Having Pearson on the team doesn't hurt. JTM seem's to get on well with him, both of them have the swag this team has been lacking. His wife is a smoke show
- VanHockeyGuy

If they can get TT on a three year deal that’d be awesome, he needs to work on his leg strength though.

If they can get TT on a three year deal that’d be awesome, he needs to work on his leg strength though.
- Pacificgem

I watched it last night too. I like Tarantino's work, but that movie was too long and I didnt really enjoy it at all. It was two completley different movies (3 if you count the western film being shot) in one that never do anything until the end. And even when they come together it was weak, imo. His movies usually are based on incredible dialogue and then some insane action sequance, reapeat over and over, which works. But to me, this just dragged. Best things of the movie were the music (as always), the cars, and the random products that us that lived in the 70s remember. Plus Margo Robbie😍
- carsonagenic

Did think it was too long also and you are right about two or three movies. Loved the music . I still did enjoy it though.

The good thing about watching a long long movie when there is little else to do is it seems to work

Having Pearson on the team doesn't hurt. JTM seem's to get on well with him, both of them have the swag this team has been lacking. His wife is a smoke show
- VanHockeyGuy

Gaudette's girl is no slouch either.

If they can get TT on a three year deal that’d be awesome, he needs to work on his leg strength though.
- Pacificgem

I would say 4 years. 20 mil tops. With the virus, the FA market will be nil.

I would say 4 years. 20 mil tops. With the virus, the FA market will be nil.
- carsonagenic

There will be a lot of movement this year because of the cap going down.

The Athletic put out grades on all the players, has anyone read it?

Petey was first on the list.

—————————————————————————————

Elias Pettersson: A
2019-20 stat line: 68 GP, 27G-39A-66P

Don’t let the identical 66-point total from his rookie season fool you – Pettersson took a crucial step forward in his second year.

Whether it was less time and space off the rush or neutralizing his one-timer, opposing defenders game planned around Pettersson and the Canucks’ franchise centre responded by finding new ways to score and avoiding the dreaded sophomore slump.

It takes a look under the hood at his two-way profile to recognize the biggest improvement he made, however, and that’s as a play driver. Pettersson’s ability to dominate the flow of play, tilt the ice in Vancouver’s favour and allow so little defensively is what you’d expect from a 10-year veteran first-line centre, not a 21-year-old.

It’s honestly scary to think about what peak Pettersson could reach as he gets closer to his prime.

I just can't see how he wouldn't be a priority. You don't trade that much unless you are certain to resign him.
- VANTEL

Benning.

Brock Boeser: A-
2019-20 stat line: 57 GP, 16G-29A-45P

Among all Canucks skaters, Brock Boeser’s third full NHL season was far and away the most controversial, the most misunderstood and the most difficult to grade.

The sum total of Boeser’s season is actually sort of fascinating. The goal totals are lower than anticipated, but at least at 5-on-5, there’s not much in his profile that suggests he took a step back offensively. Quite the contrary. Boeser’s individual shot rate, individual expected goals and shot attempt rate remained steady, it’s just that he converted on fewer than 10 percent of his 5-on-5 opportunities – the lowest number of his career by far.

And, even as his goals rate dropped, his overall 5-on-5 production rate increased enormously. Playing with a couple of willing shooters in J.T. Miller and Pettersson, Boeser seemed to round out the playmaking side of his game and smashed his career highs in assists rate. His two-way impact and defensive game appeared to improve too, as he posted the best two-way results of his career.

There’s some lingering concern in the Vancouver market about the zip on Boeser’s wrist shot, and some of that is perhaps warranted, but the profile still suggests that Boeser dealt with more than his fair share of bad finishing luck this season, while rounding out his game as a two-way player and distributor.

Things are a bit more complicated on the power play, however.

