I'm going to go ahead and quote what I said in another thread about the Sedins' numbers:
To expand on that just a bit more, the Twins were facing some pretty darn soft competition in 2009-10 and 2010-11 (for both years they were 9th and 10th in Corsi_Rel QoC among regular forwards who played here for most of the year). The 1st year was when Kesler took on the toughest matchups, and in the 2nd it was - as we all know - Manny who did that.
And opendoor has brought this up before: in terms of raw numbers the last couple of seasons have seen the highest Corsi_Rel QoC steadily go up as teams in the West are getting stronger. What Malhotra faced in 10/11 (0.615, which led the team) would have ranked 3rd amongst Canucks' forwards a year later, and 5th the year after that. This year it would only be 7th.
Of course, this is not to say the PP hasn't been a problem either because it has (in terms of conversion, at least). But 5on5 roles have changed and that's because the Canucks no longer have a 3rd line center who can either:
A) take on and saw off those hard matchups which frees up the Sedins/Kesler, or
B) actually take advantage of the relatively softer competition they'd have been facing.
Right now Richardson does neither in the spot he's played in, and I think most people will agree that he's not an ideal 3C despite what some thought at the beginning of the season. IMO that's why they're actively going after a top 9 C which I agree with. This is made even more crucial by Henrik's rib injury and the fact that Santorelli is expected to be out "a long time".
To me the story remains the same as it ever has: forward depth - particularly at center - has been and still is an issue, though it's too bad we haven't gotten to see how they'd do when everyone's healthy. It's the one constant that has showed to be the most glaring issue in the past 2 playoffs, despite what some here would have you think.