The three most concerning things about the Canucks so far this season

If the Vancouver Canucks haven’t hit rock bottom yet, then I don’t want to know when they do.

Over the past four games, the team has been outscored 23-9 and been blown out of every match. More worrying is the manner in which they’re losing, as there hasn’t been any pushback from the players or a sense of urgency. All signs seem to be pointing to off-ice issues as being the main problem since there’s a disconnect between every member of the team right now, from the players to the coaches and even the management group.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to quantify or prove that theory, so we’ll instead be looking at the three most concerning things about the Canucks’ play so far this season, in no particular order.

Underperforming top players

Before the season started, most people assumed that Vancouver’s Achilles heel will be their depth, or lack thereof. Instead, it’s been the complete opposite: the Canucks’ best players have underwhelmed while their secondary pieces have overachieved.

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Elias Pettersson’s slow start has been well-documented. Even though he has somewhat bounced back by scoring eight points in the last seven games, we still haven’t seen the player who looked like one of the world’s best during long stretches last season.

Quinn Hughes, his partner in crime, also hasn’t resembled his dominant rookie form from last year. Yes, Hughes currently leads all NHL blueliners in points with 16, but those stats don’t tell the entire story. His defensive game has struggled mightily this season; according to Natural Stat Trick, the Canucks are currently giving up 5.57 goals against per 60 minutes with him on the ice, which is the highest number on the team for players who’ve appeared in more than one game.

If you’re curious, J.T. Miller has the (dis)honour of being second on that list, as Vancouver has conceded 5.39 goals per hour with him playing. Like Hughes, Miller’s stats are eye-popping — he currently has 13 points in 11 games — but his play has arguably warranted the most concern out of any Canuck this year. The 27-year-old has often looked disinterested on the ice, with his effort level being abysmal at times.

This was most obvious on Saturday night when he left Braden Holtby out to dry on an Auston Matthews goal.

Miller was hailed as being a vocal leader last year, but his play this season has depicted the exact opposite mentality.

If the Canucks hope to climb their way out of this hole, they’ll need their three best players to regain their dominant 2019-20 form.

Special teams struggling

Last year, the Canucks had a top-five power play and a penalty kill that ranked 16th in the league. This season, their power play has dropped to 19th while their penalty kill has been surprisingly decent, coming in at 15th leaguewide.

However, that last number has been propped up by a dominant three-game stretch against Ottawa in which the Canucks killed off 14/15 penalities. Without those matches, Vancouver would drop to 22nd on the penalty kill.

More worrying has been the team’s power play, which was a major X-factor of Vancouver’s success last season. Their lack of production is one thing, but the most concerning aspect part is that the Canucks are struggling to maintain offensive zone time while on the man advantage.

Not being able to properly set up properly obviously limits the chances that they have to score, and both power play units have spent way too much time in both their own end and in the neutral zone.

The non-existent defence

Through 15 games, the Canucks have given up 60 goals, the most in the NHL. Even if we go back goals against per game, they still rank second last, with Ottawa the only team worse.

There was also this telling stat that was shown after Saturday’s game, which sums up Vancouver’s defence this year.

I’m not sure if this is a system or a personnel problem, but the answer is probably a combination of both. The frustrating this is that a lot of goals could’ve been prevented by just playing a tighter game, as many chances against have been the result of sloppy passes and breakouts that didn’t even involve the opposing team. If there’s one positive to take away, it’s the fact that the team won’t play so sloppily for the entire season, or so I hope.

Vancouver doesn’t need to be an elite defensive team to win. If the team’s stars can get back on track, the Canucks will be able to compile victories by being a mediocre defensive team that gets up about three goals every game, which is exactly what they did last season. The problem is, they no longer have a Vezina calibre goalie in Jacob Markstrom to bail them out from mistakes, which makes it a lot tougher to play such a permissible style of hockey.

So, Canucks fans, do you have any ideas as to how the team can fix these problems? Let us know in the comments below!