Looking over some of the data at hockeyviz, it certainly looks as if the Canucks power play did better to generate inside looks without Boeser than it did when he was on the ice. Here’s the heat map (rates are relative to league average) with Boeser compared to without him:

Overall, Boeser’s power-play production mirrored that of his sophomore season, but was a far cry – in terms of underlying profile and actual results – from what Boeser managed as a rookie. If there’s a reason for some concern, it’s the possibility that Boeser’s power-play impact has been marginalized in importance because of the rise of some of the Canucks’ more dangerous options – Pettersson, Miller, Quinn Hughes and even Bo Horvat.

In grading Boeser’s season, he deserves an A for his 5-on-5 play and a B for his impact on the power play. We’ll split the difference with some weight given to the primacy of 5-on-5 impact and give him an A- that is sure to be a bit controversial.

J.T. Miller: A+
2019-20 stat line: 69 GP, 27G-45A-72P

Miller couldn’t have made a more excellent first impression in Vancouver if he tried.

Leading the team in points and goals (tied with Pettersson), Miller was the team’s best offensive producer, including on the power-play where he was the top unit’s primary creator from the left side of the 1-3-1 formation with Boeser out. His 72 points have him sandwiched between Kyle Connor and Alex Ovechkin as a top-20 scorer in the NHL.

Couple those flashy point totals with stellar underlying numbers and you have the type of all-around profile that resembles a top-flight first-line forward.

Bo Horvat: B
2019-20 stat line: 69 GP, 22G-31A-53P

Bo Horvat’s team-leading 11 power-play goals had him on pace to reach another career-high with 63 points, but he wasn’t as effective as he typically is at even-strength.

Horvat racked up a lot of assists which ensured his even-strength points rate (2.13 per hour) clocked in at a high-end top-six rate, but scored goals at a lower clip than many of Vancouver’s bottom-six forwards, including Loui Eriksson and Tyler Motte.

The bigger issue was that his two-way game wasn’t as strong as the past couple of years. He had a decisively negative defensive impact after accounting for contextual factors like teammates, zone starts and more as witnessed through Evolving-Hockey’s data.

Horvat still did well when you consider the lack of help he’s had on his wing against top competition, but he was better in his own zone and as a play driver under virtually identical circumstances last season.

Tanner Pearson: B+
2019-20 stat line: 69 GP, 21G-24A-45P

Perhaps Tanner Pearson’s greatest accomplishment was to put an end, at long last, to the rotating door on Horvat’s wing.

At 5-on-5, Pearson skated alongside Horvat for a whopping 680 of his 906 5-on-5 minutes. And yet, in the 680 minutes Horvat and Pearson spent together in a matchup role, the Canucks controlled the territorial battle, outshot and were in the black by expected goal percentage while regularly chasing around the best offensive players in the world.

That’s pretty good, even if Vancouver was outscored in those minutes.

If there’s a knock on Pearson’s 5-on-5 profile, it’s that his 5-on-5 scoring rates were relatively pedestrian (remember that six of his goals and nine of his points came with an empty net). Really, he manufactured even-strength offence at a third-line rate despite logging regular top-six minutes. Considering the matchup and quality of teammate factors though, we shouldn’t really weigh that too heavily.

Adam Gaudette: B+
2019-20 stat line: 59 GP, 12G-21A-33P

Excellent seasons for Hughes, Miller and Jacob Markstrom stole most of the limelight in Vancouver and that left Adam Gaudette’s emergence as a high-end secondary scorer as an underrated storyline.

The 23-year-old scored at a 46-point per 82 game clip, making him the Canucks’ third most efficient scorer in all situations (points relative to ice-time) behind Pettersson and Miller.

That said, while the former fifth-round pick took a noticeable step forward with his two-way game, he still needs to improve defensively to be a viable third-line centre in the long run. Despite playing softer minutes, his line was routinely one of the most permissive in allowing shots and scoring chances against and it led to the Canucks surrendering 3.06 goals per hour at 5-on-5 – leading to an even-strength goal differential in the red.

All considered, Gaudette handily exceeded expectations offensively – now it’s just time for his defensive game to catch up.

Jake Virtanen: B
2019-20 stat line: 69 GP, 18G-18A-36P

One of the most pressing storylines of the season that’s likely to go unanswered is if Jake Virtanen would have hit the coveted 20-goal plateau. It certainly seemed within reach, needing just two goals in the final 13 games, but he was mired in a funk with just five points in his last 18 games before the hockey year was interrupted.

