Vancouver Canucks have the makings of a playoff team

At the end of the 2018-19 season, the Vancouver Canucks were on the outside looking in come playoff time. 2019-20 though they seem poised to get in.

The Vancouver Canucks finished fifth in the lowly Pacific Division with 81 points. Just nine points shy of tying the Colorado Avalanche for the last wild card spot. Although they did not make the playoffs, Canucks fans couldn’t help but feel encouraged about the next season ahead.

With the emergence of Elias Pettersson, the rookie phenom who won the Calder, the Canucks found a bonafide center to get to find the sniper Brock Boeser consistently. Bo Horvat has matured and emerged as the team’s new captain.

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In goal for the Canucks, we all witnessed a once-promising goaltending prospect, with comparisons to Patrick Roy, start to fulfill a little of that promise in Jacob Markstrom. He has continued where he left off last season and is sporting some respectable and solid numbers in the early going.

The offseason signing off Tyler Myers and Quinn Hughes‘ promotion to the big club has added a whole other layer to their defense and has been paying off as well early on. Mr. Plug and Play himself J.T. Miller entering the fold as the final piece to the Petey and Boeser line has seemed to give that line another level to their game.

They do have some salary cap concerns and had to waive a few players. Sven Baertchi being one. Currently, Vancouver is 3-2-0 sitting outside the extremely early standings final wild card in 5th once again in the Pacific. They are in St. Louis tonight to face-off against the current Stanley Cup Champs at 8pm (EST). Pettersson torched the Blues in one game last year when they faced.

I don’t see this Canucks team finishing 5th, unless it’s in the overall standings, with some luck. Everyone needs some luck in today’s NHL of course. This team is as deep as a Canucks team has been in some time. Let’s take a look.

Down the middle, at the all-important center position, the Canucks come at you with Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat, Brendan Sutter, and Jay Beagle. That’s a good middle group in this league. Pettersson is in his second year and will have some growing pains still, but over the course of another season, he will only get better.

On the wings, the Canucks have one of the top snipers in the league in Brock Boeser. With the addition of J.T. Miller and Michael Ferland they have some gritty puck hounds who can retrieve pucks with anyone in the league. This bodes well for Boeser, Pettersson, and Horvat.

After the top two lines the wing position begins to thin, and in my opinion, is the weakest spot on this team. That isn’t to say it’s bad by any means. Tanner Pearson, Jake Virtanen, Tyler Motte, Josh Leivo, and Tim Schaller are all serviceable wingers.

Pearson, Virtanen, and Leivo are the potential X factors for this unit. Vancouver has heard enough of the potential of Virtanen I think. It’s time for him to prove that talent converts to points in the NHL. Leivo is another gritty player who can get you some secondary scoring.

Pearson here is the most intriguing. Like Virtanen, people in LA heard all about this guy’s talent and potential. He hasn’t jumped out yet, but playing alongside Horvat may just be what he needs to realize his potential. If so, the sky is the limit for this team.

On defense, they have size, youth, speed, and veteran leadership. Quinn Hughes is showing the NHL that he is ready to put up some points. I honestly expect to see him finish near the top if not the winner of the Calder in 2019-20.

Tyler Myers is a big-bodied, mobile defenseman that can score for you and also shut down the opposition’s top players when asked to. Tanev is defense first type that being partnered with Hughes is allowing Hughes a little more freedom to be creative offensively.

As for goaltending, the Vancouver Canucks seem to have a bonafide starter in Jacob Markstrom. After struggling on some pretty bad teams in Vancouver he has begun to show what many thought possible when he was a prospect. Thatcher Demko is as solid of a backup as any team to ask for in the NHL giving them a pretty solid goalie tandem.

The 2019-20 season is going to be a fun one in Vancouver. Not since the Sedin twins were brought to Vancouver has the team had so much potential in their young forwards. I like this team from top to nearly bottom. Down the middle they are good, defensively they have all the makings of a very dependable and creative top six. Just enough danger from the wing to make some noise, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a move to bloster that position down the road.