It’s pretty much over at this point. In fact, you could say it was over weeks ago or even months ago. After another loss by the Vancouver Canucks, this time a 3-2 overtime defeat at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights, their playoff hopes are taking their last breaths.
According to a model from Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic, the Canucks playoff odds are at 1%. It looks like one more loss makes it official. So yes, it’s pretty much over. There still will be playoff hockey in the Lower Mainland, however. The Abbotsford Canucks clinched a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs on Sunday and the Vancouver Giants have already booked their spot in the WHL playoffs and they have three regular-season games remaining.
Vancouver had a very poor start which led to Jim Benning and Travis Green being fired and Bruce Boudreau coming in back in December. Eventually, Jim Rutherford was named President of Hockey Operations and Patrik Allvin was named General Manager. The Canucks did win their first seven games under Boudreau but it has been up and down since then.
Let’s look at three reasons why the playoffs won’t be happening for the seventh time in the last eight years. It is also disappointing that the Canucks still have not played a playoff game at Rogers Arena since their first-round exit to the Calgary Flames in 2015.