Regardless, Virtanen’s firmly reached middle-six territory with his level of offensive production and one of the most surprising developments powering this scoring surge was his emergence as a man-advantage contributor (his six power-play goals lead the second unit).

Preventing him from a larger role with the team are valid concerns with his lackadaisical defensive game and poor attention to detail. The cap-strapped Canucks are going to have to ask themselves if they trust Virtanen to address these shortcomings because he’s going to command a significant raise this summer with a cap hit that could be in the $3-million range.

Josh Leivo: B+
2019-20 stat line: 36 GP, 7G-12A-19P

Although his season was shortened by an unpenalized Nick Holden hit that fractured his kneecap, Josh Leivo had an excellent second season with the Canucks and provided significant surplus value above his $1.5 million cap hit.

Leivo’s two-way results speak for themselves – he was easily the best linemate that the Horvat, Pearson duo skated with regularly. At the time of his injury, he was tied in 5-on-5 scoring with Miller and had spent at least 75 5-on-5 minutes with 10 teammates, all 10 of whom had fared better by shot attempt differential with Leivo than without him. All told, Leivo – criticized occasionally early in the year for a lack of offensive production – ends the season ranked fourth, behind only the Lotto line trio, in scoring rate among all Canucks forwards who played at least 200 minutes at 5-on-5.

Probably best suited to being a high-end third line forward on a contending team, rather than a second liner, Leivo is a pending unrestricted free agent. If there’s value to be had, he could be an excellent, subtle fit for a Canucks team that is at their best when they’re assertive on the forecheck and heavy on the wall – two elements that Leivo brought consistently through the first 36 games.

Antoine Roussel: C+
2019-20 stat line: 41 GP, 7G-6A-13P

It’s not straightforward to return from the type of knee surgery that Antoine Roussel underwent last spring, miss training camp and the first two months of the campaign and immediately find your game. On the whole, Roussel wasn’t the sort of effective, two-way beast he’s typically been throughout his career.

All of that said, I think he found his stride in the last 20 games or so. Certainly his usually sparkling underlying numbers returned to form and he actually led all Canucks regulars in expected goal percentage at 5-on-5 over the final 20 games prior to the suspension of the season.

Considering Roussel’s style of play and how he needs to perform to be as effective as he’s been historically, there’s a non-zero chance that he’ll begin to fall off now that he’s in his 30s (he turns 31 in November). Perhaps that’s part of what we saw this season when it took him until mid-February to really find his stride, but I’ll need to see a bit more before I conclude that his uncharacteristic two-way performance in the 2019-20 season wasn’t a direct result of working his way back from knee surgery.

In fact, I’d bet he’s back to driving play effectively and posting strong scoring rate stats in a bottom-six role next season.

Loui Eriksson: C
2019-20 stat line: 49 GP, 6G-7A-13P

Loui Eriksson is a black hole offensively which means he’s not suited for anything more than a fourth-line role, but he’s not completely useless as one of Vancouver’s few wingers who is reliable and can be trusted defensively.

The subtle details that Eriksson understands show its merit in the underlying data which suggests he gives his line a chance to control puck possession and stay out of their defensive zone more often than not.

Eriksson’s an enormous sunk cost on the whole and will finish as one of the worst signings in franchise history, but the fact that he’s not a flat-out liability when he steps over the boards is an outcome you’ll take when you look at how badly his two-way game was starting to trend last year.

Tyler Motte: C+
2019-20 stat line: 34 GP, 4G-4A-8P

Tyler Motte brings an electric motor and much-needed speed to the bottom-six as a utility fourth-liner who can also kill penalties. The problem that persists, however, is that the bottom-line results don’t mirror the type of impact you think he’s making when you watch him play.

The Canucks get stuck in their own zone and hemorrhage quality chance after quality chance with Motte on the ice – controlling less than 40 percent of shot attempts and scoring chances while getting outscored 19-8. Extreme zone start usage must be a factor with these numbers, but Motte’s deficit from break-even is just so large that zone starts alone cannot explain these deplorable even-strength results.

