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Pacific Division Preview: Vancouver Canucks |
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We get to the final Pacific Division preview opponent for the Los Angeles Kings, and why not save the Vancouver Canucks for last? (It was actually alphabetical order but whatever.)
Not to give away too much of the analysis section, I'm definitely going to go against the popular thought here and say that the Vancouver Canucks are going to really struggle, and potentially miss the playoffs in what is a new division for the 2010-11 finalists. Let's go through some numbers from last season first and then get down and dirty.
2012-13 Record
26-15-7 (3rd in the Western Conference, 8th in the NHL)
15-6-3 Home, 11-9-4 Away
Eliminated in four games by the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2012-13 playoffs.
Top-5 scorers in 2012-13
Henrik Sedin - 48gp - 11g 34a 45p plus-19
Daniel Sedin - 47gp - 12g 28a 40p plus-12
Jannik Hansen - 47gp - 10g 17a 27p plus-12
Alex Burrows - 47gp - 13g 11a 24p plus-15
Dan Hamhuis - 47gp - 4g 20a 24p plus-9
Goaltender stats
Corey Schneider - 30gp (17-9-4) - .927 Save%, 2.11 GAA, 5 shutouts
Roberto Luongo - 20gp (9-6-3) - .907 Save%. 2.56 GAA, 2 shutout
Team Stats
Goals for per game - 2.54 (19th)
Goals against per game - 2.40 (10th)
Powerplay - 15.8% (22nd)
Penalty Kill - 84.0% (8th)
Hits - 1020 (23rd)
Faceoff % - 47.6% (25th)
Additions/Subtractions
OUT
Keith Ballard (Compliance Buyout)
Guillaume Desbiens (COL)
Maxim Lapierre (STL)
Andrew Ebbett (PIT)
Andrew Gordon (WIN)
Derek Roy (STL)
Mason Raymond (TOR)
Cory Schneider (NJ)
Derek Joslin (AIK IF)
Manny Malhotra (FA)
Andrew Alberts (FA)
Cam Barker (FA)
Jim Vandermeer (Kloten Flyers - NLA (Swiss))
IN
Yanick Weber (MON)
Brad Richardson (LAK)
Mike Santorelli (WIN)
Alex Biega (BUF)
Benn Ferriero (MIN)
Brandon DeFazio (NYI)
Zach Hamill (FLA)
Zac Dalpe (CAR)
Jeremy Walsh (CAR)
Ryan Stanton (CHI)
2012-13 vs. Kings
Record: 2-0-1
Goals for/against - 8/5
Leading scorers: Mason Raymond (2g, 1a, 3p), Dan Hamhuis (1g, 2a, 3p), Alex Burrows (1g, 2a, 3p), Jannik Hansen (1g, 2a, 3p), Chris Higgins (1g, 1a, 2p)
Goaltenders - Corey Schneider - 2gp (2-0-0), .960 Save-percentage, 1.00 GAA, Roberto Luongo (0-0-1), .939 Save-percentage, 1.85 GAA
2012-13 King stats vs. Canucks
Anze Kopitar - 0g, 2a, 2p
Slava Voynov - 1g, 0a, 1p
Justin Williams - 1g, 0a, 1p
Jeff Carter - 1g, 0a, 1p
Jordan Nolan - 1g, 0a, 1p
Goaltending
Jonathan Quick - 3gp (1-2-0), .881SV%, 2.31 GAA
Results
LAK SO W @ LA 3-2 (SO)
LAK L @ VAN 2-5
LAK L @ LA 0-1
Analysis
I am probably going to regret this, but I think Vancouver will see the window shut this season. Looking at their roster up and down, I can't help but feel it is lackluster in more than one way.
First though, the division. Last year, and for the last couple of years the Canucks have been in a tremendously weak division. Since 2007-2008, the last time the Canucks missed the playoffs or failed to win a division title, only eight teams have qualified for the playoffs. That is a low matched only by the Southeast division which was notoriously pegged as weak. Of those eight teams to make the playoffs two of them came in as bottom seeds (the 2012-13 Minnesota Wild, 2009-10 Colorado Avalanche). So suffice to say, the Vancouver Canucks have benefited greatly from playing against very bad teams for the last five seasons. This year it all changes very drastically for them. They will be paired up with the stalwart Pacific division, who on the flip side have seen a staggering 15 playoff representatives, including two cup winners. The competition has gone through the roof.
Now we get to their roster. The Canucks struggled to score last season finishing 19th in the NHL. That to me isn't the scary part though. After Burrows, Hansen and both Sedins the drop off in scoring was significant. From the 40ish points of the Sedins, the next closest players had in the mid 20's, and after that it's single digits and low teens. Losing Mason Raymond, Max Lapierre, and Derek Roy doesn't help either on a team that has struggled to find scoring on their bottom lines. With the current state of their depth chart the bottom lines figure to look as follows:
Dalpe - Santorelli - Higgins/Hansen
Sestito - Richardson - Weise
Does anyone see that bottom six matching up well with the likes of San Jose, Anaheim, Edmonton, the Kings? Not likely. The top 6 also has problems in my opinion. The Sedins, who are both world class talents, are 33 years old and cannot carry this team like they have forever. David Booth is a shell of his former self and a healthy Ryan Kesler will make a huge difference but we've been saying that for the better part of a year and a half now. Zack Kassian isn't exactly panning out as they had hoped it seems and it's questionable wether or not he can actually put up the points neccessary to constitute top line minutes with the Sedins. Jannik Hansen is a bright spot and is coming of a career year but other than he, Burrows and the Sedins, it's going to be real slim pickings for goal scoring.
How about defensively? It's definitely a better situation. Edler, Hamhuis and Bieksa make up a decent core and Tanev is a good young player. Weber and Garrison are bug question marks to me, and if this blueline suffers any injuries there is going to be some trouble. In net I think Luongo is still a great goalie who gets far too much flack for what he has done. Schnedier was the golden child of a lot of people and hopefully Luongo and the Canucks can move on from those days and embrace Luongo as the No. 1 yet again.
Then you get the wild card. John Tortorella. Will he be a good coach for Vancouver? Will his attitude go over well with the media? Luongo? The young players like Zack Kassian, Jordan Schroeder and Chris Tanev? Torts was notoriously hard on young players for the Rangers like Chris Kreider and Michael Del Zotto, how will the young Canucks respond? It's really a tough question to answer but my immediate reaction is that combining the media of Vancouver and the coaching style of Torts is like a ticking timebomb.
Overall the Canucks have lost a lot of grit and sandpaper on the bottom lines, they haven't improved their scoring depth enough, and they are moving out of one of the weakest divisions to join ranks with one of the toughest. All these things lead me to believe that Vancouver has potential to miss the playoffs for the first time in five years. The one huge caveat to them missing though is that one of either Edmonton or Phoenix has to take it from them. If Vancouver can squeeze in for another year it's going to be in one of the finals spots and on the backs of their defense and goaltending. And hey, King fans can tell you that that isn't the worst way to make it to the playoffs after all...
Maybe I'm being overly critical of the Vancouver lineup though. After all they have two world class fowards on their top line, a very good goaltender, and a solid defensive core. Either way I think it's going to be a turning point year for the Canucks. Do they go out with a bang or do they fail to make the playoffs and blow it up? Regardless of the outcome I'm going into this year with way more questions regarding the Canucks roster than answers. That's never a good sign.
Alright Canucks fans..*Puts on comment section helmet* let me have it.
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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