9 early and bold predictions for the Canucks 51st NHL season
When the puck drops to start the 2021 NHL campaign the Vancouver Canucks will be entering their 51st season. Here are nine very early and bold predictions.
These are the dog days of … fall?
Yes, it’s been a very strange year for the Vancouver Canucks. Their 50th season in the NHL was put on pause for five months. They returned to action inside the Edmonton bubble — where against all odds — the Canucks knocked off the Minnesota Wild in a best-of-five play-in series, took down the 2019 Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues, and came within a single game of advancing to the Western Conference finals.
That was all very, very fun, but now the NHL is in what feels like a second offseason in this bizarre year of 2020. A handful of key contributors have left in free agency. Jacob Markstrom, Chris Tanev and Josh Leivo signed in Calgary, Tyler Toffoli landed in Montreal and Troy Stecher agreed to terms with the Detroit Red Wings.
No doubt the Canucks had to say goodbye to some key talent, but for the most part, the Canucks core remained intact. Elias Pettersson will be back for his third season in the National Hockey League. He’ll be accompanied by a talented core consisting of All-Star defender Quinn Hughes, former All-Star sniper Brock Boeser, 2019-20 team scoring leader J.T. Miller, captain Bo Horvat, and Western Conference semi-finals MVP Thatcher Demko.
The core will return and try to build off a very successful campaign, but it’s going to feel different. Pettersson will feel the full weight of what it means to be a franchise player, Hughes will be expended to be nothing short of spectacular, and Demko will have to be marvellous between the pipes. Here are nine very early, very bold predictions for the 2021 season (These predictions are based on a full 82-game schedule).
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1. Pettersson will reach the 90 points mark
If it wasn’t obvious enough already, I’ll spell it out for you. Pettersson is a very special hockey player. Drafted 5th overall in 2017, the Canucks landed the best player in the entire draft class. He’s a real deal NHLer who brings it night-in and night-out.
In his rookie season, he wasted no time putting himself on the map. He recorded 10 goals in his first 10 NHL games and never looked back. He put up a team-leading 66 points, broke the Canucks rookie scoring record and became an NHL All-Star.
He worked on his size that year and came back having erased any thought of a sophomore slump. He was less flashy in year two, but stronger with the puck and he was twice as deadly. Again, he finished with 66 points, but he was more of a complete player with even better instincts. He was their MVP outside of the crease.
This year, I expect Pettersson to take it to the next level once more. He’s coming into a contract year where he could be demanding a long-term deal with a lot of zeroes attached to it. If he plays his cards right, he could have himself a monster year. If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t bet against EP40. He’ll score 90 points in a full 82-game season.
2. Demko will start more games than Holtby
Demko’s outer-worldly performance against the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs was a true sign that he was ready to show people that he is ready to take the next step in his NHL hockey career. That next step is for him to lock down a starting role inside Vancouver’s crease.
With just 40 games under his belt, it’ll be hard for Travis Green to just hand over the net to a guy like Demko when he has a Vezina Trophy and Stanley Cup-winning goaltender in the newly signed Braden Holtby. Nonetheless, Demko will have the fuel he needs to add to his burning desire to get what he believes he’s earned.
It likely won’t happen right away, but I predict that by seasons end, Demko has completely taken over as the team’s go-to starter. He’s younger, he’s been the better goaltender as of late, and he has the potential to be a legit NHL number one. I bet his stellar play leads to him taking the net full-time.
3. Hughes will lead all NHL defensemen in points
He was incredible the very moment he stepped foot on the ice in a Vancouver Canucks uniform. He was calm, cool, and he believed in himself more than anything else. His strong beliefs led to him gaining serious momentum and serious league-wide attention over the course of his rookie campaign.
He racked up points better than any Canucks defender over the last 50 seasons and he showed that he would only get better as time went on. From January up until his elimination in the playoffs, he was scoring at a higher rate than any NHL blueliner.
Next season, Hughes will be taking on even more responsibility and I could see him continuing his trend in the right direction. Nothing shows me that he will be slowing down. Barring any serious injury, Hughes has what it takes to be the highest point scorer of any NHL D-man. It won’t be easy in any way, but if everything goes correctly, he can do it.
4. Virtanen will score 25 goals playing in the top-six
Before the 2019-20 season was ended early, Jake Virtanen was well on his way to scoring 20 goals. That feat would have likely been met had the season continued, and let’s not forget that Virtanen did that while mainly playing a bottom-six role and seeing limited ice time on the man-advantage.
