I probably don’t need to review these numbers, but here they are anyway.
The Vancouver Canucks come home with no points from their three-game road trip after Colorado, Vegas and Anaheim outscored them by a collective score of 19-6.
The Canucks gave up two goals while shorthanded in each of the three games — 6-for-13, all told. Meanwhile, the power play continued to sputter, going 0-for-8. The Canucks have now failed to score on the power play in 10 of their 16 games this season, including eight of the last nine.
Ten days out from American Thanksgiving, the Canucks sit 13th in the Western Conference — six points out of a wild-card spot, with more games played than all but one team in the conference.
This weekend’s results were ugly, but not especially surprising. Take a team that’s already lacking confidence and offensive snap, put them on a tough 3-in-4 road trip against teams that are playing well, and pull three of their regular defensemen out of the equation — yes, at this point, Schenn’s a regular as well as Hamonic and Poolman.
After their horrific start in Denver, the Canucks did manage to buck a trend and score first in both Vegas and Anaheim. But once the tide started to roll against them, they had no way to recover. In all three games, the score was made worse because they threw in the towel. And while that’s understandable in these circumstances, that’s what I find most troubling out of this whole situation.
Have the players quit on their coach? Or on the organization? With so many offseason changes, has the stench of last season somehow carried over?
Is there anything to the rumours of possible personality conflicts in the dressing room? At this point, I'd be kind of surprised if there isn't. When things are going this badly, fuses are probably short.
Bless his heart, Nils Hoglander seems to be blissfully oblivious to whatever drama is simmering behind the scenes. Amidst the tire fire, he hit the score sheet in all three games on the road trip, scoring twice in Vegas and adding the only goal in Anaheim. At five goals, he's now tied with Bo Horvat for second on the team in that category, and is on pace for a 25-goal, 46-point season.
Are changes imminent? At this point, I'll put myself in Camp 'I'll believe it when I see it.'
After just coming to terms with Travis Green on a new two-year contract last spring — and reportedly giving him a decent raise — the organization is probably not excited about the idea of paying him not to coach.
I think the Jim Benning domino has to fall first, at this point, and we already know that the heat is on. He is reportedly in the last year of his deal, and the many moves he made last summer were all about trying to fast-track the Canucks back toward playoff contention — which is presumably necessary to preserve his job and earn him a new deal.
Before this road trip — and perhaps even in Vegas, for most of the game — the Canucks' foundation was solid enough that if the special teams had gotten on track, they could have had a bunch more points.
Now, that issue is still glaring — and the offseason shakeup to the coaching staff that saw power-play man Newell Brown depart and defensive specialist Brad Shaw come in has not yet yielded a positive outcome. It doesn't help to see the Ducks' power play clicking at 28.3% with Brown in charge, either. That's fourth-best in the league on an unexpectedly good team. And in two games against Vancouver this week, Anaheim's power play went 3-for-8.
I can understand why somebody's head had to roll on the coaching staff after last season. I'm curious who decided to make Brown the scapegoat.
Will there be a fan revolt at Rogers Arena this week, as the Canucks play a three-game homestand with a rematch against Colorado on Wednesday, then games against Winnipeg on Friday and Chicago on Sunday? I have my doubts.
First off — the defense should be markedly better. As expected, Travis Hamonic has been recalled on Monday after the Abbotsford Canucks took three of four points off the San Jose Barracuda over the weekend. He'll replace Madison Bowey on the roster, and Tucker Poolman will bump Kyle Burroughs back down the depth chart as he returns from his suspension.
I'm still a little worried about Brad Hunt, though. Playing his third and fourth games of the year on the weekend, Hunt was a minus-one against both Vegas and Anaheim — although he did pick up his first assist of the year against the Golden Knights. And it looks like he'll be the third-pairing guy on the left side for the foreseeable future — Jack Rathbone was re-assigned to Abbotsford on Sunday to make space on the roster for now-healthy Tyler Motte.
Motte was not an instant band-aid for the penalty kill, unfortunately — on the ice for both of Trevor Zegras's power-play goals on Sunday. But the killers had gotten almost all the way through Justin Bailey's double-minor before Zegras's big one-timer got the Ducks on the board in the first period. The second goal came about a minute into Kyle Burroughs' second-period tripping minor. Motte and Tyler Myers had both been out for the full kill to that point.
But the offense cannot run on Hoglander fuel alone. The usual suspects will need to start connecting to keep the fans happy through this homestand.
They were pretty patient for the first seven games, showing up in droves even as the Canucks skated to a 2-4-1 record. And while some markets are struggling to get bodies into their buildings, that hasn't been a problem in Vancouver.
According to ESPN, the Canucks' average attendance of 18,517 so far this season ranks fifth in the league in terms of the actual number, and their 97.9% capacity ties them for eighth overall with Colorado.
That's especially remarkable when looking at shaky attendance numbers in some other Canadian markets. Toronto is close to capacity, but Montreal is at 92%, Winnipeg is at 91.9%, Edmonton is running at 84.2%, Calgary is at 78.1% and Ottawa, as usual, pulls up the rear at 59.3%.
Fans in Vancouver have suffered enough that they deserve to see a winner. But for now, the numbers suggest that the pent-up appetite for live hockey will keep bums in seats — and dollars flowing in — for awhile, regardless of the results on the ice.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»