The resurgence of Tyler Myers with the Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks have improved under Bruce Boudreau and so have several players such as Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. One of these is also Tyler Myers.

The man is known as the “Chaos Giraffe” thanks to Wyatt Arndt of The Athletic signed a five-year contract with the Canucks in the summer of 2019 worth six million dollars a season. Many Canucks fans and members of the media saw that contract as an overpayment.

Myers has been criticized for his contract, giveaways, constant trips to the penalty box, and his defensive play by fans on social media. However, since Boudreau took over as the Canucks head coach, he has gotten much better.

Boudreau made an appearance on NHL Network on Wednesday and Jackie Redmond asked him which player has improved that they weren’t talking about.

“Tyler Myers is my guy in that situation,” said Boudreau. “Three of these six games, we’ve been down to five defencemen earlier in the game and he’s played an exceptional amount of hockey. I was talking to Scottie Bowman last night and he was bringing up his name. He was saying he’s a big guy and big guys need minutes to play and I agree with him. He’s been exceptional.”

Canucks fans did get a kick out of Myers hitting Duncan Keith in the opening game of the season against the Edmonton Oilers.

In the last six games, Myers has stepped up. His defensive game can still provide chaos but it isn’t as chaotic as it was before. He also has been trying to provide some offence.

Here against the Carolina Hurricanes, Myers forces a turnover near the blue line, gives a burst of speed, passes it off to Conor Garland and he passes it to Pettersson who buries it.

He’s made some nice defensive play as well including a big block in overtime on a two-on-one from the Winnipeg Jets on December 10.

Per NaturalStatTrick, Myers is first in shots for at five-on-five with 311 this season. He is also first in shots against at five-on-five with 288.

That brings his shots for percentage to 51.92% which is the second-highest of his career behind his sophomore season in Buffalo.

Myers is also sixth in high danger Corsi for and second among defencemen behind Quinn Hughes with 48.45%. He is second on the Canucks behind Hughes with 93 high danger chances for and also second behind Hughes with 97 high danger chances against.

Let’s take a look at the numbers since Boudreau took over.

The Canucks have scored 12 goals since he came. Myers was on the ice for ten of those goals and only two against according to NHL.Com.

In the last six games, Myers is first in expected goals for with 5.88. He also leads the Canucks with 26 high danger chances for during that timespan. He also has not been on the ice for a high danger goal against and has been on the ice for four high danger goals for. Myers is tied with Oliver Ekman-Larsson for first with a high danger Corsi for percentage of 61.90% among players who played at least 60 minutes in the six games.

Myers is second on the Canucks defence behind Hughes in Corsi for with 51.98% during those six games. (He is sixth among all skaters.) Despite leading the team in scoring chances against with 64, he is second behind Hughes in scoring chances for with 59.

Myers has probably played his best hockey as a Canuck and we can only hope it continues. More importantly, let’s hope he is healthy since he entered COVID protocol on December 18. He gets criticized a lot but those critics (including myself.) to quiet down a little.

The contract still isn’t great but it is great to see Myers play well.

On behalf of The Canuck Way team, I would like to thank everyone for reading our articles and wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays!