By: Trent Leith / December 14, 2023 It is no secret that the Vancouver Canucks have taken a huge step forward this year, and it was a step no one expected. The Canucks are firmly in second place in the Pacific Division in the middle of December. While most of us expected the Canucks to take a step forward with a full season of Rich Tocchet at the helm, we expected a wildcard birth at best, not stretches of dominance and the team becoming a top team in the West.
A Change in Expectations
Expectations for the Canucks have rapidly changed, and that is good and exciting for fans. There was a lot of talk about moral victories in the last few seasons. For example, if the Canucks made a late-game push and tallied up a lot of shots late in the third to keep a game close, or to take a strong team to overtime, or even to hit and block a lot of shots, the team would get praise for a good effort.
But that isn’t the case anymore. The Canucks and fans alike are done trying to find positive threads in a negative game. A loss is a loss and that isn’t acceptable anymore.
For example, in the Hughes Bowl last week when the NJ Devils came to town, the Canucks went down 4-1 in the first period. The Canucks rallied back to 5-5 and in the last minute of the game the Devils broke the stalemate and took two points leaving the Canucks with nothing. In past years, we would have praised the Canucks for their battle, their effort to rally back. We would chalk up the last goal to some bad luck and give the team a firm pat on the back.
This season, close isn’t good enough. Instead of praising the four-goal comeback, the coaching staff and the players quickly said it was a bad game. The Canucks didn’t care that they almost came back, they only cared that they fell behind 4-1 so early and dug themselves such a hole.
“It was nice to come back for them [The fans] but, obviously, it makes it sting a little bit more that we couldn’t finish it off for them.” Dakota Joshua said post-game.
Tocchet was a little bit more technical with his condemnation of the game, particularly the final goal of the game. “I think maybe you could blame all five guys on the ice for that [goal],” explained Tocchet. “I still don’t understand where guys were going on that play. That’s details, details, details. That’s what we keep hammering with these guys.”
Player Accountability
The culture change is noticeable. Tocchet seems to be a firm, but fair coach vs. good ol’ Uncle Bruce who was happy to sugar up his team and let them run around and have fun. One coaching style is fun but doesn’t produce sustainable results, whereas the other makes players accountable and better. Tocchet’s tough love is producing results.
Take Dakota Joshua for example, Tocchet singled out Dakota Joshua’s performance in the preseason. “Dakota, he’s gotta pick it up,” he said, “I’m not gonna get into some other factors, but he’s gotta try to win a job.”
Joshua was scratched early in the season and upon his return, Joshua has been a strong contributor to the team. His forecheck is relentless, his hitting is top notch and he even has four goals playing on the third line. His line has been the most consistent and successful line for the Canucks this season. Tocchet was very clear with Joshua on what he needed out of the hulking forward, and the message was received.
The latest pet project of Tocchet has been Andrei Kuzmenko. Kuzmenko has been relatively snakebit lately, but unfortunately when a player whose sole strength on the team is to score goals and produce offence, when that is not happening the player doesn’t bring much to the table. When Pettersson loses his scoring touch for a threat, his defensive play is strong enough, and that keeps Pettersson a positive player. However, Kuzmenko doesn’t have those same strengths.
Tocchet scratched Kuzmenko for back-to-back games and now has him playing on the fourth line and top-unit powerplay. This is in an effort to help find Kuzmenko’s confidence and shot. You can shelter him on the fourth line in a way you can’t do at the top of your lineup.
The dividends are already starting to pay off. on Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Kuzmenko scored the Canucks first goal in a 4-1 win. But he also made a great back-checking play to help out his defenders.
Kuzmenko needs a few more games where his shot is back and he is more present in his own end of the ice, but it goes to show the players are fighting to get out of slumps. They are taking accountability and becoming better for it.
Looking Ahead
The Canucks are likely punching above their weight, even to this point. But that is not to discredit them. Good teams capitalize on hot streaks and bank points to allow regression later down the line with no ill effects. The LA Kings are likely going to decrown the Canucks as the second-place team in the Pacific soon enough, and that will leave the Canucks in the third and final playoff spot before falling into the wildcard race.
That is okay because the Canucks have a 12-point buffer between them, and the Oilers who are fourth in the Pacific. The Oilers are not even in a wildcard spot right now, they are on the outside looking in by a significant margin. To dethrone the Canucks, the Oilers need to close a 12-point gap on Vancouver down the stretch, and even if they do that, the Canucks are still in the wild-card race.
The Canucks have put themselves in a fantastic position to make the postseason, and are not taking their foot off the gas. October was incredibly strong for the Canucks, and November was a drop back down a bit, but even so, they had a winning record and never left the top three in the division. Now the Canucks have most recently strung together three wins implying they might have shaken off their slump and are ready to be a dangerous team again.
Other teams are taking notice too, “They’re explosive offensively … and they’re a deep team. They don’t give you a whole lot. They got a lot of guys that can skate, a lot of guys that check, they work hard and they got a great goaltender too, so they’re a pretty complete team.” Brayden Point told Kevin Woodly following Tuesday night’s win over the Lightning.
After many long years, the Canucks have graduated from Moral Victories to Normal Victories and it is incredibly exciting to watch.