Canucks: 3 reasons the team didn’t qualify for the playoffs

Once again, the Vancouver Canucks are on the outside looking in.

The team failed to qualify for the playoffs this season, marking the fifth time in the past seven years. They finished the 2020-21 campaign with a record of 23-29-4, good for last in the Scotia North Division, and 24th in the league standings. They finished nine points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division.

It was one of the more disastrous seasons in franchise history, with the team essentially crawling their way to the finish line at the end of the season.

Of course, most of the physical and mental exhaustion that plagued the players was a direct result of their team-wide COVID-19 outbreak, which put the entire organization out of commission for just under a month. Upon return, the team was subjected to 19 games in 32 days, including 5 back-to-back sets. 11 of those contests took place on the road, and their final four games happened while the playoffs were going on.

Talk about a nightmare.

However, COVID-19 aside, the team was still dealing with a plethora of other problems that severely hampered their chances of qualifying for the playoffs. Even if the Canucks were completely healthy and were able to play on a normal schedule, there was still a very likely possibility that the team was going to find themselves on the sidelines going into the offseason.

Let’s take a look at three reasons why the Canucks didn’t qualify for the playoffs this year:

A February to forget

Most unsuccessful teams can pinpoint exactly where their season went wrong. For the Canucks, they can just look at the entire month of February.

Prior to that, the Canucks were putting together some decent hockey in January, especially considering their truncated training camp schedule. The team posted seven victories over 11 contests, including a four-game winning streak to end out the month, and, as expected, were right in the thick of the battle for the fourth and final playoff spot in their division.

It all went downhill from there.

The Canucks’ were picked apart in February, and their defensive struggles were put on full display against their superior opponents. The team recorded a dismal record of 2-9-2, and were outscored by a margin of 48-41 over that span. They recorded two separate losing streaks of four or more games, and were limited to one or fewer goals on six separate occasions.

They collected six out of a possible 26 points, and plummeted to the basement of their division as a result.

The team posted a decent record afterwards, going 15-15-2 in their remaining 32 games of the year. As we all know, however, they still finished nine points out of a playoff spot.

At the end of the day, we’ll never know if the Canucks would’ve been able to make a strong push for the playoffs in normal circumstances.

But, even if they were able to complete their remaining contests on a normal schedule, without their mortifying team-wide COVID-19 outbreak and multiple back-to-back sets having an effect, it would’ve been hard for the Canucks to climb out of the hole that they had dug for themselves in February.

Elias Pettersson injury

Man, did we miss Elias Pettersson this year.

The 22-year-old suffered a wrist injury on March 1st during a contest against the Winnipeg Jets. Pettersson was initially labelled as day-to-day, but he was eventually moved to long-term injury reserve as his treatment progressed. He stayed there for the remainder of the season, only playing in 26 games as a result.

Pettersson did struggle out of the gate prior to the injury, only recording two points in his first 8 games. He was able to bounce back nicely, putting up 19 points in his remaining 18 games, including five multi-point performances, and appeared poised to ride this momentum for the rest of the year.

Of course, teams often don’t find success when relying on only one player (just ask the Edmonton Oilers), but there’s no denying the value that Pettersson has on this team when he’s in the line-up.

Outside of Pettersson, only six other players cracked the 20-point plateau on the roster, with two of them coming from the blueline in Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers. With Pettersson unavailable, head coach Travis Green was also forced to experiment with different players in his top six forward group, resorting to lower-tier players like Jimmy Vesey and Jake Virtanen.

The powerplay also hit a wall without the elite sniper.

The Canucks finished with the seventh-worst powerplay in the league, posting a success rate of 17.33%. Most of the man advantage struggles can be chalked up to poor zone entry and puck cycling, but there were also a handful of moments where the team really could’ve used Pettersson’s elite finishing abilities.

And, of course, we can’t forget the seven-game stretch where the team went 0-for-21 on the powerplay.

To put it in perspective, the Canucks’ powerplay clicked at 24.12% last year, good for fourth-best in the league. Pettersson chipped in with eight goals and 14 assists over that span. In his 26 games played this season, he had already contributed four tallies, and would’ve likely led the team in powerplay goals had he stayed healthy.

Fortunately, all signs are pointing towards a smooth start to next season for Pettersson, and the former Calder Trophy winner even indicated himself that his wrist is almost at 100%. That’s good news for the fanbase, who are just hoping that their team can find more ways to put the puck in the back of the net next year.

And there’s no doubt that EP40 will definitely help with that.