Canucks News: Vancouver Back Where We Expected Them
The Vancouver Canucks surprised many by staying in the playoff race, but they are finally heading back to where we expected them.
With 52 points in 52 games, the Vancouver Canucks are still in the playoff race. The Calgary Flames, who currently sit in the second wild-card spot, are just five points ahead, with two more games played. Anything is possible.
Perhaps more importantly, however, the Canucks are now tied for third-last in the league.
Isn’t that what everyone expected going into the year?
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“The teams we’re going to play here now are going to be tough teams,” Desjardins said. “There’s not an easy game in it. There’s no simple way around it — we just have to find ways to be a little bit better. And that is a challenge for us. We’ve got a lot out of the group. The group has played hard. But now we really need to fine tune our game and be good.”
Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins knows what’s up. His players have been working extremely hard, winning a lot of close games against tough competition. Desjardins also knows the upcoming months won’t be any easier than what’s in the past.
The schedule for February is a lot tougher than what the Canucks went through in January. Every game will be a four-point game in the playoff race. And the Canucks have already lost two important contests.
Perhaps it is time to realise this group needs more than “fine tuning”. There are good teams that lose games because they don’t work hard enough. But once you struggle to win despite working hard every night, things get difficult.
Henrik Sedin may be Henr1k, but he is not the 100-point Sedin we once knew. Neither is his brother. And, linemate Loui Eriksson is not going to score 30 goals this season.
There have been some pleasant surprises so far this year, like the emergence of Troy Stecher and Nikita Tryamkin as solid NHL regulars or Bo Horvat‘s and Sven Baertschi‘s scoring success.
But to win games, the Canucks need the star power they used to have on their top line.
The Canucks don’t have many choices — no one plays to lose, so working hard to win is all they can do.
They might just have to live with the fact that it isn’t possible anymore.
And that might actually be the best that could happen for the franchise’s future.
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