Did the Canucks Improve This Season Compared '17-'18?

[VanJack]

If you're just basing it on wins and losses, hard to judge. The bottom feeders in the Western Conference were truly awful this year...and the Canucks have collected a lot of points in extra time thanks to Markstrom.

I suppose relative to expectations, the Canucks have improved though. Most predicting this team would sink like a rock once the Sedins packed it in. But Pettersson, Boeser, Horvat and Hughes are building blocks. And the net is set with Markstrom and Demko.

The weight of world is resting on the shoulders of the young guys. If they falter next year, it could get ugly again. But overall, you'd still have to say the Canucks are in a better place now than they were a year ago.

 

[Fire Benning]

Their record in regulation games and their even strength goal difference have narrowly improved this year compared to last, their overall point total has been inflated by playing and winning a bunch of meaningless shootouts.

 

[Fire Benning]

Is the goal to be a marginal playoff team for the long run? Someone in the last 2 wildcard positions or a Stanley cup contender?

This is definitely important to differentiate here when talking about progression. The Canucks, like pretty much every other team could be a team that squeaks into the playoffs in a given year with a lot that goes the right way for them. It's a lot easier to be a playoff team than it is to become a championship team. If becoming a playoff team is deemed as progress by some, then the bar is too low.

 

[DFAC]

They've definitely been more fun to watch, last year's games were unbearable to sit through.

 

[Melvin]

I'm guessing someone is putting a ton of stock into half percent improvements or something. Because the stats clearly suggest no improvement or very minimal improvement at best. Take the average ranking in thos e9 categories and it's 26th vs 25th...oooooo improvement! They moved from one pile of **** to a very very very very slightly smaller pile of ****! And that slight decrease in the pile size was mainly due to Markstrom.

Literally any perceived improvement is canceled out by a basic understanding of margin of error.

Like these are not precise metrics.

 

[CanuckleBerry]

I enjoyed watching the Vancouver Canucks play hockey this season. I did not last season. So yes, that is improvement.

 

[VanJack]

I enjoyed watching the Vancouver Canucks play hockey this season. I did not last season. So yes, that is improvement.

And when you get right down to it, that's really all that matters.

The stats guys and analytics crowd will drill down on all the underlying data, to prove or disprove whether the Canucks were actually better or worse, and which way they're trending.

But the bottom line is that professional hockey is really an 'entertainment business'. And even the most hardened cynic would have to concede that the Canucks were a lot more fun to watch this season. And that's saying something, since they were shut out 10 times--more than any other team in the entire NHL.

But 'entertainment' and 'hope' are all they have to sell at the moment.

 

[lousy]

I enjoyed watching the Vancouver Canucks play hockey this season. I did not last season. So yes, that is improvement.

Also, I am okay with the modest gains of the first year without the sedins. The team was passed onto the younger core and things still managed to improve (slightly). That is something to be happy about.

 

[mossey3535]

From the stats, the margin of error is too large to call it a definite improvement. I would be inclined to say that the team was the same.

On the other hand, the young guys were able to effectively replace the Sedins. That's a big accomplishment.

There was a lot of partial individual improvement IMO. Jakey played with his head up in the o-zone but still made many of the same mistakes. Hutton returned to the form of two seasons ago. I didn't think Stetcher was as good as most people here but it was leaps and bounds over last year.

Boeser IMO got worse, and not totally due to injury. But he somehow still produced at the same level, which shows how otherwordly he is as a scorer. EP faded at the last but was mostly transcendental.

No returning veterans on this team got better. Edler and Tanev stayed the same.

Green made a ton of boneheaded mistakes but IMO still had the forecheck working well and getting decent efforts out of the team. But defensively the team was a disaster, even after Schenn steadied Guddy's spot.

So I guess it's not surprising that we just treaded water but somehow it looked better because the western conference was terrible this year compared to last.

 

[Orr4Norris]

This is definitely important to differentiate here when talking about progression. The Canucks, like pretty much every other team could be a team that squeaks into the playoffs in a given year with a lot that goes the right way for them. It's a lot easier to be a playoff team than it is to become a championship team. If becoming a playoff team is deemed as progress by some, then the bar is too low.

Absolutely. But you also have to take the first step before the next step. Making the playoffs with the young core leading the way is that next step. It takes a long time to become a truly elite team.

 

[NoShowWilly]

my viewing experience improved. they put up more points then last year. not going to argue about other teams being worse, etc.

