I took last Saturday off, which means I missed the game against Toronto. I heard it was a wonderful experience, though. The Vancouver Canucks had every reason to lose that game, yet put on one of their best performances of the season.

There were delightful stories of Elias Pettersson putting on a 60-minute Selke session the entire game, neutering the Toronto offence so efficiently that it looked like the Maple Leafs were in the playoffs. Kevin Blankinen was in fine form, stopping every single shot that came his way, once again causing you to run some quick calculations through your head about his next contract. Quinn Hughes, well, he was Quinn Hughes, walking the grounds of Mount Olympus while the rest of us mere mortals basked in his glow, wondering how we ever put up with Jiri Slegr.

And so when I sat down to watch that game, to make sure people weren’t playing a cruel trick on me, I found myself sitting up in my chair a little bit. Not only was it a fantastic performance from the Canucks, it felt like it could be the start of something. The kind of game you could build off of because, as sports has taught me, life is nothing but a variety of Lego bricks.

Could that be a turning point in the season, one that united the team and brought them together? Could that be the game that put an end to any locker room strife, real or imagined, and forged a new path forward, a path that led towards the first round and more?

Sadly, it was none of that. In fact, the cold, cruel touch of reality was second only to having to listen to a commercial for Law and Order endlessly play while the Canucks got the absolute sh!t kicked out of them. “I’m sorry you are watching this terrible hockey game, but let me deliver some dramatic lines about doing my duty or making sure I am there to serve the people before we watch the clock slowly run out.”

And look, hey, Winnipeg is at the top of the league for a reason. You want to beat the Jets; that’s a hard enough task without having to do it on their home ice. Nobody has put up more goals in the NHL this year than Winnipeg, so thumping the Canucks to the tune of 6-1 is something well within their abilities.

And maybe if this was last year, you laugh this one off. To the Canucks credit, last season was one in which they rarely hit a rough patch during the regular season. When they stumbled, you were reasonably confident they would bounce back in a game or two. At the very least, you wouldn’t have to worry about a former player showing up on the radio to discuss the locker room dynamic.

This year, though, it’s been nothing but bumpy rides. Which is why you can’t just laugh this result off because we’re now in the middle of the season, and the Canucks are fighting to stay above water in the playoff race. We are no longer afforded the opportunity to go, “Well, hey, it’s a long season, they’ll figure it out.” The “I’ll do my taxes later” energy can no longer be applied.

Which is surprising, because it felt like this game should have had a better result. Filip Hronek returned to the lineup. Lankinen was coming off of a shutout. EP40 and JT Miller have been back in the lineup for a reasonable amount of time now; they should be joining Stella in getting their groove back. It felt like the team was primed and ready to pass the next litmus test.

Instead, almost everyone on the Canucks roster had a terrible outing. Even Quinn Hughes was relegated to the status of “great hockey player” instead of the normal God-like status afforded him.

The only bright spot of the game was a late Nils Höglander goal, which might buy him some exercise time in the outside basketball court at the Tocch Pen, but that’s about it.

In short, unless things drastically change around here, this season is starting to go off the rails.

This team is too inconsistent to be considered anything more than a potential bubble playoff team at this point. That “parents waiting until you graduate high school so they can get a divorce” vibe is hanging heavily around this team, and I don’t know if a winning streak or a trade will even end up being the thing to stop it.

All I know is the Vancouver Canucks are playing some of the most tedious, uninspired, boring hockey we’ve seen since probably 2016, and I should never have to bring up that year when talking about a good team.

Remember Nikita Tryamkin? Remember how hard we tried to make him a thing because at least then we had something interesting to talk about instead of Jayson Megna on the power play?

That was 2016. We should never be thinking about 2016. Ever.

Yet here we are.

Best do we have to do this?

HOGGY shoot that puck #Canucks

— Petey (@Canucks_Fan40) January 15, 2025

I am going to be upfront with you; there will be very few clips from this game. Well, aside from the various Winnipeg Jets goal clips. We’ll still have those.

But aside from that, I do have a few clips from the start of the game, back when I foolishly thought this might be an entertaining and/or interesting game of hockey. In fact, the subject of shots came up on the broadcast, which gave me an easy segue to bring up something my colleague Cody brought to my attention. As we all know, Rick Tocchet’s team has been at the bottom of the league in pure shot generation this season, and well, wouldn’t you know it? Cody looked at the numbers, and that appears to be a common theme for any team he coaches.

As per Cody, “The number of Tocchet head-coached teams that finished inside the top-16 of NHL all-situations shot rate: one! the 2019-20 Arizona Coyotes, 14th in the NHL. A number of Tocchet head-coached teams that finished in the bottom-right of the NHL all-situations shot rate: five!

