Saturday April 7 - Edmonton Oilers 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2 (SO)
The Vancouver Canucks finished out their season with points in their last seven games after Daniel and Henrik Sedin called it a career following a shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday at Rogers Place.
Here are your highlights:
Jussi Jokinen and Tyler Motte scored for the Canucks. The twins were held pointless: Daniel had eight shot attempts in 18:54 of ice time and did score in the shootout, while Henrik had four shot attempts, went 2-for-14 in the faceoff circle and missed on his shootout attempt—ending his NHL career without ever having scored a shootout goal.
Years ago, Jokinen had a rep for being a shootout superstar when he played for Dallas. He got his first chance to shoot for the Canucks on Saturday—and delivered.
All told, he went 4-6-10 in his 14 games with the Canucks—making the most of just 12:49 of ice time per game. That's a pace of 23 goals and 58 points over a full season—which would have been enough to make him Vancouver's leading scorer this year if he'd managed that kind of productivity for 82 games.
I think the Canucks should take a long look at bringing Jokinen back on a short-term contract next season.
The shootout provided an opportunity for one more set of heartwarming images as the Sedin kids joined their dads on the bench.
Those shots drove home what this decision is all about for Daniel and Henrik.
For most of us, when we reach the big crossroads in our lives we often wrestle with deciding which road to take. We weigh the pros and cons and seek input from others, trying to find clarity. That clarity seemed to come easily for Daniel and Henrik; maybe it's easier when you're taking the leap with someone else who's in exactly the same position and is travelling down the same path?
After the game, they confirmed that they do plan to stay in Vancouver. I totally expect we'll see them around the team next year; it'll be interesting to see if they start on a path to eventual roles in management.
With the single point last night, the Canucks jumped back over the Red Wings, who also finished out their season with an overtime loss. Vancouver ends the 2017-18 season with 73 points—four better than last year. That's good for 26th place this season and a 7.5 percent chance of winning the draft lottery.
For the full breakdown of all the possible permutations,
click here to go to the Tankathon site. Vancouver will have a 23.3 percent chance of having a ping-pong ball pulled to finish in the top three. Their most likely outcome is picking seventh (38.9 percent) and they could land as low as ninth.
We have three weeks to wait. The draft lottery will be conducted on April 28.
One metric where the Canucks continue to be among the lead leaders? Injuries.
If I was working in the Canucks' office, I'd be putting a ton of resources into trying to figure out why this keeps happening, year after year, and what can be done to reverse the trend. Sure, some injuries are just bad luck, but a consistent pattern like this suggests that there should be room for improvement.
Considering how durable the twins have been over the course of their careers, it's even possible that the injury situation could get worse going forward, once they're out of the mix.
Henrik and Michael Del Zotto were the only two Canucks to play all 82 games this year. Daniel played 81, then four players finished in the 70s—Jake Virtanen (75), Sam Gagner (74), Derrick Pouliot (71) and Alex Edler (70).
Daniel and Brock Boeser end the year as co-leaders in the scoring race, each with 55 points. Brock's 29 goals give him the edge in scoring over Daniel's 23.
Alex Edler was the top-scoring defenseman with 6-28-34, his most productive year since 2011-12. In total, the defense scored just 21 goals this year—one less than their total of 22 from last season.
All told, the Canucks improved by one win and four points this year compared to last season. The defense many not have been more productive but the forwards sure were—total offense was 218 goals this year compared to just 178 last season. Goals against also went up, from 241 to 259. The Canucks followed the league-wide trend on both sides, with scoring being up all around the league.
The power play was much better this year, jumping from 14.1 percent to 21.4 percent. It'll be fascinating to see how that looks next season without the Sedins running the show.
Penalty killing also improved slightly, from 76.2 percent to 78.3 percent.
Shots per game dropped a bit, from 30.7 to 30.0. Shots against went up a bit, from 31.8 to 32.2. And the team's faceoff rate also dropped a bit, from 51.1 percent last season to 49.5 percent this year.
As well as the Sedins, one of their old linemates—and a fellow 1999 draftee—also announced last night that he's hanging 'em up. Radim Vrbata got into his first game in nearly a month as the Florida Panthers beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3. The Panthers have one last game today against Boston to close out the season.
Vrbata's retirement leaves Henrik Zetterberg as the only member of that 1999 draft class still soldiering on.
To close today, let's turn the page from the past to the future:
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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