Their stellar goaltender wasn't his usual awesome self of years past, the defence was pretty much the same, the coach was same who led them out of the basement of the NHL to at least a possible contender.
The only improvement was in the forward department where there was already success but had obvious potential to be even better. A couple interesting notes by Jeff Paterson may make the Canuck fan think... What if? Or if only...
This stat basically says that if the Nucks had a better start, they would've been on par with the leaders of the Pacific. The issue has always been the defence and this also states that:
So yes, the Canucks are 12th in defence overall but their lack of scoring and offensive help (Hughes aside) leaves this team where it is. A muddling team with (if they have it) possibly great goaltending to make them a wildcard contender.
Wanna play the what if game? One might think if they had won at least 3 out of the five..( They led in basically all of them) The management wouldn't be in this predicament. The salary cap issue that plagues most teams hinders any big trade but we are where we are.. Great start or not, management has to fix this team to make it a contender Canuck fans want badly.
POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 18 | 143 ANSWERS All games matter What are the Canucks | ||
Nothing without goaltending | 48 | 33.6 % |
A team with great potential | 52 | 36.4 % |
A draft and develop team | 43 | 30.1 % |
List of polls |