With the Stanley Cup playoffs just around the corner, you get the sense the Vancouver Canucks are flying under the radar.
Pittsburgh and Chicago are viewed as favourites to win it all, but you don’t hear much about a team that is about to win its fifth-straight Northwest Division title and went to the Cup final just two seasons ago.
“All I know is our expectations are the same,” Canucks bench boss Alain Vigneault said. “We’ve had some good teams here. We’ve got a good team this year, but every team is different. As soon as you change one component it’s a different team with different team chemistry with different roles and this team is different than what we’ve had in the past.”
In recent years, the Canucks have been juggernauts during the regular season. They could run ‘n gun with any team in the league or shut anyone down with stingy defence and goaltending.
That’s what made the 2010-11 Presidents’ Trophy-winning team so good. They were so well-built that they didn’t possess any tangible weaknesses. The only thing missing was a Stanley Cup ring.
This club in 2013 isn’t as machine-like offensively or deep defensively, and the threat of another playoff goalie controversy is there. Though they’ve put together a few winning streaks this season, the Canucks have yet to truly show their potential.
Perhaps it’s because the season’s first half was spent juggling Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider between the pipes. Perhaps it’s because Ryan Kesler has missed more games than he’s played. Or maybe it’s due to the fact that the Sedin twins haven’t put up the dominant offensive numbers they did in recent years.
Whatever it is that has kept the Canucks from repeating what they did in 2010-11 or 2011-12, Henrik Sedin knows they don’t have much time to find their stride before the playoffs begin.
“When you get down to a handful of games, you can’t turn a switch and be ready to play in the playoffs,” the captain said. “You have to get in at full speed and there can’t be any hesitation for what you need to do out there.”
Getting Kesler back in the lineup certainly helps the Canucks, who have four games remaining and still need to clinch a playoff berth. Once they do start the playoffs, Kesler needs to be a key player if the Canucks wish to achieve their goal of winning a Stanley Cup.
Kesler was an all-around dominant force in the 2011 playoffs, a Conn Smythe candidate right up until their gut-wrenching Game 7 loss to Boston on home ice. Last year he failed to score a goal in the first round and hasn’t been the same player since the hip injury he sustained late in the 2011 post-season.
But when Kesler is healthy and on top of his game, he’s an invaluable piece to Vancouver’s puzzle. In his six games since returning from a fractured foot, Kesler has seven points.
“He helps us out in so many aspects of the team game, whether that’s offensively or defensively. He’s on the power play, penalty kill, takes some important draws for our team. I don’t think there’s any aspect of our game that he doesn’t help,” Luongo said of the two-way centre who has missed 32 games with shoulder and foot injuries this season.
“It’s tough, no doubt, to go from one injury to the next. When you enjoy playing the game the worst thing is to sit and watch,” Luongo continued. “It’s nice to see him healthy and contributing and I’m sure the more he plays the more comfortable he’ll feel. Hopefully that’ll be right around the time the playoffs roll around.”
Although they aren’t as dominant or as invincible as they were the last two seasons, the Canucks’ locker room is confident in their chances of making some noise come playoff time.
“With the group of defencemen we have, good depth up front and getting Kesler back, I think we are looking as good as we’ve ever been when I’ve been here,” said Henrik Sedin.
The one-two punch of Luongo and Cory Schneider is also a strength of this team. Schneider is likely the starter heading into the playoffs, but if he falters the veteran Luongo is more than capable of righting the ship.
The defence in front of Luongo and Schneider, led by its anchor Alexander Edler, is good-not-great as it has paved the way for the Canucks to once again boast a top-10 goals-against average.
Prior to the trade deadline, Canucks GM Mike Gillis traded a second-round pick and a prospect to Dallas in exchange for Derek Roy, who gives the Canucks a useful centre that is expected to provide a lift offensively in the playoffs.
When asked what he likes most about his team heading into the playoffs, Vigneault mentioned his club’s overall balance. Still, it seems like something is missing with this team – and it’s tough to pinpoint why that is.
The results are there; they’d be on pace for another 100-plus point season in an 82-game setting.
Is it because their goals-per-game output of 2.66 is the lowest it’s been in five years?
Their underperforming power play, abnormally ranked 26th in the league? Who knows?
But maybe, just maybe, the Canucks can hit their stride in the playoffs.
The pain of Game 7 against Boston won’t leave until they finally hoist the silver chalice.
Last year’s playoff appearance was a blur, as the No. 8-seeded Kings tore through the Canucks before they could settle in. Couple those failures with the losses against Chicago in 2009 and 2010, and one would assume the Canucks have learned enough lessons by now.
“Experience a lot of times is hard to come by and you need to go through different things – you need to go through success and you need to go through times when it doesn’t really go your way,” Vigneault said. “We’ve gone through both and we’re going to try and put it all together.”