 

[MS]

They were equally bad as last year but picked up a pile of shootout/OT points to make their record look better than it actually was.

Pettersson made the team more fun to watch, as did the departure of Gudbranson for the last 20 games.

 

[jigsaw99]

Our goaltending improved. Markstrom is the reason we are not worse.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

They got younger by a substantial amount and the kids got much needed experience. In my eyes they got better just due to that fact alone.

 

[Melvin]

I enjoyed watching the Vancouver Canucks play hockey this season. I did not last season. So yes, that is improvement.

I love how someone says this every season.

 

[Bougieman]

Not better or worse. About the same. The big difference is that our best players are not breathing fumes in the last days of their careers, but just starting out. That's never a bad thing, and it bodes well for the future. Now if we could just surround the top 5 core players with a decent supporting staff next season, and we could be looking at a playoff team here, boys

 

[Tables of Stats]

First of all thanks for the likes and kind words. It was a good couple hours of work to make that post but I really wanted to put the data in a post rather than just link to the Wikipedia articles.

Now for my thoughts on the team.

I think we improved.

At forward, we replaced the Sedin's production while not bringing in any top six players via free agency, this hurt us both in 5-on-5 and PP scoring. Our bottom six improved with the addition of Rousel and arguably Beagle and it showed up on the PK. We cycled six fewer players through as well which meant we weren't seeing the likes of Chaput, Megna, Boucher, Jokinen, Burmistrov, and Dowd play this season. We improved the bottom end because, and it pains me to say this, Sutter and Spooner are better players than anybody on that list from last season.

We're positioned to add a top-six forward on either wing this offseason and even a middling player like Eberle could help our offense significantly. We might also be able to get rid of some complete garbage this offseason so we can stop seeing Granlund and Goldobin get top-six minutes next to Horvat and Pettersson. We're not going to be a contender next season, but if the PK doesn't plummet and we can get our PP from the low 20's to the mid teens that'll put points on the board.

On Defense, I think a lot was addition by subtraction but Stetcher and Hutton both took steps forward and we added Hughes which has to be seen as a plus. I think this offseason we could see major changes on the backend and one (or more) of Edler, Tanev, and Hutton could be playing for new teams next season. Our depth is also better as won't be seeing Poo or RealGud next season and it would be hard to get worse than those players were for us. We also got to see that Sautner and Brisebois are functional depth players who could very well make the team in that role out of camp next season.

We're positioned to add a top-4 defenseman this offseason but unlike with the top-6 forward, I think we need to be careful here. There aren't going to be as many Eberle type options who'll take a 2-year show me type deal and I think that's what we should be looking at. We shouldn't be giving anybody who isn't a core piece more than a 3-year (ideally 2-year) deals this offseason but that might make adding that top-4 defender a challenge.

Goaltending was a huge win for us. Markstrom stepped up in a big way and while he could fall apart next season that seems unlikely because his mechanics look better this season and it's not just lucky saves and mental toughness seeing him player better for us. Demko in and Nilsson out is also a win as Demko appears to be a better backup than Nilsson in the short sample size we've seen thus far.

We're positioned to resign Markstrom to an extension this offseason but the questions are how much and how long? I favor signing him for the same term as we sign Demko to. So if Demko gets 3 years, Markstrom gets a three-year extension. Why? Well because that gigves us insurance without hurt our cap situation too badly.

Demko is unlikely to get a massive deal this offseason so even if Markstrom gets a 3 x $5 million AAV deal if we have Demko on a contract that's 3 x $2 million AAV we only have to deal with one year where our goalies will cost more than $7 million against the cap. That seems reasonable to me.

TLDR; The youth stepped up. Markstrom stepped up. We cut some dead weight. We could add quality this offseason.

 

[valkynax]

We improved? Sure did. We improved just enough to miss both playoff AND high quality draft pick.

Again, Pyrrhic victory at best.

The moment ANYTHING goes wrong, this team folds faster than Superman on laundry day.

 

[me2]

I thought I'd do some back calculations and see when the Canucks were retrospectively eliminated (which I define as the point at which they must win every remaining game).

Avs are currently on 90 points with a game in hand, to reach 91 the Canucks would have had to win every single game after March 9th.
If the Avs the win that goes back to after March 8th.

 

[zcaptain]

Yep. And none of those performances were from players that Benning brought in for their performances. Except maybe Roussel but even that was a 3-4 week run more than anything.

