The Vancouver Canucks have done something rather interesting. After a horrible start to the season which saw their head coach get fired, they have turned things around slightly and are competing within the Pacific Division. All the team can do right now is sit back and watch the season play out.
The Vancouver Canucks are not going to be a team to make a big splash ahead of the trade deadline. While the team does have some players they are looking to move, they are not going to be looking to add big rental pieces for a playoff run, this season is all about getting used to each other under new general manager Patrik Allvin and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford.
The Canucks competing for a spot in the postseason very well could be something we see later this season. They are playing in a rather open Pacific Division and they have been one of the hotter teams since December came around.
The Canucks are 13-6-4 since the start of December and while the last few weeks haven’t been perfect with a record of 2-2-3 in their last seven games, that doesn’t take into account that their top goalie Thatcher Demko missed some time on the COVID protocol list.
Thatcher Demko has been a big piece of the Vancouver Canucks turn around this season.
Demko has put up a .917 save percentage and has played in 34 games on the year for the Canucks thus far picking up 17 of the team’s 20 wins on the year. Demko and the Canucks are still a long way from getting back into the playoffs, but they have been putting in the work to not give up on the season.
The Canucks are in an interesting position. They can definitely make some moves to help themselves out down the line, but they have a pretty good roster with some good pieces like Bo Horvat, Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and Conor Garland signed for at least the next few seasons. This team definitely has a great group to build around and they are going to want to do a lot of that building come the offseason.
Canucks fans should sit back and enjoy the remainder of the season. Even if their team doesn’t make it back into the postseason, they will have done a really good job playing at an elite level up until the end.