this year

Brock Boeser used to be nothing but a pure NHL goal scorer. After a rookie campaign where he was an NHL All-Star, 2018 ASG MVP and Calder Trophy finalist, Boeser followed it up with another solid year which was capped off with a three-year extension worth an annual amount of $5.85 million dollars.

With a guarantee to millions of dollars, Boeser was welcomed back to Vancouver expected to fulfill his spot as the Canucks’ top goal scorer. Would this finally be the year Boeser surpasses the 30+ goal mark? Not quite. As a matter of fact, Boeser only potted 16 goals this year despite having one of his best seasons in regards to his overall game.

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Now his shot hasn’t been what it was during his electrifying rookie year, but it was never expected to dip below 20 goals annually. With a full offseason of training for the first time he was expected to find his shot once again, but obviously that didn’t happen. Boeser did put up 45 points in 57 games, but 16 goals from your highest-paid forward isn’t enough.

With the rise of J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes on the power play, Boeser went from being Petey’s trigger man, all the way to the unit’s fourth option. The highly coveted “Boeser spot” was forgotten about and BB6 failed to capture a power play goal after the month of November. Struggling to produce all while the team battles tightly for playoff positioning left Boeser’s one-timer to run cold.

His February injury left him sidelined for four weeks and the COVID-19 virus halted a finally healthy Boeser from playing the final 13 games of the year. It may have been enough time for Boeser to reach 20, but even then, Brock needs to be a 30 goal guy if this team is serious next season.