This Week in CanucksLand - Are The Canucks Better After the Trades?
Before we get into the article, with the Four Nations tournament coming up. Check out the Four Nations collection from Fanatics! If you want to rep your home country and support me at the same time, use the link below!
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Now it’s time for this week in Canucks land.
The Canucks started their week off with a game against the Red Wings. Overall, the game was good for Vancouver. Even without Hughes who missed his first game of the week with a oblique injury they looked like a playoff team, the new players immediately made an impact with Filip Chytil getting a goal in this game but unfortunately the Canucks fell 3-2 in overtime getting a point in this game.
Game 2 of the week was against the Colorado Avalanche. Hughes missed his second game of the week. Going into the game the odds were not in the Canucks favour, but they would shock everyone with a 3-0 shutout win against the Avs. Thatcher Demko went back to prime form for this one making some great saves and getting the shutout. This was the game that Filip Hronek stepped up getting two assists on the night and being that player that we needed him to be without Hughes. This was the Canucks best game of the week taking down on e of the best teams in the league in great fashion.
Game 3 of the week saw the Canucks head down on a mini road trip the San Jose to take on the Sharks. They came out strong in this game and yet again Demko was on fire. He would almost get a shutout in this game but after a game tying goal from Toffoli the game would go to overtime. Before I get into that though the Canucks had a problem finishing in this game. They were getting a lot of chances that they either fluffed on or Vanacek who had a great game would make a great save. But quickly into an explosive overtime Drew O’Conner would draw a penalty shot and would win the game on it to give the Canucks their second win of the week.
The last game of the week was against the Toronto Maple Leafs at home. When ever we play the Leafs it’s always a anticipated and close game. The good news for the Canucks is that the Leafs haven’t beat them in Rogers Arena since 2019, so the Canucks odds were great. The bad news was that Quinn Hughes would miss his fourth game of the week, and the Canucks would remain without their best player again. The first period was as expected high tempo fast paced and the Canucks would come out on top with a great goal from Hronek set up by EP40 to take the lead. The Leafs would tie it late but with a goal from Brock Boeser the Canucks would take a 2-1 win over the Leafs making them 3-0-1 this week getting 7 out of a possible 8 points and putting them firmly in the second wildcard spot.
Unfortunately, in the Game against Toronto the red-hot Thatcher Demko left the game with an injury at the time of writing this we don’t know what the injury is, but we do know thanks to coach Rick Tocchet it’s not his knee and that it’s not too serious. With Demko and Hughes on the injury list for the Canucks heading into the Four Nations break the Canucks have some questions for when they come out of it. The first one is what to do with D Petey. The rumour currently is that Carson Soucy is on the trade block meaning that the third pair left defence spot would open up for him to slot into. This would probably be the best move as D Petey has made an immediate impact on the Canucks especially in the game against the Avs. This would also free up $3.25 million in cap space to make a move for a rental and give the Canucks more space to resign Boeser and help acquire potential free agents this offseason. The second and last question is whether the Canucks should slow the amount of games that Demko plays as we get close to the end of the season. Personally, I think we should for the sake of a potential playoff run, but it shouldn’t start until we know for sure we can make the playoffs, which leads to the predicament where we probably won’t know that until we are 1-5 games out from the rest of the regular season. The Canucks need Demko how he is playing now to push for it but don’t want to lose him for the playoffs again. Let me know in the comments what you guys think they should do.
During last week the Canucks made two trades. We already talked about what them and what they got but we didn’t see how they would mesh with the team until this week. First, I’ll start with the easy one that is Victor Mancini, he hasn’t played with the Canucks yet and was recently assigned to Abbotsford to hopefully play some games down there. Next is Drew O’Conner who has made a great impact on this team so far. He started in a third line role playing with Suter and Joshua but his great play over the first two games would earn him a promotion to the second line with Chytil and Boeser. Where he would continue to play great, and he would end the week with two goals on ten shots and four hits. The next player is Marcus Pettersson who came is and although he put up zero points, he would look great defensively and, in the breakout, making smart plays and shutting down rushes for the opponents. If he starts putting up points, he will be a huge player moving forward for the Canucks. The last player to talk about is the one who has made the biggest impact in my opinion. Filip Chytil has looked amazing in blue and green so far putting up one goal and two assists for three points in four games. He also set up the play with Drew O’Conner that led to his penalty shot. He looks great in his first four games and has been offensively strong getting and setting up a lot of chances I can see him being that great second line center for the Canucks if his play keeps up. Overall, I think the Canucks have gotten way better then most believed after the trades making them look like a true playoff contender and help them push for potentially the third spot in the Pacific division.
This week has been a very optimistic week for the Canucks after what was a good but controversial week they bounced back and even with their best player hurt came out with a great week and ride great momentum into the Four Nations break. With the Canucks not having a game for almost two weeks I’ll be covering all of team Canada’s games in the Four Nations and then back to Canucks games after the break, so stay tuned for next week in CanucksLand.