Around this time last year, the Vancouver Canucks were verging on disarray. In the middle of January, team president Jim Rutherford held a press conference to address the team’s terrible season, which began with eight straight losses and didn’t improve much from then on. “I’m pretty disappointed in the job I’ve done,” Rutherford said at the time. The team’s fans felt the same way, especially regarding how the team was treating then-coach, Bruce Boudreau, who was rumoured to be on the chopping block, with Rick Tocchet apparently already waiting in the wings to take over. At the presser, Rutherford could merely only offer that “Bruce is our coach, and that’s the way it is today.” The Canucks fired Boudreau a few days later and, as predicted, Tocchet took over. It was messy.
But winning clears things up – and the Canucks have done a lot of it this year. As the NHL pauses this week for the All Star break, the Canucks sit atop not just the Pacific Division, but the entire Western Conference. They went 8-0-2 through their last 10 games before the break, a record second only in the West to the streaking Edmonton Oilers, who the Canucks shocked with back-to-back defeats to open the season – losses that sent the Oilers, a pre-season Stanley Cup favourite, reeling for months.
What’s working for Vancouver? Seemingly everything – even the things that shouldn’t be. For instance, goaltender Thatcher Demko is playing very well, posting a .920 save percentage with a 2.44 goals-against average. But Demko’s numbers hide the fact that he’s faced a barrage of shots – 1,061 through the first half of the season, fourth-most overall. (Colorado’s Alexander Georgiev, by comparison, has faced 1,133 shots with a more believable .898 save percentage.) At the same time, the Canucks are scoring a lot (186 goals), second overall in goals to the Avalanche (190 goals). What’s striking about this comparison isn’t necessarily the total goals, but Vancouver’s shot economy. The Canucks have managed to nearly tie Colorado’s goal total with almost 200 fewer shots. Bottom line is exactly what it sounds like: Vancouver score a lot and don’t concede many either.
Meanwhile, Vancouver have three top-10 individual point-getters in JT Miller, Elias Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes. With regards to Miller in particular, the turnaround since – again – last season is stunning. Back then, pretty much the only thing people said about Miller was that he had an attitude problem and was a bad teammate, based mostly on a moment in December when he shouted at Collin Delia to get off the ice for an extra attacker on a delayed power play. Now? He’s the “effective … engine that drives” the Canucks, which is true in many ways – Miller has indeed shown he can be an effective two-way player, and has 67 points for his work. At the same time, Hughes, newly minted as the Canucks captain (the youngest in the NHL at just 24), is destroying teams from his position on defence, like this:
Or this:
The question is whether Vancouver can keep it up for the rest of the season, let alone into the playoffs, where the experienced Avalanche, Stars, Golden Knights, and Oilers will be waiting. For the sake of keeping things interesting, one can only hope.
Top cheese: We’re going streaking
After their surprisingly lacklustre start to the season, few could have predicted that by January we’d all be talking about the unbeatable Edmonton Oilers. But here we are, at the All Star break and the Oilers have won 16 straight, one win away from tying the NHL record of 17 set by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins. The Oilers’ streak has been backed by goaltender Stuart Skinner, who goes into the break week with 12 straight wins, an Oilers record. During that time, Skinner’s goals-against average has dropped to a slightly insane 1.41 – all the crazier considering that it was 3.99 at the start of November. As for Connor McDavid, after his slow start (only two goals all of October and a six-game scoreless near the season’s start) he has crept up the points leaderboard, now tied at fourth overall with 67. Forwards Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl are similarly suddenly awakened, pitching in with 30 and 23 goals, respectively on the season.
What changed? Coaching. Near the end of November, Edmonton fired Jay Woodcroft and assistant Dave Manson, replacing them with Kris Knoblauch and Oilers legend Paul Coffey. Knoblauch coached McDavid during his OHL tenure with the Erie Otters, where he also coached NHLers Travis Dermott, Alex DeBrincat and both Taylor and Darren Raddysh. Knoblauch had four consecutive 50-win seasons in the OHL. He’s more than halfway there with Edmonton. Since Knoblauch came aboard, the Oilers are an amazing 26-6-0.
But the Oilers aren’t the only ones streaking these days.
