News Article: Five reasons why Canucks will make the Playoffs

[Drop the Sopel]

The top 5 for me-

1. The big 3 up front. You've got a rookie on pace for a 45-45 season, Boeser better than a 35-35 pace and a really strong 2nd line centre in Horvat on pace for 65 points.

2. The Edler/Tanev duo when healthy are a great shutdown pairing. This team continues to be tough to beat when the top of their defense is healthy.

3. Markstrom is giving the Canucks consistent goaltending. You can't win without it.

4. The emergence of Stecher and Hutton has been huge. Hutton is playing big minutes and the best hockey of his career. Stecher has taken a major step forward and on a team with a thin right side, that's been a major difference maker. If they can maintain their current level of play, all of a sudden the future on the backend doesn't look so bleak.

5. The forward depth is underrated, especially down the middle of the ice and into the bottom 6. Pettersson is an excellent 1st line centre, Horvat is an excellent 2nd line centre, Sutter a good 3rd line centre and Beagle a good 4th line centre. Lots of size and defensive acumen at centre. The bottom 6 also has an identity. The 3rd line can skate, is productive, and can shut down other top lines. The 4th line can match up against the other teams best as well and provide some offense. Sutter getting back to form from injury would be big.

There has really only been 2 things holding this team back this season. They were decimated with injury which really set them back, and the defensive depth 5-8 is poor. The hope now is Hughes can step in for Pouliot and Gudbranson gets dealt and replaced with somebody that can move the puck and stop getting ventilated for goals against.

Unfortunately, nothing can be done about the injuries. History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme. Hard not to get that sinking feeling that we will once again be punished coming down the stretch.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

The top 5 for me-

1. The big 3 up front. You've got a rookie on pace for a 45-45 season, Boeser better than a 35-35 pace and a really strong 2nd line centre in Horvat on pace for 65 points.

2. The Edler/Tanev duo when healthy are a great shutdown pairing. This team continues to be tough to beat when the top of their defense is healthy.

3. Markstrom is giving the Canucks consistent goaltending. You can't win without it.

4. The emergence of Stecher and Hutton has been huge. Hutton is playing big minutes and the best hockey of his career. Stecher has taken a major step forward and on a team with a thin right side, that's been a major difference maker. If they can maintain their current level of play, all of a sudden the future on the backend doesn't look so bleak.

5. The forward depth is underrated, especially down the middle of the ice and into the bottom 6. Pettersson is an excellent 1st line centre, Horvat is an excellent 2nd line centre, Sutter a good 3rd line centre and Beagle a good 4th line centre. Lots of size and defensive acumen at centre. The bottom 6 also has an identity. The 3rd line can skate, is productive, and can shut down other top lines. The 4th line can match up against the other teams best as well and provide some offense. Sutter getting back to form from injury would be big.

There has really only been 2 things holding this team back this season. They were decimated with injury which really set them back, and the defensive depth 5-8 is poor. The hope now is Hughes can step in for Pouliot and Gudbranson gets dealt and replaced with somebody that can move the puck and stop getting ventilated for goals against.

Unfortunately, nothing can be done about the injuries. History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme. Hard not to get that sinking feeling that we will once again be punished coming down the stretch.

Very accurate post.....Injuries yet again ,rearing their ugly head...If anything happens to Tanev,the situation gets dire.

 

[StreetHawk]

Very accurate post.....Injuries yet again ,rearing their ugly head...If anything happens to Tanev,the situation gets dire.

Blues have been picking it up. 1 point back now with 3 games in hand. Avs have 2 games in hand as well and are 2 back.

This is such a slow crawl to the finish. Canucks losing 3/4 games that the Flyers have tied them in points and the Blues are a point back. 2 of the bottom 5 teams for the majority of the season have caught up. Man.....

 

[VanJack]

Let's face it, if this was normal year in the Western Conference, the Canucks would be dead and buried, and dusting off the golf clubs months ago. But the nether regions of the Conference are populated by some truly awful hockey teams this year.

And really, the only reason they're hanging in there is the play of Markstrom. He might be the best goalie in the league over the last two months, as the Canuck blueline just continues to bleed high-end scoring chances. It can't last, can it?

 

[ChilliBilly]

Posted elsewhere, but who wants to make the playoffs with Edler injured. We played decently the last 2, but just as happy to see us lose. hope we go on a slide, get another top 10 (or better) pick and contend seriously in a year or two.

What I really want is another decent winger, Tryamkin to come back, and Juolevi and Hughes to make an impact ... we are no where with this defense. And Woo is looking good.

Really, if just a couple (or 3 or 4) of Madden, Dahlen, Lockwood, Gaudette, Lind, Gaunce and whoever step up, we could have a contender.

goal ... Dipietro, Demko and Markstrom. Solid.

D ... Woo, Tryamkin, Hughes, Juolevi, Utanen, Brisebois, Sautner, etc added to Edler and Tanev ...

Forwards - Boeser, Horvat and EP40 are a great nucleus ... add in the above to Virtanen, Sutter, Beagle and Roussel ...

we could be a contender.

(and i did not like our FA signings this year, but .... )

 

[Drop the Sopel]

Let's face it, if this was normal year in the Western Conference, the Canucks would be dead and buried, and dusting off the golf clubs months ago.

And really, the only reason they're hanging in there is the play of Markstrom. He might be the best goalie in the league over the last two months, as the Canuck blueline just continues to bleed high-end scoring chances. It can't last, can it?

Or if they had better luck with injuries they would likely be sitting comfortably in the playoffs. With Edler in the lineup they have been close to a 100 point team over half a season's worth of games. Getting riddled with injuries once again has set them back in a major way.

Markstrom has had a good year, but he barely cracks the top 20 in SV% of goalies that have played more than 25 games this season. Hopefully he can climb the ranks down the stretch.

 

[RandV]

6) The Western Conference bubble is historically bad.

I don't think there's anything historic about this, if I recall correctly wasn't there pretty much the same situation a couple seasons ago at this point? Then a few teams separated themselves from the pack and things looked a bit more normal at the end of the season.

And that is basically what we're looking at here. Right now the Canucks sit in the last playoff spot with only a 6 point gap over the last placed Western team, mean there's 7 teams within 1-6 points that have 0-3 games in hand. And Minnesota is above us with only a 3 point cushion and 1 game in hand.

You're not likely to see 9 teams go 30 games playing roughly 0.500 hockey. What should happen is the two wild card slots should go to the two teams who get the hottest and finish the last 30 games at more of a 0.600 pace. And this really hurts Vancouver because we've basically been firing on all cylinders already just to be where we are. Much more likely the team takes some injuries and stumbles at the finish line playing sub 0.500 hockey heading back to the basement.