2017-18 Coyotes 29th (of 31)
2020-21 Coyotes, 29th (of 31)
2022-23 Canucks, 25th (of 32)
2023-24 Canucks, 26th (of 32)
2024-25 Canucks, 31st (of 32)

Clearly, the Coyotes didn’t have the deepest of rosters, and you could make the very realistic argument that the Canucks current defensive core is holding them back as well. But we also have to remember that Tocchet has a say in the roster. We know he likes large, tall defencemen. Loves them. Can’t have enough of them. He likes defenders who can defend. Doesn’t have time for puck movers, who needs them when you already have one in Quinn Hughes. Gotta have those trees.

So there is clearly a case here of Tocchet both believing this is the style he has to play to win games (which, hey, fair enough, this team isn’t exactly brimming with puck movers), but he also has a say in a roster that doesn’t lend itself to playing the game a different way. It feels like the self-fulfilling prophecy we all used growing up when we said we’d do our homework later, only to lament later that it had gotten far too late to start our homework.

Alas, one of the hardest parts of sports is trying to sift through luck and small sample sizes, so all we can do is look at last season and this current year and do our best to read the tea leaves. And all we know right now is that this team, for whatever reason, is absolutely horrid at shot generation.

Which, again, shots by themselves? Not the sexiest of metrics. Shots are great, but if you take low-quality, low-danger shots all game, it doesn’t matter if you juice the scoreboard by getting 40 on the goalie.

It’s just, it’s a really bad optic when you take low-danger, low-quality shots and manage to average around 20 a game like Vancouver does. It’s the best of both awful, horrible worlds.

Which is why we see the Canucks do things like this, where Nils Höglander gets into a decent shooting position but instead tries to dangle his way into a pass instead of just getting it on net:

Or you have Danton Heinen getting a pass from Kiefer Sherwood, but by the time he unleashes his shot, someone has gotten their stick in the shooting lane to deflect it over the net:

“But Wyatt, Rick Tocchet mentioned how his team needs to shoot more, he’s aware of it, it’s the players fault!!”

That’s true to a degree. The players are the ones who ultimately have to shoot the puck. It’s just this team has a strict structure, so it’s not too surprising that not many players are going out of their way to try and be creative offensively. Getting thrown into Tocch Pen is a very real threat, and for all they know, they could be on the next train to Calgary to join Kuzmenko if they dangle the puck instead of dumping it in and getting back for a line change.

We just see an awful lot of low-to-high passes on this team, and there are multiple times where it looks like the Canucks work their asses off for an entire shift, grinding away in the offensive zone, battling for the puck, cycling as if honouring the Sedins is their only goal in life, only to end the play without a shot, or my favourite, the Derek Forbort point shot that John Shorthouse has to pretend is a threat to go in.

Then you turn around and watch the other team effortlessly generate a high-danger scoring chance off of the rush without even trying, much like Nicky Ehlers did here:

Yes, that is Carson Soucy chasing a hit and wildly flinging his stick in the general direction of the puck. No, it wasn’t very efficient, and it resulted in a breakaway. Yes, he hasn’t been the same player as he was last season. No, I don’t think he is actively playing this way to try and hurt you emotionally.

Best bold strategy

Lanks did that on purpose bc the #Canucks play better down 1-0 🤣

— LORD REESE リース (@L0RDREESE) January 15, 2025

Kyle Connor heard you like your hat tricks all-natural, so he made sure to get started early when Kevin Lankinen got caught wandering out of his net:

I have to keep it real with you: Lankinen was hot garbage in this game. Don’t get me wrong, he still threw in a handful of highlight reel saves in there, but this was not his night. You could probably tell that due to the fact he straight up tried to pass the puck along the boards right to a Jets player.

Still, you have to hand it to Kyle Connor for not missing the empty net, I guess? Lafayette probably hits the post there?

Best own worst enemy

Brutal give away from Miller, brutal give away from Boeser and the Canucks are on pace for 6 shots. We're so back.#Canucks

— -T (@travizz007) January 15, 2025

Things didn’t get any cleaner for the Canucks, when minutes later, they gave up a shorthanded breakaway:

Brock Boeser fights to hold onto the puck, does his best to extend the play, and ends the play with a pass even Sam Darnold felt was a bit much.

Adam Lowry gets the breakaway and has a story to tell his kids about how he once beat Hall of Famer Quinn Hughes in a foot race. Pretty hard to turn that power play into a positive for the Canucks.

