To say Saturday evening's 3-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs was needed, would be an understatement. This was a Vancouver Canucks team which headed into the road fixture with just four wins in their previous 16 games, and desperate for something positive to come their way.
As per The Canuck Way's Jonathan Bailey, the buildup to Saturday's contest at Scotiabank Arena wasn't helped by snow storms a night earlier in Raleigh, North Carolina, following a 2-0 loss to the Hurricanes. As a result, the Canucks were stranded and did not arrive in Southern Ontario until the day of the game versus the Leafs.
Given all this, it made the shutout victory against the high-flying Leafs even more impressive, albeit alluding to the Canucks' tremendous road record so far in 2024-25. Not that it reflects well for them in the latest round of NHL power rankings by the main sports media outlets, whether they account for the win in Toronto or not.
A drop in the power rankings despite Leafs win
We begin with the Score, who did factor in the Leafs game in their latest power rankings, which were published on Monday. They placed the Canucks in 16th spot, two down from their previous position of 14th last time around.
For this week's theme, the Score went with each team's MVP at the halfway point of the 2024-25 season, with no surprise that they selected Quinn Hughes in Vancouver. They mention him being third among all NHL defencemen in points (47), which is also easily the most overall among Canucks players. (Conor Garland is second as of Monday morning, with 30 points.)
Next we look at The Athletic (subscription required), who at the weekend released their first power rankings since Dec. 20. In any event they also moved the Canucks down, from 13th place to 15th. (Individually, Dom Luszczyszyn had them at 14th and Sean Gentille placed them at 16th.)
For their latest theme, The Athletic, looked at players who need to step up for their teams during the second half of the season, and it was particularly damning for the Canucks, with them saying every defenceman except Hughes. In fairness it's tough to argue with this assessment, for a team which is ranked a lowly tied-17th for average goals allowed per game, made worse when you consider they give up the ninth-fewest shots on goal per contest.
Worst ranking of them all for the Canucks
Turning to Sportsnet, they published their latest rankings prior to the Canucks' two games at the weekend, although you have to imagine it wouldn't have improved the position too much. In any event, the team was moved down from 17th place to 19th.
Ryan Dixon chose the same theme as the Score, and likewise picked Hughes as the Canucks' midway point team MVP. They did add though that further than the D-man just challenging for a second consecutive Norris Trophy, they also have him in contention the Hart Trophy, which we agree makes perfect sense given just how much he's done up to this point of the 2024-25 campaign.
Finally we come to Daily Faceoff, who like the Score published their power rankings on Monday and have the Canucks' most up-to-date record of 19-13-10. Not that it does them any good, with being moved down like the other three, but this time from 15th to 17th place.
Scott Maxwell confesses he didn't realise that the Canucks had lost nine of 11 games prior to the contest in Toronto, while also seeing them remaining in a playoff spot as an indictment against everyone outside the top seven spots in the Western Conference. We would disagree with this assessment though, with the Canucks actually proving how much overall roster depth and quality they must have, to remain in a wild card place despite all the injuries they've already had to deal with this season.