TLDR; Canucks don't draft or develop, spend to the cap regularly and commit to older players with larger contracts. They are smaller, lighter and have mobility issues. A backslide from last year to this year was inevitable.
People are stating that there is no real issue because the Canucks are 10th in the league and have various reasons for it from Demko to discipline etc.
truth is, the issues existing now are the same issues that existed post ASG last year, after that amazing first half run. They are also the same issues that exist/existed for like 4-6 seasons prior.
The power play is meh at best. The mobility of the blue line after Hughes is meh. The only players with any appreciable speed are Garland Hoglander and Hughes so forwards get walked by a mobile opposing defense.
Pettersson is still pretty much a baby giraffe on skates in the corners. Hronek has absolutely no clapper now and hasnt since mid last year. Have a 5-6 on the blue line (or two) playing in the top 4. Two guys people were desperate to trade or were considered horrifically overpaid are ahead of the star centre in scoring both pp and 5v5 points.
And, for the (checks notes) 12th or 13th year in a row since the 2011 season; the team is getting pushed around at will with the only person with any sort of snarl or hitting ability being Sherwood.
Every single year the league has teams that wildly overachieve and then fall back to earth the year after. Last year it was the Devils who the year prior were world beaters and last year drafted Silayev top 10. Canucks were world beaters last year and this year....
The best thing this team can do right now with the OEL dead cap increase and still trying to find their identity is NOT trade picks or prospects of any kind unless it is a can't miss deal because the picks/prospects they've shipped out since the OEL trade have contributed almost nothing to the team in the long term.
for reference the picks sent out look like this
2020-2021: 1st round pick (9th OA), 2nd round pick, 3rd round pick 4th round pick, 5th round pick , 6th round pick. Season result, 24th
2021-2022: 2nd round pick. Season result 29th overall
2022-2023: 2nd round pick, 5th round pick. Season result 22nd overall
2024: 1st round pick, 2nd round pick, 5th round pick result 6th overall.
In all of those years and more, the consistent issue is a lack of developed youth, spending to the cap; trades for older vets while squeezing the youth out and in the last 12 years the only players of note the Canucks have drafted/developed were Horvat, Pettersson, Hughes and Hoglander.
All while continuing to have the same visible warts and issues in speed, aggressiveness, power play success and overall mobility. They are consistently one of the smallest teams in the league since 2014 (myers and his neck not withstanding) and every hockey fan (not team fan) has seen this.
Until this team gets away from committing the exact same bad habits it has done since it drafted and developed then insulated that banger core from the moose from 2003-2006 in Burrows, Bieksa, Edler, Kesler, Raymond who were all equal parts speed, pest and skill they're just gonna keep letting you down.
This year. Expect a slide towards the bottom half of the western playoff picture 5-8 and just be happy they are not the Predators.