Next season is going to be completely different. Virtanen is in line for a full-fledged top-six opportunity, not just here and there when the team needs a shakeup. With Toffoli and Leivo now gone and Micheal Ferland’s concussion status unknown, Virtanen is the best option behind Boeser.
Given that Green doesn’t have much faith in Virtanen on the defensive side of the puck, it makes the most sense for him to play on a scoring line with Pettersson rather than a matchup line with Horvat where he’d be facing other team’s best lines every other night.
If Virtanen can score 18 goals on the third line, imagine what he could do in a full season next to Pettersson and Miller? Sprinkle in some extra power play time and suddenly the sky is the limit for the Vancouver local.
5. Boeser will score 30 goals for the first time ever
Boeser’s sensational rookie season painted him as a pure goal scorer but the truth of the matter is Boeser has never scored more than 29 goals in a single season. Yes, if he was never injured he would have, but nonetheless, he still hasn’t accomplished the feat of 30.
Despite Boeser having a career-year last season in terms of points per game (0.789), Boeser recorded by far his worst shooting percentage in the NHL (9.5%). It resulted in just 16 goals spread across 57 games. His shot wasn’t as effective as years prior and he just wasn’t getting it done on the power play. In fact, he wasn’t being used correctly. His lethal one-timer was passed over by the entire first unit.
With Toffoli now out of the picture next season, Boeser will return to his usual spot on the power play and his usual spot on the top line. If he can remain healthy, he’ll have a good chance of reaching the 30 goal mark in 2021.
6. Juolevi will play a full NHL season with the team
It’s been a long and challenging road for Olli Juolevi, but as the saying goes, whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
It appears that Juolevi has done enough to gain the confidence of Jim Benning and coach Green. He impressed his camp inside the bubble and even got the opportunity to play in his first NHL game. He got over 6 minutes of ice time in a sheltered role, but he made no mistakes and helped the Canucks eliminate the Minnesota Wild.
Now, it looks like Juolevi will get his chance to take up a full-time position on the roster. Benning has stated he believes that Juolevi is ready and with the lack of offseason moves made to acquire new blood on the blueline, he’ll likely get his shot. It’s been a long time coming for Juolevi. I predict he’ll come to camp in the best shape of his life and be more than ready for what’s next.
7. Miller will have another great season with Canucks
Last year he was better than anyone could have possibly imagined. Next season, I predict he’ll be just as good if not better for the Canucks. Miller is in the prime of his career, he plays on one of the NHL’s most deadly top lines, and he’ll be asked to take on an even larger role in leadership.
He got the taste of what it’s like to be a leader for a young and unproven franchise and he’s going to want a bigger bite. He was a big part of the Canucks success and he’ll feed off of those learning curves as he continues to play next to Sweden’s great Pettersson. I don’t expect anything less from Miller next season. He’ll be just as good, if not better. He’ll pace around a point per game.
8. Demko will have a better save percentage than Markstrom
Last season, there was little doubt that Markstrom was the Canucks starter, but actually, on paper Markstrom and Demko had pretty similar performance levels. Yes, Markstrom had the bigger workload, but Demko put up a good save percentage and was great when the Canucks needed him to be.
Of course, Demko only has 40 games to his name but up to this point, he’s more than proven he can handle the big moments. I don’t expect Demko to play nearly as many games as Markstrom will next year, but that should only help aid in Demko putting up a better save percentage.
Markstrom’s 0.917% of a year ago isn’t anything to be super jazzed about. It’s a good statistic, but it’s not impossible to overcome. If Demko can settle in as the starter sooner than later, he might have a chance at a better save percentage than his former mentor.
9. Myers will score at least 30 points this season
With the departure of Tanev, Tyler Myers becomes the team’s best right-shot defenseman. Add the idea that Myers has a good chance of playing some big minutes with the offensively productive Hughes and suddenly it doesn’t seem impossible that Myers could, in fact, reach the 30-points club.
He might see his power play time on unit 2 revoked with the arrival of Nate Schmidt, but Myers being paired with Hughes makes up for it. Just look at Tanev’s point production last year. Known as a “stay at home” defender, Tanev enjoyed the best statistical season of his career. The same thing should be in store for the BFG.
Next. The Canucks need to offer Travis Green an extension. dark
Myers and Hughes have proven in the past that they can be a good offensive duo in the right circumstance. If Green decides to pair these two up long-term, I’d imagine they’ll get a lot of offensive start time and that should help drive up Myers production numbers. I see a 30-point season in Myers’ future.