I apologize about the lack of activity on the blog. There just hasn't been any good stories to write about. The Canucks also had an awful season as well, finishing 29th place. With the addition of Vegas in the lottery, the odds seem to be spread more evenly, and it's pretty much likely a team with terrible odds will win the lottery.
Now, this post is basically to explain what an insane season the Canucks had in 2016-17. Here we go.
2016-17 SEASON OVERVIEW
ROLLERCOASTER TO START
The Canucks start off the season with 3 insane comeback wins at home, follow by a non-comeback win against the Sabres. The Canucks then went on the road, where things went downhill. They then took on a losing streak, and afterwards it remained an up and down, with wins and losses happening on a slightly even spread.
ROAD WOES TO BLAME
The Canucks really played awful on the road this season. They were a mediocre .500 team at the Rog, but let's be honest, they were, in general, a mediocre team that really could've placed better. If they had an almost equal record between home and away, they'd still miss the playoffs, but they'd be a much better team than last season.
53 HORVAT MAGIC ON THE ICE
Last season, Bo Horvat went on an extended point drought. However, the second he paired up with Sven Baertschi, they both improved a lot. Horvat finished the season with 40 points, and this year he added to that total by several points. However, his improvement during his first half totals versus last year's let to the management selecting him as the team's only all-star this season, and, unfortunately, a terrible music video too.
ROLLERCOASTER CONTINUES
By Christmas, the Canucks have had the second best odds. However, a sudden winning streak caused most fans that supported the tank to panic. They stopped worrying when the Canucks suddenly found themselves in the wild card race. Considering the lack of depth in this year's draft, and the fact it's one of the worst in recent history, unless they have those late round stars that come later on, which is unlikely, it's nice to see the Canucks this close.
But they're the Canucks. They're uncoordinated and have no plan at all. They end up falling out of the race and find themselves a little too high in the lottery race too.
NO MAN'S LAND EXPLAINED
In Hockey, there are two types of no man's land. One is good, one is bad.
The good one is when you are in wild card contention, however, because the opposing conference's lower teams are better than you (As in, they'd be in a wild card berth if they were in your conference), you find yourself also in a very good lottery pick.
The bad one is otherwise. You're out of lottery contention by a good amount of points. Not a blowout amount, but too much for you to catch up. Not only do you have teams with less points than you, but there also teams from the East too. Basically, you have some really bad odds even when you're not making the playoffs.
However, a good no man's land might not pay off in the future.
LOSE TO END IT
As the games kept rolling to the end of the season, the Canucks escalated into a massive losing streak, going extremely low. Soon they found themselves in a must lose versus Arizona. If they lose, Arizona wins, getting higher in the standings, and giving the Canucks better lottery odds. And we lost! Unfortunately, there was only a single point that separated the Canucks with the Coyotes. They had to lose both games in Edmonton, or else they'd drop all the way to the 5th best odds. But no. The Canucks keep their calm and secure the 2nd best odds to close out the season.
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, the league itself had gotten worse for the lower half of the teams. The Canucks find themselves in the exact same place as last year, yet they were many points lower. They surely could have been the worst team in the league last season if they finished with this year's record.
The Canucks definitely reached their goal of having young players on their roster. Unexpected undrafted signee Troy Stecher became the dark horse and this year's Ben Hutton, winning the award for best defenseman. What's odd was that Stecher started the season in Utica, while Hutton started on the main roster. The best reason would be because of Phillip Larsen, one of the bad parts of this season. Other bad parts include Loui Eriksson's mediocre play, Jake Virtanen's slow development, and an extremely mediocre 4th line, full of guys like Jack Skille, Michael Chaput and Jayson Megna.
Willie Desjardins lost his job, Linden and Benning could be on the hot seat soon, and the Canucks need to get a good pick from the lottery because of the weak draft class, or else they may find themselves struggling even more in the future.
Fortunately, there is still a lot more to cheer for. Horvat's improvement, outstanding goaltending by Miller, Markstrom, and even Bachman during the later parts of the season.
Still, the Canucks need to work. It's not certain if guys like Nolan Patrick and Nico Hirschier are already NHL ready. Sure, Matthews and Laine certainly were, but that's because they were much better than the former. That just means the Canucks need to work Horvat, develop Virtanen, get better faces in the roster, make sure players worth a lot of money actually play like the money they're worth, and take it a stop further next season.
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