TSN's Mike Johnson makes an interesting comment on the Canucks: Taking a step back?

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Cooper Godin
October 1, 2024 (12:38)

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TSN's Mike Johnson believes that the Vancouver Canucks will take a step back this season.

The Vancouver Canucks headed into last season without many expectations from outside the organization, with some saying the team would only be in the mix for a wild card position in the Western Conference.

Rick Tocchet's group surprised the National Hockey League, finishing first in the Pacific Division and making it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs where they lost in Game 7 to the Edmonton Oilers. For a team that no one expected to do much, being one win away from the Western Conference Final is a huge achievement, but now, it's time to make a big push forward in 2024-25.

On Tuesday's edition of 'That's Hockey', TSN's Mike Johnson believes that they'll take a step back this season after a strong 2023-24 campaign.

"I think they're more likely to take a step back. That doesn't mean they're not going to be good. That doesn't mean they won't make the playoffs and doesn't mean they won't go deeper in the playoffs. But to think about players who had career years last year, whether it's Quinn Hughes or Hronek or Miller or Boeser. The reason they're called career years is because they happen once in your career. They don't happen year after year after year. So it's very likely that those very good players who are incredibly talented maybe take a slight step back statistically. That's okay because they have Elias Pettersson, who should probably take a step forward because he had a down year. But I just think that some of their top players had such great years, they're probably going to take a little bit of a step back." Johnson said.

He added, "So how do they absorb some of that decrease around their offense. But maybe most importantly as well, any success Vancouver is going to have long-term in the playoffs is going to predicated on their excellent goaltending in Thatcher Demko and the reality is he's been very candid, very up-front about the injuries he's dealing with, he's not healthy."

There are plenty of question marks heading into the new season, especially if those players Johnson mentioned can replicate the success they had last year. We all know Quinn Hughes is capable of being an 85+ point player, but can Boeser score 40 goals again? Can J.T. Miller hit the 100-point mark again? And will we see Filip Hronek get or even surpass 48 points this year?

There's optimism in Vancouver heading into the new season and there's no doubt this team will be good, it's just a matter of how good they can be and if they can finish first in the Pacific and go further in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.