On a penalty kill facing the Florida Panthers? Keep Sam Reinhart away from the puck. Reinhart has scored 20 power play goals already this season, eclipsing the previous Panthers’ record of 19, set by both Scott Mellanby and Pavel Bure. Partly due to his power play prowess, Reinhart is also on a 13-game point streak. Over in Colorado, Nathan MacKinnon has similarly been on a tear, at least on home ice. As the league paused, MacKinnon was in the middle of a 25-game home point streak, with his latest coming against LA:
Contenders
There’s been little movement at the top of the NHL over the past month, so the real action has been in the wildcard spots, which have seen a fairly steady rotation of teams. In the East, Toronto had a weird enough January to drop out of the top three in the Atlantic and now find themselves, along with Detroit, holding one of the two last slots in the playoff race. Meanwhile, Carolina have come online, jumping up in the standings to second place in the Metro, while the Flyers enter the All Star break on a five-game losing skid.
In the West, the St Louis Blues have managed to climb into a potential playoff berth, sneaking ahead of Nashville and Seattle for the last spot in the conference thanks to a five-game winning streak through January. Elsewhere in the Central, the Winnipeg Jets briefly held the top spot not just in the West but in the NHL, before dropping two straight to the Leafs to close the month. Colorado and Vancouver still loom large – and it goes without saying that Edmonton (now with a rehabilitated and apologetic Corey Perry) has finally entered the chat.
Pretenders
Good news and bad news in Chicago, where the Blackhawks still sit near the bottom of the league. Yes, Connor Bedard did break his jaw on 5 January in a game against the New Jersey Devils and is not expected to return for six to eight weeks. However, Connor Bedard is also already back skating (though the timeline for recovery remains the same). Even without Bedard, the Blackhawks have managed to stay level with the still-appalling San Jose Sharks.
Columbus forward Patrik Laine has temporarily stepped away from hockey to take part in the NHLPA/NHL’s Player Assistance Program to focus on his mental health, as the team sits near the bottom of the East. Elsewhere in the Metro, Patrick Roy joined the New York Islanders this month as the new head coach. The Iles are currently on the bubble, five points back of a playoff spot. In New Jersey, the excitement of last year’s playoff appearance has been tempered, as the Devils now sit three spots back of a wildcard berth.
Elsewhere in the hockey world
London, Ontario – More than a year after we learned of sexual assault allegations against members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior championship team, London police are laying charges. Former Ottawa Senator Alex Formenton appeared in London on Monday and released a statement asserting his innocence. On Tuesday, Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart, New Jersey Devils players Cal Foote and Michael McLeod, and Calgary Flames forward Dillon Dube were also all charged with sexual assault. Lawyers for that group have all said their clients deny any wrongdoing. London Police have said they will update the public at a press conference on Monday, 5 February. While the Flyers and Devils released Hart, Foote, and McLeod respectively for leaves of absence with curt statements that gave no reason for their departure, when Dube took his leave from the Flames, the team said publicly that he had been granted an indefinite absence “while he attends to his mental health.” On Tuesday evening, the Flames gave an update, stating that the team “had no knowledge of pending charges at the time Dillon’s request for a leave of absence was granted.”
Salt Lake City – The Smith Entertainment Group, which owns the NBA’s Utah Jazz and the MLS’s Real Salt Lake, released a statement in late January that it has formally requested that the NHL initiate an expansion process to bring a team to Salt Lake City. The NHL responded, saying the league “appreciates the interest”. Utah, the NHL said, “is a promising market, and we look forward to continuing our discussions.”
Los Angeles – Sold-out season ticket packages, record-breaking attendance, and some nice goals. That’s the story so far from the first month of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which launched on the first of January. Can the success continue? New polling data released this month offers a glimpse into the potential for that sustained growth if the PWHL can market itself. A full 45% of Canadians polled in January told Abacus Data they had “little awareness” of the PWHL – 20% said they didn’t know it existed at all. But despite this, the PWHL, along with its purpose and impact, is generally well-regarded. For example, 42% of respondents said they feel the PWHL is “crucial for women’s sports”, and about a third said they felt it would inspire more women to pursue hockey and create opportunities for female players to advance their careers. February holds more promise, as Toronto will face Montreal at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on the 16th. A potentially record-breaking capacity crowd of nearly 19,000 is expected at the “Battle on Bay Street“.
Pittsburgh – Yet another current NHLer directly influenced in their youth by Sidney Crosby had the chance to play against him this month: Vegas Golden Knight Brendan Brisson, the son of Crosby’s agent, Pat Brisson, and whom Crosby once babysat. Brisson scored his first NHL goal, and the game-winner, for Vegas on January 20 against the Penguins. Crosby is officially old now. But he’s still incredible.