Jay Beagle: C
2019-20 stat line: 55 GP, 2G-6A-8P

Jay Beagle was dominant in the circle and played tough minutes – he was often used in a matchup role, with Canucks coaches even hunting matchups with his line on the road. Beagle retains some utility as a penalty killer as well, but that’s where the positives end.

Among all NHL players who played at least 500 5-on-5 minutes this past season, only five skaters produced points at a lower rate than Beagle did. The more devastating blow, however, was in how much time the Canucks spent in their own zone – Vancouver is going to need to find a way to do better than controlling 40 percent of shot attempts with their fourth line on the ice going forward.

Brandon Sutter: B-
2019-20 stat line: 44 GP, 8G-9A-17P

Floating up and down Vancouver’s bottom-six, rotating between wing and centre, Brandon Sutter has filled several different roles in softer minutes. To his credit, he’s chipped in with 1.58 points per hour at 5-on-5 – a credible third-line rate.

Perhaps most surprising is that the Canucks haven’t been caved in when Sutter’s stepped over the boards – he’s had a neutral impact on the team’s ability to control play and with the help of a little bit of puck luck, his on-ice goal differential is actually even.

I think you’re missing the point, the team was set up for a rebuild but Jim Benning himself said “this is a team we can turn around in a hurry”. He wanted no part of failing, but he clearly did, that’s the point.

His opinion was they weren’t destined to fail, he couldn’t see the forest for the trees, he traded picks for immediate help, he traded youth for veteran players, he signed expensive free agents. He wasn’t trying to fail he was trying to be competitive.
- Pacificgem

Do you really think FA would have hired a guy that said "tear it down, and rebuild"? Any GM would have been in the same shoes as JB was, and likely would not have done much better. Any "good" GM would want to jump on a sinking ship, when the mandate is to keep trying to win with it, rather than rebuild.

Tanner Pearson: B+
2019-20 stat line: 69 GP, 21G-24A-45P

Perhaps Tanner Pearson’s greatest accomplishment was to put an end, at long last, to the rotating door on Horvat’s wing.

At 5-on-5, Pearson skated alongside Horvat for a whopping 680 of his 906 5-on-5 minutes. And yet, in the 680 minutes Horvat and Pearson spent together in a matchup role, the Canucks controlled the territorial battle, outshot and were in the black by expected goal percentage while regularly chasing around the best offensive players in the world.

That’s pretty good, even if Vancouver was outscored in those minutes.

If there’s a knock on Pearson’s 5-on-5 profile, it’s that his 5-on-5 scoring rates were relatively pedestrian (remember that six of his goals and nine of his points came with an empty net). Really, he manufactured even-strength offence at a third-line rate despite logging regular top-six minutes. Considering the matchup and quality of teammate factors though, we shouldn’t really weigh that too heavily.
- Pacificgem

Pearson is a question mark for sure . Empty net goals still important though.

Defencemen

Quinn Hughes: A+
2019-20 stat line: 68 GP, 8G-45A-53P

If the season had been able to play out, Hughes surely would’ve broken Doug Lidster’s record for the highest-scoring season by any Canucks defenceman in history. He had an outside chance of passing Ray Bourque’s 65 points, which would’ve given him the fifth-best scoring season by a rookie defender in NHL history.

Perhaps most impressive, Hughes managed to produce at that level while also having one of the most significant impacts on the rate at which his team surrendered shot attempts, shots, scoring chances and expected goals against in the sport. And he was mostly matched up against the opposition’s best, particularly after Christmas.

Also, he’s just 20-years-old.

Hughes wasn’t just good this season, he was historically good.

Chris Tanev: B-
2019-20 stat line: 69 GP, 2G-18A-20P

Chris Tanev was healthy for most of the season and his defensive game complemented Hughes well, but he quietly didn’t make as strong a two-way impact as he’s done in years past. Out of the five players that shared the ice with Tanev most commonly in 2019-20, all but one did a better job of controlling shot attempts and scoring chances away from Tanev than they did with him. This includes Hughes who goes from just below break-even with Tanev, to dominating north of 57 percent of shot attempts and chances.