Best lack of suspense

Welp #canucks it’s been fun

— Dave (@stacksOsats) January 15, 2025

I will say, at least the Canucks didn’t keep you wondering if they were going to make a game out of this one, as they were pretty quick to let Connor score his next goal:

The Canucks vaunted House of Cards defence falls apart as Carson Soucy and Noah Juulsen both look to have a man covered on the initial rush, only for it to end with Soucy, Pettersson, and Jake DeBrusk all sort of chasing the puck at the point. The end result is Connor getting another tap-in goal as he swoops in and tucks in the rebound.

This was not a good GOTI system. Instead of protecting the guts of the ice, the Canucks find themselves deploying a defence better suited for the “Worst bowel movement you’ve had” section on Reddit. Juulsen does the impossible by covering both everybody and nobody at the same time. He just keeps sort of floating in the general direction of people he’d like to cover, even if the act of defensive covering never actually appears.

That Selke game from Elias was nowhere to be found, as his backcheck ends with him joining Jake DeBrusk at the point instead of covering the middle.

Even Law and Order would want nothing to do with this crime scene on this goal. Too many variables. Too many options for who the real killer was.

Best making it rain

Kyle Connor has more goals than #Canucks have shots.

Jets lead 3-0 and hats are raining down in Winnipeg.

— Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) January 15, 2025

Hey, remember checked out JT Miller? Yeah, he was back:

Tyler Myers starts the end to end rush, so JT Miller initially covers for it, as you can see him play tight to the boards along the blue line.

The problem starts up when the puck is intercepted behind the net, the Jets counterattack with speed, and JT Miller assumes Tyler Myers is going to get back into position. At this point onwards, JT makes zero shoulder checks and just lives his life, which, hey, that’s very on-brand for Vancouver drivers.

So of course JT doesn’t see Myers fall to the ice, he just sort of plays zone coverage at this point, as he’s just putting his stick in passing lanes and, again, refusing to look behind him. He just naturally assumes Myers is good to go, which seems like a risky gambit.

Myers is, of course, not good to go, and despite him skating back into the play, he can’t quite catch up to Connor.

It’s just a play that we’ve seen from JT Miller before, where he gets caught puck-watching and doesn’t scan the ice around him. No shoulder checks, no curiosity about the world around him. It doesn’t help that nobody is really communicating out there. Nobody is screaming in a panic about coverage; they just all sort of accept their fate very calmly.

All of which leads to soft, sloppy coverage and, in this case, a goal against.

Best polite vs angry approach

4 goals on 9 shots and Rick isn't even thinking of pulling Lanky. Like hello? #Canucks

— Labree (@ProtectTheMoose) January 15, 2025

PULL LANKINEN! You stubborn fuck! #Canucks

— caleb kirby (@kirbman23) January 15, 2025

The Jets made it 4-0 before a minute had passed in the second period when Quinn Hughes failed to retrieve a puck on the dump-in:

Hughes has been beaten up an awful lot lately, and with a hand that might still be injured, it’s not too surprising to see him hold up there. A healthy Hughes probably sneaks in there and tries to skate through the hit, but Tuesday night? Quinn played it safe.

The end result ends up being a pretty tame shot that Lankinen should have had, but again, this is the one game a month we allow Kevin to play poorly in. It’s in his contract.

Still, you could argue it should have stayed 3-0 at this point, but the counterargument to that is, what’s the point? At no point in this game did it feel like Vancouver was making a significant push to be a threat in this game.

Best holding onto memories

Hey at least we beat Toronto amirite
😭 #Canucks

— MalMarvel (@MalMarvel) January 15, 2025

Tyler Myers was then called for a tripping penalty, and while I don’t fully agree with it, I will post it anyway, just so I can show a clip that isn’t just a Winnipeg Jets goal:

The Canucks penalty kill came up huge, though, and even ended up with the best scoring chance when Carson Soucy’s slick defensive play led to a Suter shot and Blueger rebound attempt:

Aside from the Nils Höglander goal, this was the offensive highlight of the game for Vancouver.

I wish I was kidding.

Oh dear god, how I wish I was kidding.

Best uphill battle

Jets just toying with the #Canucks.

I’m embarrassed

— bavel_puree (@rickcochrane_re) January 15, 2025

The Jets would then get a power play off of a Conor Garland penalty, to which Kevin Lankinen did his best to stuff their attempts at pushing the ball into the endzone:

Not once, but twice:

It was a game in which Vancouver was getting dominated in, but also one in which the Jets looked like they were barely trying?

Whatever the vibe is with this team this season, this game is sort of symbolic of all of that. The team just sat back and ate it, offering up very little in the way of pushback. At most, we got shots of Tocchet behind the bench, looking like he might need to go and buy some cigarettes.

Best keep on bleeding

The #Canucks were so preoccupied with figuring out how to win 1-0 and 2-1 that they forgot that sometimes you need to win 6-5.

— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) January 15, 2025

The team was already dead inside by this point, so I honestly don’t think we need to dive too deep into the how or why of the rest of the goals.

How? Jets were better.

Why? Canucks gave up.

That’s it, that’s how this goal happens:

Another rush into the zone with possession, another team scoring a goal as a result of it.

Clearly, it’s a bit of a weird goal, with Derek Forbort unable to control the stick of Nino Niederreiter, who then banks the puck in off of Kevin. But good teams make their own luck and all that.

My worst fear of this goal is Rick Tocchet seeing that and thinking the Canucks defence needs to be bigger. Forbort is too small, they have to go bigger. Only more size will stop goals like this. 6’4″ defencemen are too small, you see, they get pushed around too much. We need to set the bar at 6’7″.

Best cruise control

#Canucks look like they've given up on this game and just going through the motions.#pathetic

— Milz (@Milzz89) January 15, 2025

The Jets almost got Connor his fourth goal of the game late in the second period, as the Canucks defence of the GOTI was completely gone by this point:

Again, not worth diving too deep into the rest of this game, as this was all garbage time by this point.

Tyler Myers could go end to end and score a Michigan goal, and it would be nothing more than a footnote at this point in the game.

Best concerning

9:10 of ice time for Miller through two periods. Yeah yeah nobody's playing well, but something is up there, either injury or other.

— Jason Brough 🙁 (@SadClubCommish) January 15, 2025

JT Miller ended the night with 14:37 of ice time, a far cry from the 20+ minutes we’ve seen from him in the past.

As Jason points out, there is something clearly at play, we just don’t know if it’s an injury or if it’s the coach making decision for other reasons.

Best six pack attack

Touchdown ! #canucks

— n (@nj1010101) January 15, 2025

Tyler Myers got a penalty to start the third period when the Canucks once again stopped protecting the GOTI after Derek Forbort’s attempt at spinning in circles didn’t work:

Erik Brännström can’t provide that level of defence, you see, so he had to go to the farm to live with the rabbits.

The end result, you ask? Mark Schiefele getting the goal in the Bumpin’ Bo spot:

Again, sure, we could break down this goal, but the team had given up. None of this matters. Just a truly awful game from the Canucks.

Best where is the passion

The more this season unfolds, the more and more I get convinced that last year was an utter fluke and this team actually is still very meh…#Canucks

— Goalie Friend (@jabs9824) January 15, 2025

After realizing the Canucks were dead inside and were no longer showing any visible signs of pride, the Jets kept trying to score, even when shorthanded:

That was another power play in which the best chance went the opposition instead of the Canucks.

We’re almost done, I promise.

Best for posterity

Can we just let connor get 5 so someone win a mil? #Canucks

— Tj (@Vancitynation) January 15, 2025

You might be thinking “Wyatt, this is cruel, stop showing Jets highlights, I know they got six goals, we saw the six goals already, we’re done, we’re good.”

The problem is that Quads screams at me a lot and demands I show you EVERYTHING, so I need you to know just how bad this game was. This easily could have been a 10-1 loss instead of the 6-1 loss it ended at:

Is there a reason JT Miller fully sends it while covering on defence, rushing up the ice for a fly-by attempt at a poke check, thus enabling the Jets to come in with numbers? I guess if you’re being charitable, you can say you might as well go for it when you’re down six goals? Sure? Why not?

Best breaking the slump

HUGE HÖGLANDER GOAL (to cut the Jets lead to 5)

— avery (@averyspacehall) January 15, 2025

As mentioned earlier, Nils Höglander may have got a goal that ultimately ended up being very meaningless to the result of the game, but at least it might help get him going:

For a guy that has been shy to shoot the puck, and has been living at the edge of the lineup, that has to feel good for Not So Nearly Nils. Dude summoned the power of Cody Hodgson and just goes bar down on the best goalie in the NHL; that has to put a bit of a swagger in your step.

Once you get past the crushing, humiliating loss, that is.

But aside from that, maybe Nils will stop squeezing the stick so hard and can get back to being the guy who can be relied on for some goals.

And that was the game. The Jets thoroughly dominated the Canucks, and as we said earlier, the end result isn’t something out of left field. They are a very good hockey team over there, as Travis Green might say.

The problem is we don’t know what kind of team the Canucks are this year. They have an identity crisis right now, which is highlighted by Rick Tocchet talking all year long during post-game scrums about the things his team needs to do better. He’s not wrong, of course, but at what point do you accept that the team just doesn’t have the juice to do what needs to be done?

Once again, all eyes point up towards Patrik Allvin as we wonder, just what exactly is the game plan for this season? Are they all in? Or are they planning for next year?

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