Wednesday December 8 - Boston Bruins at Vancouver Canucks - 6 p.m. PT
Day 1 of the Canucks' new era went about as well as could have been hoped on Monday.
Stan Smyl and Francesco Aquilini delivered a heartfelt press conference. Next, Bruce Boudreau brought some chuckles along with more hockey detail than I was expecting in his official introduction. Then the team capped off the day with a 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings — just the second game of the year where they've given up less than two goals, and their fifth multi-goal win of the year.
Even the special teams were clicking — 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, which generated great buzz thanks to some fresh personnel deployment. True to his reputation for riding his top stars, Boudreau got Elias Pettersson and Vasily Podkolzin into the penalty-killing mix, and Petey delivered arguably his most electric moment of the year to date when he immediately drew a penalty-shot opportunity after being hooked from behind by Phillip Danault on a shorthanded breakaway try.
I was never one to rag on Travis Green's coaching decisions. And Petey's typically not great on draws, which is a huge part of penalty killing for a centre. But maybe he can be effective if he subs on as a secondary killer?
It sounds like Boudreau and his P.K. assistant coach, Scott Walker, will have more fresh deployments to unveil, with players like Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes also expected to get into the mix.
Boeser did end his 13-game goal drought, opening the scoring on Monday on a second-period power play. And even Juho Lammikko got a Boudreau bump, scoring his first goal as a Canuck in his return to the lineup after five healthy scratches.
By the end of his tenure, Green was mixing up lines and his power-play units with regularity. But despite the clear evidence that the penalty-killing strategy was failing, it is a bit odd that it never got a major overhaul.
Monday night was certainly fun. And the Canucks got a much nicer bump from their changes that the poor Philadelphia Flyers, who elevated assistant coach Mike Yeo after dismissing Alain Vigneault and his assistant Michel Therrien, but had the misfortune of facing the Colorado Avalanche for the first game under their new bench boss. I'm sure the Canucks can relate, after their recent blowout loss to the Avs. Philly finally scored some goals, but also gave up seven for the second straight game. Their current winless streak has now stretched to nine games (0-7-2).
As for the Canucks, their schedule situation was much more favourable, with the Kings on a back-to-back and not known for their offense, even at the best of times. Thatcher Demko's second career shutout marked the third time this year that L.A. has been held scoreless, and was the third win in four games for Vancouver.
But they're still an ugly 9-15-2, for 20 points in 26 games — last in the Pacific Division, tied for second-last in the Western Conference, and eight points out of a wild-card spot — with seven teams to leapfrog in order to get there.
During his media availability on Monday, Boudreau emphasized the classic hockey cliché — focusing on one game at a time rather than worrying about whether the playoffs are in reach.
And the Canucks do benefit somewhat from their bunched-up conference. The Flyers are also at 20 points, although they've played just 23 games. In the Eastern Conference, that puts them ahead of Buffalo, the Islanders, Ottawa and Montreal. But there's also a clearer delineation between the good and bad teams in the East. Philly would only have to climb over four teams to get to a wild-card spot, but will need to make up nine points to do so.
I think we'll see lots more movement in the standings in both conferences before season's end. Last time teams actually had that full 82 games of runway, of course, was 2018-19 — the year the St. Louis Blues went from last place in the league in December all the way to a Stanley Cup championship.
I'm sure Boudreau and company are grateful for two more days of preparation time. But there's also a tougher task ahead on Wednesday night, when the Boston Bruins come to town.
Boston's also currently sitting outside a playoff spot — but has played just 21 games so far, tied with the Islanders for fewest in the league. They're coming into Vancouver off three days' rest, starting their 3-in-4 Western Canada trip that will take them to Edmonton on Thursday and Calgary on Saturday.
And wouldn't you know it? Boston has played exactly three games since beating the Canucks at TD Garden on Nov. 28. So Brad Marchand has finished serving his suspension for slew-footing Oliver Ekman-Larsson and will be back in the lineup to serve up his usual brand of mayhem.
Charlie McAvoy was sidelined due to illness for Boston's last game, a 3-2 overtime loss against Tampa Bay on Saturday. But he was a full participant in practice on Tuesday, so I expect he'll be in the lineup against Vancouver.
Note the early 6 p.m. PT start time for Wednesday's game. Looks like the Canucks are skipping the morning skate — media availability is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., a couple of hours before warmup.
And to wrap up today — Forbes has just dropped its annual list of NHL team valuations.
Pretty fascinating to see that, after valuations dipped by a relatively moderate 2% last year, when the 2020-21 season structure had not even been set yet, franchise values have rebounded dramatically in the last 12 months.
The Canucks rank 14th in the league, with an estimated franchise value of $825 million. That's up 14% from last year — a nice rate of return for a normal investment, but well behind many other franchises. And Vancouver shows relatively modest growth of just 18% over the last five years.
If you click through to the
Canucks' team page, that graph showing operating income of minus $35 million last season really drives home what the owners were up against during the worst part of the pandemic, in terms of cash flow. That expansion fee from Seattle would have helped. And the NHL set up a loan system that, if I remember correctly, allowed teams to borrow up to $30 million to cover expenses last season if needed.
Nevertheless, that's a big hit for any business to absorb, even as the on-paper value of the asset continues to grow. It's like seeing the value of your house go up, but still needing to find $5 or $10K for immediate repairs when an emergency strikes, right?
The NHL Board of Governors is set to meet at the end of this week, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's when the $900-million-ish sale of the Pittsburgh Penguins to Fenway Sports Group becomes official. Now that the value of their investments has rebounded, will more owners cash out if buyers are lurking around?
For his part, Francesco Aquilini reiterated on Monday that he and his family remain committed to the Canucks. So after a week of major changes, don't expect those moves to extend to the owners' suite anytime soon.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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