5 Canucks players who must bring their A-Game following the All-Star Break
The Vancouver Canucks are coming off of the All-Star Break and are still arguably the best team in hockey. Now, they can solidify that status down the stretch.
The Vancouver Canucks are having arguably the most surprising run of any NHL team this season, and they will plan on keeping it that way. But if they want to maintain their high-octane play down the stretch, quite a few players must bring their best game.
J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson are the first two names you may think of, but that duo will get their points, and they will also play a solid game when the Canucks don’t have the puck. You can count on them to bring the best version of themselves regardless of how much urgency the team will face as the playoff race heats up.
It’s not that the players listed below won’t bring the same level of intensity because they are all at least solid if not elite contributors. But their respective play will ultimately catapult the Canucks into a top seed or potentially fall behind a couple of surging groups in the Pacific.
Filip Hronek’s breakout campaign must continue
Filip Hronek is having his best season yet, and it’s a trend that must continue for the Canucks to keep scoring at the rate they are at. Hronek isn’t a goal-scorer, evidenced by the three times he has found the net this season. However, that shouldn’t take away from his eye-popping 33 assists, which has already matched a career-high.
Hronek has also contributed to the man advantage with nine points and two goals, plus he’s also taking plenty of chances at the net with 94 overall shots on goal. It’s almost like Hronek knows where to put the puck at any given time to set up a potential score, and that approach has helped take Vancouver far this season.
While Hronek isn’t as physical as he’s been in the past, there is no need for him to change the style of his game. What the 26-year-old has been doing is working lately, and that’s what counts at this point in the season.
Tyler Myers must bring an edge to his game not seen since 2021-22
In his long NHL career, Tyler Myers has yet to hoist the Stanley Cup, so given the season that Vancouver has had so far in 2023-24, this may be his best opportunity. That alone should be enough for the former Buffalo Sabre and Winnipeg Jet to bring his A-game for the next two months (and well into May), but his physical edge needs to keep defining his play over the next nine weeks.
Despite his age, Myers should also remain a valuable asset in playing solid minutes on the third-pairing, contributing in scoring when necessary, and getting in an opponent’s way if they’re looking to take a shot. When he’s on the ice, the Canucks are still effective in gaining control of the puck at 5-on-5, which you can see through his Corsi and Fenwick clocking in at 46.3 and 47.2, respectively, despite lining up for just 39.4 percent of offensive zone starts.
By contrast, the aforementioned number is the lowest of his career since 2014-15, during his time with the Sabres. If he can continue to help the Canucks excel in keeping up their overall transition game, Myers will be a valuable asset regardless of whether he directly contributes to scoring.
Thatcher Demko can become the undisputed Vezina candidate
Thatcher Demko was near the top of the list of Vezina Trophy candidates through the All-Star Break, but it’s a job half-finished if he doesn’t keep up his career season. When you look at Demko’s numbers from the past, they were solid, but not the most spectacular. But in 2023-24, he’s one of the primary reasons Vancouver has been an elite team.
Currently, Demko’s five shutouts are the best in the league. He’s almost doubled his number of career shutouts in one season alone, having picked up three between 2017-18 and 2022-23. Demko’s 26 wins are also closing in on a career-high, second only to the 33 he accumulated in 2021-22.
While it’s also true Demko has experienced some rough moments this season, such as in Vancouver’s overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on January 27th, don’t mistake it for inconsistency. So far, he either does just enough to ensure the Canucks win in most of his starts, or he’s putting up legendary outings so his skaters don’t need to score four or more goals to win.
That’s been Demko’s style all season, and if he keeps up this steady play, he will continue to be either a clear-cut favorite or a strong contender to win the Vezina.
Time for Quinn Hughes to solidify himself as the best blueliner in hockey
Few defensemen are more fun to watch right now than Quinn Hughes, whose 62 points in 49 contests have him on pace for over 100 points. You don’t see this occur often from defensemen, and if Hughes hasn’t already solidified himself as the best in the game, hitting triple-digits in production will.
And if you look at his last five games leading up to the All-Star Break, the blueliner has been outstanding, with 10 points, and nine assists. Like Hronek, Hughes knows where to go with the puck, regardless if he’s playing at even strength or on the man advantage. His shooting percentage is an ultra-healthy 10.2 percent, and he’s on pace to hit the 200 shots on goal mark, which opponents have yet to figure out how to stop most of the time.
But Hughes isn’t just doing all the work himself, as we see with Vancouver’s 14.5 shooting percentage when he’s on the ice at 5-on-5. While he’s not the most physical player nor one to consistently get in the way of pucks, he’s no liability when the Canucks don’t have possession, with the team boasting a 92.0 save percentage in the same situation.
Brock Boeser must keep up his high-octane game
It’s clear that the Canucks are the NHL’s most exciting team regardless if it’s the blue line, goaltending, or scoring. We mentioned in the opening that J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson will get their numbers regardless of the year or the situation, but that hasn’t been the case for everyone in the past.
Brock Boeser burst onto the scene in 2017-18 following a successful nine-game trial the year prior, and he ended the season with 55 points and a runner-up spot for the Calder Trophy. But Boeser was never more than a 56-point player after that until everything changed this season.
Miller and Pettersson may be the most consistent players in Vancouver throughout their time there, but Boeser is leading the team with 30 goals. He’s also fourth in points with 52, and just five away from setting a new career-high.
His uptick in play this season has been a major factor in why the Canucks have some new life, and he has forced opponents to treat him like more than just a steady, solid talent. If Boeser keeps it up, opposing players will continue to be spread out and forced to make decisions of whether to key on him, Miller, Hughes, Pettersson, or someone else enjoying an upsurge in production.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference as of Tuesday, February 6th)