4 Vancouver Canucks who dominated in their first win of 2023-24

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The Vancouver Canucks took on the Edmonton Oilers in British Columbia on Wednesday night to kick off the 2023-24 season for both teams. Obviously, there is a lot of excitement when two Canadian teams meet on Opening Night.

Whenever the Edmonton Oilers are involved in a game, they get all of the hype. They have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl who are some of the best players to ever play the game. They are so good and everyone wants to watch them play.

However, despite Draisaitl scoring an awesome goal assisted by McDavid on a beautiful pass, they were far from the story in this game. The Vancouver Canucks smoked the Edmonton Oilers by a final score of 8-1. Vancouver’s team was much more fun to watch of the two in this one.

There were a lot of players that lit up the scoresheet which makes sense seeing that 8 goals were scored. Although it was truly a great team win, these four players really stood out above the rest:

1. Brock Boeser

Brock Boeser had an amazing game to start the Vancouver Canucks season.

The Vancouver Canucks have seen Brock Boeser play an up-and-down game over the last handful of years. He is considered to be “overpaid” because his production doesn’t match what it was when he first signed the deal.

However, he might be all the way back. He looks very healthy and good to go and he showed it in the opening game with a four-goal performance. He scored a natural hat trick in the game (the first on opening night in Canucks history) and then added the fourth later on.

Boeser isn’t going to have a multi-goal game every single night but he has always had the talent to be a 30-goal scorer and possibly more. He is off to a great start and we can only hope it continues for Vancouver.

2. J.T. Miller

J.T. Miller is off to a great start for the Vancouver Canucks this season.

The Vancouver Canucks made a big move when they extended J.T. Miller. He is a great player and seems to keep getting better as the years go along.

He had a tough start in 2022-23 but bounced back to end up having a pretty nice year but Vancouver ended up not making it to the playoffs. This year, he seems to be determined to have a great year.

In this first game, Miller came to play. He had one goal and three assists to be a four-point player. He didn’t score four goals like Boeser but he did have the four points. He was equally as important to the win and it was fun to watch him play like this.

Miller is going to be a big part of the Vancouver offense all season long and he is off to a big start. Beating the Oilers was clearly important to this guy.

Look for Miller to be right there with a few other players on this team at the top of their scoring lead. He is probably the biggest factor for them being a playoff team. We know that other players are going to be there but they need Miller to be almost as productive. It was fun to watch him in this first game.

3. Elias Pettersson

The Vancouver Canucks are very lucky to have Elias Pettersson on their team.

The Vancouver Canucks have a franchise player in Elias Pettersson. He was the fifth overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft and he has turned into a complete stud for Vancouver. Now, here we are in 2023-24 and he can be an MVP-caliber player.

He also may be a Selke Trophy candidate because he is outstanding defensively as well. However, it was his offense that stood out in the opener against the Edmonton Oilers. He was as fantastic as any player on either team in this one.

Like Boeser and Miller, he had himself a four-point night. He had a goal and three assists which played a big role in the team getting a win by such a wide margin. He has a magnificent ability to shoot the puck and make plays which makes him extra dangerous.

Petterson is someone that has a 100-point season on his mind. Obviously, a game like this to get it all going is a great start. He is the team’s best player so it was good to see him play like it right away. If Vancouver is going to be a playoff team this year, he needs to continue dominating.

4. Quinn Hughes

The Vancouver Canucks saw their new captain have a great first game.

Wednesday night was the first regular season game for Quinn Hughes as the captain of the Vancouver Canucks. This is a big responsibility for him and it is clear that he is up to the challenge. One of the best defensemen in the NHL is a leader now and we are happy to see it.

He kicked off the season well too which is the most important thing for him and his teammates. Having a defenseman that can move the puck the way he can change everything for them. The forwards that can make plays have to love playing with him so much.

Hughes didn’t have four points like Miller, Boeser, and Pettersson but he did have three. Not bad at all for the team’s number-one defenseman. All three of his points were assists.

Quinn needs to work on his goal-scoring a little bit because that may keep him from having a Norris Trophy in his career but he is certainly good at setting up other people’s goals. His three-assist night proved that his playmaking will continue but we’ll see about his goaltending.

Hughes, like all of the other top players on this team, needs to keep this going if they are going to be a playoff-caliber team in the Western Conference. The next chance to show what they can do will come on Saturday night when they take on the Edmonton Oilers again. This time, it will be in Alberta.

Related Story. The Boston Bruins did a very good job on Wednesday. light

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