The Vancouver Canucks are not going to be winning the Stanley Cup this season. They won the Pacific Division to the surprise of many and they even won a round but their journey has come to an end.
Vancouver should be very proud of themselves. They beat the Nashville Predators in the first round and made things very difficult on the Edmonton Oilers in the second round.
The Canucks pushed Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Oilers to the brink as they had a 3-2 series lead going into game six.
Unfortunately for them, they weren't able to win their fourth game of the series and went down in seven games. They had a chance to close things out in games six and seven but failed in both.
Now that they are out and won't be winning the Stanley Cup, these are the three biggest reasons why:
The Canucks didn't get enough from Elias Pettersson in the playoffs
Elias Pettersson is one of the best offensive players in the NHL. In 2023-24, he had 34 goals and 55 assists for 89 points in 82 games.
In the playoffs, however, he didn't show up big. In their first-round series against the Nashville Predators, he scored no goals and had three assists in six games. Despite this, they still won the series.
In round two, they were never going to beat the Oilers unless he did something. He finally scored a goal in game two but that would be his only one of the entire playoffs. He also had two assists for three points in seven games this round.
That makes it a whopping six points in 13 playoff games this year. When you are a player that gifted and that highly paid, those are unacceptable numbers.
If they ever want to win the Cup with this great core that they are building in Vancouver, they need more from Elias Pettersson.