Hughes’ plaudits as a one-man breakout machine have masked the slow depreciation of Tanev’s skating and transition game that began last year.

As one of the team’s few defensively sound players and a valuable penalty killer, Tanev was still a solid contributor for the Canucks, but unfortunately, he isn’t close to being the two-way ace he was two or three years ago.

Alex Edler: B
2019-20 stat line: 59 GP, 5G-28A-33P

After years of being a player with all the physical tools who was prone to the big mistake, Edler – who is beginning to slow down a bit at the age of 33 – is now as cerebral a defender as you’ll find. What he’s lost in foot speed, he’s made up for with a sharp mind, a higher degree of physical consistency than he had as a younger defender and a general meanness, particularly at the net front and along the wall.

Travis Green managed Edler’s minutes more carefully after he returned from an injury in mid-December.

Now, what’s particularly interesting is that while Edler’s minutes never really returned to their October and November level, neither did his two-way form. Through the 2019 part of the schedule, Edler was carrying a 51.8 percent shot attempt differential in 30 games played. Once the calendar flipped, he was at 46 percent over 29 games played. In the final 20 Canucks games, he was dead last by shot attempt differential among all Vancouver defenders.

What remained constant, however, was Edler’s prolific 5-on-5 scoring rate. Consider this: Hughes’ record-setting offensive season consisted of 24 5-on-5 points over 68 games. Edler had 21 5-on-5 points in 59 games. Among all NHL defencemen who played at least 750 5-on-5 minutes this season, Edler ranked 16th in 5-on-5 scoring rate – 16th!

An overall assessment would suggest that Edler provided a really solid level of value to the Canucks this season – plus offensive value at 5-on-5, plus physical value and played about 30 games at the level of an absolute stud top-pair defender – but with diminishing returns as the season went along.

Tyler Myers: B
2019-20 stat line: 68 GP, 6G-15A-21P

Tyler Myers had a strong first season in Vancouver and provided about what should’ve been reasonably expected, if you put his $6-million cap hit aside. Myers performed at the level of a bona fide second pair defenceman with solid offensive value and minimal defensive impact.

The 5-on-5 scoring was a bit lower than you’d have expected based on his career numbers, largely as a result of him shooting about a third below his career shooting clip and having tough offensive luck on an on-ice basis too. Still, he was second to Hughes by most of the relevant underlying categories, including shot attempt and expected goal differential. Also of the 15 skaters with whom he spent at least 150 5-on-5 minutes, 14 fared better by shot attempt differential with Myers than they fared without him.

That’s solid, especially when one considers that he led all Canucks defencemen in 5-on-5 ice time during the 2018-19 season.

Overall, it was a quietly effective season for Myers. The ticket is a big one, but Myers logged first pair minutes and had credible second pair impact for the Canucks in year one.

Jordie Benn: D
2019-20 stat line: 44 GP, 1G-6A-7P

We could take you through how badly the Canucks get outshot, out-chanced and outscored whenever Benn’s played this season, but the healthy scratches say it all — he just hasn’t been good enough.

What’s more is that because Vancouver’s remarkably avoided injury with their right-handed defencemen, there’s been just one game where Benn’s had the chance to play the right side (anyone who follows the Canadiens will tell you he’s been better on his offside) and sure enough, that was the best game of his season.

Now with the Canucks facing a cap crunch, Benn and his $2-million cap hit might be one of the players the organization tries to move on from to shed salary for next year.

Oscar Fantenberg: C
2019-20 stat line: 36 GP, 1G-5A-6P

You could make a compelling case that Oscar Fantenberg’s performance this season represents the quintessential depth defenceman. He doesn’t appear out of place when you first slot him in the lineup and it looks like he may be able to hold the fort down for a while, but the longer he sticks as one of your top-six defencemen, the more glaring his weaknesses become.

