The Canuck Way Mailbag: Horvat, Hughes, Pearson, more

The Vancouver Canucks have been absolute fire this week from the top of the lineup to the bottom. Here is the best from this week’s Canuck Way mailbag.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written about the Vancouver Canucks and The Canuck Way mailbag (contributors Owen Gibbs and Joshua Rey took over the past three weeks), but I’m back in the driver’s seat and ready to answer questions from our biggest and best supporters.

So much to digest, where do I begin? What a crazy week of hockey. After being shutout by Alex Stalock and the Minnesota Wild in game 1 of the play-in series, Vancouver has marched back with complete confidence and are now riding an impressive five-game winning streak.

From a 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs darkhorse to back-to-back monster victories over the defending champions, the Canucks are shocking their audience and doing it in style. The core of this squad is on fire right now and I truly believe they are yet to unleash their true potential. Maybe Jim Benning knows what he’s doing after all? Time will tell, but for now, let’s get into the mailbag!

So far, so good for the Canucks and the way they’ve decided to take care of business. But with the St. Louis Blues down 2-0 in this series, they really have nothing to lose at this point and will fire back with aggression and intimidating physical play. The Blues are built for playoff destruction. They are one of the biggest and meanest teams across the National Hockey League and they have the skill to go along with it.

According to The Athletic (paid subscription), St. Louis ranks 5th highest in the NHL for the average weight of their players, 203.9 to be exact. Down the list at 12th are the Vancouver Canucks (200.3) but mostly within their bottom-six (not their star players). It doesn’t seem like much, but the weight is a lot more evenly distributed amongst the Blues, and that puts players like Elias Pettersson in danger. You know the Blues will up their assault on the 21-year-old Swede moving forward.

Being up 2-0 in the series gives the Canucks a 95% chance of winning, but who could forget the collapse of 2011? Much like the devasting Boston series, St. Louis won’t go away without a serious fight. The Canucks have to find a way to match that intensity and seal the deal. The power play has been unmatched, and if they can keep it running hot on PP1, the Canucks will advance. It’s about fighting back but staying disciplined. Keep up the offense and don’t collapse. Fight fire with fire.

Seven players on the Canucks roster have registered at least a point per game throughout the first six games of the play-ins/playoffs, but it’s hard to argue against the captain for being the best overall player up to this point. It took him a minute to get his legs under him, but since he’s gotten going he’s been an unstoppable force.

More from Editorials

• Which team won the Bo Horvat trade?
• What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
• Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

Bo “Bull” Horvat has literally taken this series by the horns (pun intended) and run with it. He’s been overshadowed by the Canucks core for too long, and he’s here to prove that this is his team. Right now, there isn’t a flaw in his repertoire. He’s been the team’s best defensive forward, the best offensive threat, and he’s becoming the complete package.

With shades of the 2011 Ryan Kesler (who went off and single-handedly dismantled the Nashville Predators with 11 points in five games) in his game, the captain is dominating this series and becoming the team’s best 200ft player since RK17 wore the blue and green. And oh boy, was he ever loved by Canucks Nation back then.

Bo’s winning faceoffs, board battles, foot races, and hockey games. With eight points (6 goals, 2 assists) through six games, you can’t deny his ability to step up and be the man when it matters. Without a doubt, No. 53 has been the all-star for this franchise up to this point. Quinn Hughes would be a close second in my opinion.