The team did not improve. Again. And if you said Horvat was going to get 60+ points, Pettersson was going to get ~70, Boeser was going to be at the same pace, Stecher was going to play like a true #4, and Markstrom was going to be a top 5 WAR type goaltender (not sure what he is now but that is what he was not so long ago) you SHOULD demand improvement from the overall team. It didn't happen.

Can't for the life of me understand how the front office has any fans at this point.

Huge up grade......they did this exclusively with young kids, as the Sedins were gone and all the old guys were injured all year...…..the up grade comes in that the last group was trending downward, this group is trending upward, as most should improve year over year

Hughes coming in late and showing well (albeit a small sample size) also bodes well for the future...……..

So maybe not stat wise, but their talent was upgraded substantially

At least that is how I see it.

 

[Tables of Stats]

The season's stats in my first post are edited and should be correct and complete. There were a few games played counts for players that were off, probably due to copy-paste errors but those have been corrected.

 

[Svencouver]

As others have said, I personally enjoyed it a lot more. The Canucks have quite a bit to be proud of this season IMO:

1)Replaced the production of your two greatest players in franchise history with a rookie and steps taken by other young stars.

2) Seem to have taken steps on the blue line at the end of the season. Stecher and Hutton look noticeably stronger, Edler had a great year, Gud and Poo are gone, Schenn has been great for what he is, and Hughes had a great teaser for a few games.

3) Fought through brutal injuries and battled back from rough streaks and always had a stake in games. I mean, we lost all of Petey, Boeser, Baertschi, Edler, and Tanev for significant stretches of the season, and thats only like half of the total injuries. The Canucks this year definitely seem bought in to some sort of aspirational culture (I think Bo has a lot to do with this) and won so many more games that they would have crumbled in years past. When the Canucks were healthy and in form they looked pretty legit for a team that was supposed to be last this year. I feel as if that 10 game loss streak where we went something like 1-13 overall in the first half of the season is just as indicative of our team as Buffalo's ten win streak. I mean, just look at Calgary, didnt the exact same thing happen to them and landed them in a similar spot to where we are now?

So yeah, relative to expectations and on somewhat of a subjective level I think they've improved a lot. I'm reasonably confident in this core but I'm not sure if this management team can keep us healthy and take the next step towards contending a la Calgary. Teams like Winnipeg, San Jose, Tampa, and Vegas we're expertly crafted with savvy signings and shrewd trades. I just don't see Benning making the moves necessary for us to be a truly deep and threatening team in terms of vying for a cup.

 

[Svencouver]

We improved? Sure did. We improved just enough to miss both playoff AND high quality draft pick.

Again, Pyrrhic victory at best.

The moment ANYTHING goes wrong, this team folds faster than Superman on laundry day.

This is such a fruitless mindset to have. You're literally going to be disappointed unless -

1) The Canucks are literally last (or at least bottom 3) in the league

or

2) They're in the playoffs. Hell, I bet if they scraped in people would still complain and whine that they're a first round exit. It's either Lottery or Contender for you.

I hate to break it to you, but just about all contenders on the upswing go through being mediocre. It's just the growing pains of a new core. Calgary dealt with it, Winnipeg dealt with it, Tampa dealt with it. I get the frustration but you can't fault the team for trying to win.

 

[valkynax]

This is such a fruitless mindset to have. You're literally going to be disappointed unless -

1) The Canucks are literally last (or at least bottom 3) in the league

or

2) They're in the playoffs. Hell, I bet if they scraped in people would still complain and whine that they're a first round exit. It's either Lottery or Contender for you.

I hate to break it to you, but just about all contenders on the upswing go through being mediocre. It's just the growing pains of a new core. Calgary dealt with it, Winnipeg dealt with it, Tampa dealt with it. I get the frustration but you can't fault the team for trying to win.

Said this a million times: this team will only be a playoff round 1 maybe round 2 bubble if virtually nothing goes wrong. This season along with the previous few demonstrated that pretty well. Because our idiotic GM failed on so many levels to improve the team to the best of the team's potentials.

The teams you mentioned? You wanna compare the Canucks to them? Take a look at their trades, their signings, and their drafts, and tell me that again.

 

[TruGr1t]

Our goaltending improved. Markstrom is the reason we are not worse.

Bingo.

Pettersson parachuting in to help replace the Sedins was obviously huge, but without Markstrom we'd have been a ~70 point team again.