Whether it’s Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, or both taking the blame for the way this season’s gone, the Canucks just can’t stop being their own worst enemy. But the last I checked, hockey is a sport comprising 20 players on any given night, so we can point fingers at just about everyone in that locker room.
As you can imagine, it’s affected where they reside in the standings, be they points percentage or, at the end of the day, points. Or, even in the recent measurements of just how much ‘power’ a team has at the moment, which is what these power rankings are all about.
So, where do the Canucks stand, and what can they do to improve their current ranking? I would ask why they stand where they do, but most of us already know the answer, so I’ll save you a bit of time.
8 - San Jose Sharks
This isn’t a bad No. 8 since the Sharks weren’t expected to impress anyone this season. But during the back half of the campaign, they’ll want to set the stage and snag something more than their currently-projected 60 points.
7 - Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks are among the more improved teams this season and, as most of us would’ve thought, aren’t quite ready to contend for the NHL Playoffs. But on the positive note, anything less than playoff contention next season will result in disappointment, and they should be in 2025-26 what the Calgary Flames are this year.
6 - Seattle Kraken
If there’s ever been a team that’s just stagnated all season, it’s the Seattle Kraken. And sometimes, you’d rather be tanking and in last place in the division. Still, they have just enough talent to keep their fans interested during the back half of the campaign.
5 - Vancouver Canucks
If the Canucks didn’t face so much tension amongst themselves for half the season, plus a toll on injuries, who knows where they’d be right now. The solution here is to do something, even if it means making a big trade, to save what could still be a successful season. Ease this tension and the turbulent first half of the year will be a distant memory.
4 - Calgary Flames
I still don’t have much faith in the Flames, but at least they’re showing us that this 2024-25 season hasn’t been a fluke. They’re for real, but unless they play every game at home in the playoffs, they’re a ‘happy to be in the postseason’ kind of team at best. Still, it sets the stage for next year.
3 - Los Angeles Kings
The Kings were another team I didn’t see doing much of anything this season, but they, too, have changed the narrative. Are they good enough to snag one of the top two spots in the Pacific kind of good? No. But they’re your third-place team in the Pacific come mid-April unless the Canucks have something to say about it.
2 - Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas may be leading the division, but they’re not the Pacific’s hottest team in their last 10 games or even the previous five contests. Yeah, their overall numbers indicate otherwise, but that’s about all they got going for them as they steadily lose ‘power’ to our No. 1 team.
1 - Edmonton Oilers
If the Oilers keep this pace up, the rest of the Pacific will have a hard time catching them once they pass Vegas in the standings. Right now, a simple game in hand separates the two teams, but don’t expect that to last much longer unless the Oilers start partying like it’s October.