Fantenberg’s play, on the whole, was equally poor as Benn’s (43.5 CF%, 44.1 percent expected goal share, outscored 23-13) with the difference simply being that we expected a lot less from the cheaper Swedish blueliner.

Troy Stecher: C+
2019-20 stat line: 69 GP, 5G-12A-17P

From Game 1 in October, Troy Stecher hasn’t quite looked right. He hasn’t been a liability by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s seemed a step behind on puck retrievals and breakouts which has hampered his usually sturdy transitional game. It also feels like he’s made more defensive mistakes such as the one below more often than usual.

Stecher not playing as well as he has in years past doesn’t change the fact, however, that he’s been miles better than Benn and Fantenberg as a third-pair option.

Why would you pay a #5 Dman that kind of money for so long? Why are you paying your #7 twice the amount you have to?

That's what he means by bad signings.
- golfingsince

Myers was brought in as a #4 and has realistically performed as such. Benn was brought in to be a 5/6, not a 6/7 and has not performed as such. Many of us were happy to get Benn on this team. a 2m mistake for 2 seasons(that can likely be traded easily) is not a bad thing. It's not like we paid the guys 3m for 4 seasons.

Do you really think FA would have hired a guy that said "tear it down, and rebuild"? Any GM would have been in the same shoes as JB was, and likely would not have done much better. Any "good" GM would want to jump on a sinking ship, when the mandate is to keep trying to win with it, rather than rebuild.
- Retinalz

Benning also took over with 7 NMC/NTC

Jacob Markstrom: A+

2019-20 stat line: 43 GP, 23W-16L-4OTL, .918 SV%

The Canucks were one of the NHL’s bottom-five defensive teams this season.

You need an elite goalie to have a realistic shot at the playoffs and that’s exactly what Markstrom gave the Canucks. There were several games that he singlehandedly stole for Vancouver and when you account for the porous defence in front of him, it’s evident that he was unquestionably a top-five goalie in the league.

Clear Sight Analytics has Markstrom rated first among goalies when comparing the number of goals he’s saved relative to a league-average goalie and Sportlogiq also has him top-five by their interpretation of the same metric.

Pettersson, Miller and Hughes have all had outstanding individual seasons, but Markstrom is the team’s MVP as their most important player.

Thatcher Demko: C+

29 GP, 13W-10L-2OTL, .905 SV%

Overall, one would say that Thatcher Demko performed modestly below average. His save percentage was just below the NHL average of .909, but of course, there’s some context to be considered with how permissive Vancouver was defensively – surrendering scoring chances against at a bottom-five rate for much of the season.

Even accounting for that, Demko’s performance still rates just modestly below what you’d expect from a league-average goaltender this season. NaturalStatTrick.com’s goals saved above average ranks him 38th among the 58 NHL goaltenders who appeared in at least 1000 minutes this season, and credits him with a .803 save percentage on high danger chances. That would rank him 40th among the 58 qualified NHL goaltenders.

Demko was fine, good enough in his first full season of NHL action that he gave the team a chance to win most nights. He didn’t steal too many games and he didn’t hurt the team overall, and actually provided decent value considering the low cost of his cap hit.

Good to see things back to normal again, at least for a day.

Even Nucker came out of the shadows for a quick visit.

Thanks for posting the report cards on the players Lefty, seems that the Athletic and some of you have differing of opinions on players skills.

That is the thing about opinions, just like bumholes, everyone has one.

Good to see things back to normal again, at least for a day.

Even Nucker came out of the shadows for a quick visit.

Thanks for posting the report cards on the players Lefty, seems that the Athletic and some of you have differing of opinions on players skills.

That is the thing about opinions, just like bumholes, everyone has one.
- Makita

I think the Athletic has removed its paywall for 90 days

Good to see things back to normal again, at least for a day.

Even Nucker came out of the shadows for a quick visit.

Thanks for posting the report cards on the players Lefty, seems that the Athletic and some of you have differing of opinions on players skills.

That is the thing about opinions, just like bumholes, everyone has one.
- Makita

Just thought it would be nice to discuss some hockey.

Thanks for posting those, Lefty.