Record - 40-30-12 (92 points), 5th in the Pacific Division
Goals For: 249 (18th in the NHL), Goals Against: 236 (8th in the NHL)
Leading Goal Scorer - Elias Pettersson & J.T Miller (32)
Leading Point Scorer - J.T Miller (99)
2022 was a tale of two coaches for the Vancouver Canucks. After an 8-15-2 start the team decided it was time to move on from HC Travis Green. Green had spent the past 5 seasons behind the Vancouver bench, making the playoffs in just one of those years. They brought in veteran coach Bruce Boudreau to take over, and things immediately changed. The team won 7 straight games, and 8 of their first 9 under their new head coach. They had some rough patches over the remainder of the year like every team does, but finished with a very respectable 32-15-10 record under Boudreau. Though they came up short of the playoffs, the Canucks had plenty of positives to look at when evaluating their year that they'd like to carry over into 2023.
One of which is how well star center Elias Pettersson adapted to Boudreau's coaching style when he was hired. Scoring just 4 goals in the first 25 games under Travis Green, Pettersson scored 28 times in the remaining 55 games under their new leader. Now with a full season ahead with Boudreau at the helm, his first 40 goal campaign is well within reach. Next is the emergence of J.T Miller. Coming over from Tampa in the summer of 2019, Miller has been a huge asset for the Canucks. His first year there he had career highs across the board. This past season, he was even more dominant. He had a career high 99 points, the most by a Canuck since Daniel Sedin in 2011. He was spectacular last year in all facets of the game. Any other year he gets more recognition for how he almost carried this team into the playoffs after such an abysmal start. He did, however, get rewarded with a massive 7 year contract extension to stay in a Canucks uniform for the rest of the decade. This year he gets the chance to prove he's worth that money.
What's interesting about the Canucks is that they were in the bottom half of the league in scoring, but had the 9th best powerplay in the league. They were also one of the best teams in goals given up, but had the 29th ranked penalty kill. When playing at even strength, they're a terrific defensive team but struggle offensively. With the talent they have up front as well as on the backend in Quinn Hughes and Oliver-Ekman Larsson, I find it hard to believe that they have a tough time scoring at 5 on 5. Definitely, something Bruce Boudreau wants to focus on next year. They're powerplay will stay top tier as long as they have Hughes quarterbacking it. But what about their PK? Well, when you have a weakness on your team sometimes you need to make a trade or a signing to fill that void. And that's what the Canucks new, GM Patrik Allvin, did this offseason. He signed Maple Leafs winger Ilya Mikheyev, and Bruins Center Curtis Lazar each to multi-year contracts. Both of these players are being brought in to improve their penalty kill and provide depth up front.
Looking at this lineup, I see a ton of potential, especially considering how well they played down the stretch in 2022. They have one of the best goalies in the NHL in Thatcher Demko. Finishing 7th in Vezina voting for the league's top goaltender, I wouldn't be shocked to see Demko's name as one of the finalists next summer. I expect Quinn Hughes to continue to excel his game as well. Coming off of his best year to date, posting career highs in just about every offensive and defensive category, I think Quinn's name will be up for the Norris with the likes of Makar, Hedman, Josi, and Fox. He is beyond gifted with the puck and has much improved his defensive play since Boudreau took the reigns. Another player I'm expecting more out of in 2023 is Brock Boeser. Last year was a very difficult one for Boeser as he was dealing with the deteriorating health of his father Duke, with whom he was extremely close to. His long battle with Parkinson's Disease as well as his more recent battle with lung cancer ended this past May. It was quite evident how much this affected Brock over the course of the year, but my hope is that now his father is at peace he can find the same love for the game that his old man taught him to have when he was a kid.
Taking a deeper dive into this roster, I think a couple of guys to keep an eye on this year are a pair of Russian wingers. One of whom is Vasily Podkolzin, the 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft. He didn't play a ton of minutes his rookie year, but still managed to score 14 goals. Though it was a smaller role, he still showed glimpses of what his potential could be in this league. He has decent size, a lot of skill, a great shot, and has good instincts on defense. We could see him get top 6 minutes this year depending on how he shows out in training camp. The other Russian is Andrey Kuzmenko, who was signed as an undrafted free agent this past offseason. He's not a player I'm all too familiar with having played in the KHL for most of the past decade, but he's someone that GM Patrik Allvin is very excited about. We've seen guys come over from Russia in their mid 20s and tear up the NHL before, so it's not totally out of the question that Kuzmenko takes the league by storm. I'll need to see it to believe it though. I can't just come out and say this kid is the next Artemi Panarin or Kirill Kaprizov.
The Canucks can't have a slow start to the year like they did in 2022. If they do, then they'll be playing catchup once again with the risk of not having enough games left to keep their playoff hopes alive. I don't believe that will happen this year. I see this team finishing third in the Pacific Division behind the Oilers and Flames if they manage to stay healthy. Their young core has another year of experience under their belt with most entering their primes. They have one of the best young leaders in the sport in Bo Horvat. Thatcher Demko is a top ten talent between the pipes. Their front office made the right moves to improve on things they were lacking in last year. Not only do I see this being a bounce back season for the Canucks, but if they get hot at the right time they could potentially make a deep run in the postseason. Let's see if they can do it.
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