Are the Vancouver Canucks Built for the Playoffs?

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At this point, the Vancouver Canucks might earn a playoff spot and they might not— it’s a coin flip. The burning question right now is whether or not they could get anything done if they were to make the playoffs.

It takes more than good goaltending and goals to make the playoffs. Let’s take a look at three things playoff teams have and discuss whether or not the Canucks have these things to be capable of making the last 16.

Resilience

Resilience is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.” This week, the Canucks proved that they are resilient.

In back-to-back games, the Canucks found themselves down by two goals just minutes into the game. The Washington Capitals’ Evgeny Kuznetsov found the back of the net twice in less than seven minutes on Friday, while it only took the Tampa Bay Lightning five minutes to get two.

In both instances, the Canucks proved their resilience. In both games, they locked it down defensively for the rest of the first and second periods, and then came out swinging in the third. They sent the game to overtime against the Capitals, while an unfortunately early whistle prevented Conor Garland’s goal from tying the game against the Lightning.

This is an immense improvement over the Canucks team we saw last season, who infamously lost almost every game in which they gave up the first goal. The team has grown as a group, and has fans wondering what they could do if they were to make the playoffs.

Toughness

The playoffs are a different beast when compared to the regular season. You only have to win 16 games, but those are 16 of the hardest wins a team will have all season. It’s exhausting, it’s emotional, and it’s demanding in every way. Stanley Cup-winning teams are tough— both mentally and physically.

A major critique of the 2020-21 Canucks was that they got pushed around too easily. They weren’t hard to play against. That’s not the case this year.

By watching Sunday’s game against the Lightning without any context, you could have convinced me that Vancouver-Tampa is the biggest rivalry in the NHL. Both teams threw plenty of big hits, every whistle resulted in a shoving match, and there were many anger-driven penalties. That’s playoff hockey.

The off-season additions of Garland, Luke Schenn and Kyle Burroughs (although the latter is currently injured) instantly made the Canucks harder to play against. Should they make the playoffs, players like these will be the difference makers.

Credit: Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports /

Depth

A characteristic of every Stanley Cup-winning team is depth: Do most of their goals come from a few players, or is their scoring well-rounded? When somebody gets injured, does it leave a gaping hole in the roster, or can someone else step in to fill that role?

It’s well documented that the Lightning couldn’t get over the playoff hump until they added third-liners Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow prior to the 2020 playoffs. They went on to win the Stanley Cup two years in a row.

So, how deep are the Canucks?

The “Motte-O-Line” of Tyler Motte, Juho Lammikko, and Matthew Highmore is one of the best fourth lines in the NHL right now. In addition to normal fourth line duties such as killing penalties and playing physically, they contribute goals regularly. When the Canucks need a goal, Boudreau has the luxury of three lines to choose from.

This year is an odd one for the Canucks because they haven’t suffered an absurd amount of injuries like they usually do. (Though there a lot of players out on the COVID-19 protocol.) That being said, if a key player were to get hurt, would they be able to fill that gap?

The Canucks have five players on pace for 20 goals or more. They get occasional goals from defensemen and bottom-six forwards. While J.T. Miller’s success is nothing to downplay, they would still survive offensively if anything were to happen to a top-six forward.

Quinn Hughes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Tyler Myers are all performing at their best this year, which makes it easier for guys like Schenn, Burroughs, and Brad Hunt to be successful. With Travis Hamonic and Tucker Poolman missing significant portions of the season, the Canucks are able to throw depth guys in to plug those holes.

Spencer Martin shocked the hockey world with a few stellar performances in an emergency situation earlier this year. He posted a .958 save percentage and a 1.59 goals against average over his three games, earning one win and two overtime losses. While it’s a small sample size, Martin showed that he’s a good option, should anything happen to Thatcher Demko or Jaroslav Halak.

Are the Canucks Built for the Playoffs?

The Canucks aren’t a Stanley Cup team yet. They’re tough, they’re deep, and they’re resilient. But it’s all relative. There are other teams out there that are tougher, deeper, and more resilient. If they can squeeze their way into the playoffs, however, they might give a few teams a run for their money.

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