The Vancouver Canucks might be the surprise of the NHL season. Expectations were low for the club coming into the year. The Canucks missed the playoffs last season and finished with 83 points. Most predicted that the team would struggle again this year. But that hasn’t been the case at all! In fact, the Canucks are currently leading the Pacific Division. So, are the Vancouver Canucks truly contenders? Let’s take a look at their roster and some potential needs…
Top 6 Forwards
The Canucks have elite top end talent in their forward core. Two Canuck forwards currently rank in the top 10 in NHL scoring. J.T. Miller is 3rd in the league in points with 48 trailing only Nathan Mackinnon and Nikita Kucherov. Not far behind is Elias Pettersson with 43 points. The top 6 is rounded out by Brock Boeser who is 2nd in the entire NHL in goals with 24, Nils Hoglander who is having a breakout season, and a combination of Ilya Mikheyev, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Conor Garland. The Canucks will likely have to add a player to their top 6 if they want to go far in the playoffs.
Defense
The Canucks are led on defense by Quinn Hughes who is the Norris Trophy frontrunner at this point in the season. Hughes leads all defenseman in scoring and is 5th in the entire NHL with 44 points. Filip Hronek has also been great on the backend for the Canucks. Newly acquired Nikita Zadorov should help stabilize the rest of the defense that also includes Tyler Myers, Ian Cole, and Noah Juulsen. Lastly, the Canucks should get a big boost on defense when Carson Soucy returns from injury. The defense features a good mixture of toughness and skill but may need to look at adding a depth piece as the deadline approaches.
Goaltending
The Canucks are solid at the goaltender position. Thatcher Demko is the clear #1 and has posted 17 wins with only 7 losses, a GAA of 2.46, and a save percentage of .917. Not to be outdone, Casey DeSmith has appeared in 11 games with a record of 6 wins and 2 losses, a GAA of 2.44 and save percentage of .923. Both Canucks goalies rank in the top 10 league wide in both GAA and Save percentage. The team has one of the better goaltending tandems in the entire NHL.
Bottom 6 Forwards
The Canucks bottom six is good, not great. Sam Lafferty is an excellent high energy bottom six forward. Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger, and Pius Suter are all serviceable NHL forwards that help the club. There isn’t a huge need here especially if the Canucks add a piece to their top 6. Adding a top 6 forward will allow one of Mikheyev, Kuzmenko, or Garland to slide down in the lineup and increase production from the depth forwards.
The Canucks are a good team who are a piece or two away from being true contenders!
COMING UP – Authority Athletics will look at some players the Canucks should target as the trade deadline approaches.
DO YOU THINK THE CANUCKS NEED TO ADD ANYTHING TO BE CONSIDERED TRUE CONTENDERS?
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