Why the Canucks' season is falling off the rails: 3 takeaways

By / / Sports / 6 minutes of reading


Vancouver Canucks fans were restless early. You could completely understand why: The team no-showed in the first period, again, in front of the ticket-paying customers.

The Canucks surrendered the first goal of the game less than a minute in. They were gifted two power-play opportunities shortly after, both of them resulting in disaster. Vancouver’s man advantage couldn’t even get set up in formation. It seemed like any time a Canuck touched the puck, there was a King ready to close time and space immediately, and Vancouver showed zero poise. It was flubbing and whiffing on passes. It didn’t generate a shot on goal on either power play, and toward the tail end of the second one, Canucks fans began expressing their frustration with scattered boos.

When Filip Hronek took a soft point shot that Darcy Kuemper stopped shortly after, the crowd responded with a sarcastic Bronx cheer. The worst part is that moment wasn’t even rock bottom for the Canucks in that period. Los Angeles kept pouring it on, and by the time the Canucks woke up, it was too little, too late.

Here are three takeaways from the club’s 5-1 loss to the Kings on Thursday night.

Rush defence has fallen off a cliff

Before the season started, Rick Tocchet’s staff had a clear goal to improve the Canucks’ transition attack. With the speed they added up front and their upgraded pool of wingers, they felt they could be a more dangerous offensive team off the rush.

It’s painfully obvious this project hasn’t worked out. The Canucks, just like last season, rank 32nd in the NHL for rush chances according to Sportlogiq data shared by Mike Kelly. While disappointing, the lack of rush offence generation is at least understandable. They were in the same boat last year, and clearly the Canucks’ inability to move the puck with possession from the back end is the key bottleneck that prevents the forwards’ ability to attack with speed and numbers.

Vancouver could still have team success with a lacklustre transition offence if it defended as stoutly as last year. In 2023-24, the Canucks were the best team in the NHL at limiting rush chances against and the second-best team at limiting rush goals against.

You can get away with generating very little off the rush if your opponents are also limited. That, unfortunately, hasn’t been the case this season. The Canucks have tumbled all the way down to 19th in rush chances against and are 32nd in rush goals against. They give up way more, and their goaltending (second worst in rush save percentage this season, compared to third best last season) is letting them down in these situations, as well.

This trend immediately came to mind when Alex Turcotte and the Kings opened the scoring with a rush goal less than a minute in.

The increase in rush chances against could come down to a few reasons.

Firstly, the forwards’ back pressure was ferocious, disruptive and a non-negotiable last season. It gave opposing puck carriers very little time and space on entries, especially because the back pressure gave Canucks defencemen the luxury of gapping up at the blue line more aggressively. This year, the back pressure hasn’t been nearly as noticeable, which may explain why Vancouver’s defencemen have had poor gap control defensively in transition at times.

Secondly, Vancouver’s defenders are getting caught out of position more often. The forwards have been inconsistent at reloading and covering for these out-of-position defencemen, which has led to a sharp increase in odd-man rushes against.

The Canucks aren’t going anywhere until they clean up their rush defensive play. And to me, this is more about the players’ inconsistent work rate and attention to detail than it is a problem with the coaching staff.

Lackadaisical defensive breakdowns

If you want examples that the Canucks’ slipping defensive play is likely tied to a lack of urgency and poor decision-making at times, just watch the Kings’ second, third and fourth goals.

Turcotte’s second goal begins with Kevin Fiala controlling the puck high in the offensive zone. J.T. Miller lacked urgency moving his feet and got easily stepped around. Quinn Hughes jumped up high to apply pressure, which meant there was only one Canucks player down low defensively. Hughes needed to either steal the puck from Fiala or make sure a shot couldn’t get through, otherwise the team would be in trouble on the rebound. Fiala got a shot through and Turcotte was wide-open to attack the rebound.

On L.A.’s third goal, watch how many times a Canucks player is a fraction of a step behind at closing on the puck and breaking the play up.

Hughes scored late in the second period, which provided a glimmer of hope. But just moments later, Miller dumped the puck into the corner just as four-on-four play was turning into a Kings power play. The dump didn’t make it to a Canuck forward behind the net, Hronek was caught up the ice and Fiala scored the backbreaking fourth goal.

The Western playoff race, trade deadline and why the bar needs to be higher

With the Canucks below the playoff bar by a point, a lot of the conversation is going to turn toward gauging the team’s odds of making it into the postseason. And yes, there’s still a decent chance of Vancouver qualifying because the teams around it (Calgary, St. Louis and Utah) are mediocre.

The bar for this team needs to be higher than making the playoffs, though. After last season’s success, the Canucks were largely expected to be one of the top 10 teams or so with a chance to win the Stanley Cup.

The Canucks’ best contention window is with Hughes’ current contract, which pays him just under $8 million per year for two more seasons after this one. They don’t have a long runway. They can’t afford to take a step back. Making the playoffs only to get bounced early would undoubtedly be a disappointment.

Eventual trade deadline plans and decisions shouldn’t hinge on the playoff bar — they should rest on whether management realistically believes the club can turn things around and potentially go on a deep playoff run. And if the Canucks don’t turn it around quickly, there’s a case to consider selling at the deadline and reloading for next season. We’re not at that stage yet, but that conversation will be looming if things don’t get back on the rails.





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