The Vancouver Canucks lost to the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Thursday night, which isn’t particularly all that strange. If there are two teams in the league that can grind out a hideously boring, low-scoring affair, the type of game that makes you ponder building a time machine to prevent the creation of hockey, or mankind itself, it would be Minnesota or Nashville.
And mired in a road trip filled with injuries, amidst a tight schedule, the Canucks letting out a slow, gentle fart into the night skies to punctuate the end of their travels isn’t exactly something coming out of left field.
What continues to be a bit of a surprise has been the play of Quinn Hughes. Don’t get me wrong, he is still the Canucks best player on the season, just edging ahead of Max Sasson.
And there is probably something unfair about comparing Quinn Hughes to the incredibly high bar he has set for himself and this city. But I think we can all agree that something seems slightly off about the Canucks captain.
His play on the ice just hasn’t been as clean as we’re used to. His handling of the puck, his cuts on the ice, it just hasn’t felt like that Norris-level Quinn Hughes can play at. Which, I know, that’s a bit like lamenting why Superman didn’t seem to fly quite as fast when he lifted the crumbling building off of the starving orphans.
“He saved the kids, but he didn’t seem too excited about it, you know?” I sent to my group chat in Metropolis. “Maybe he just wants to join his friend Batman in Gotham City when his contract ends?” the chat responds with eye emojis.
We just haven’t seen a lot of those offensive zone forays where he would own the puck and dominate puck possession this season.
And again, it’s an unfair bar, I get that. And it’s very early in the season, so I am not writing this as concrete proof that this season is turning into a giant turd for #43. He is still carrying a heavy load for this team and still being asked to do some tremendous heavy lifting.
But something just feels off. And I don’t want to get too deep into “watching TV and giving my psychological assessment in 30 seconds,” but I do think it’s fair to say he has been visibly frustrated this season, whether that’s in media scrums or on the ice itself. Maybe that’s frustration with himself, or maybe with the team, or maybe his next contract hanging over his head; we have no way of knowing.
What we do know is that when a team starts to struggle, you start looking at everything for answers. Elias Pettersson’s ice time. A first time NHL coach. The fallout from losing the skill of JT Miller at centre. Leaning on PDO benders a little too hard once again. And yes, the Captain of the team slamming his stick a little too hard on the last faceoff of the game.
Is it too early to panic? Of course it is. Eight games is both the longest time in the world in the NHL while also being nothing at all. Fast forward a month and we could be talking about how the Canucks put everything together and Quinn Hughes 13 game point streak has been a huge part of it.
But the talking points are simmering in the background and they will only start to boil if we get to twenty games played and the team is still playing hockey at the level they are now.
And with only one even strength point through eight games, Quinn Hughes will have to be part of the discussion.
That was a terrible PP really unorganised…#canucks I have never seen Quinn so confused about the PP.
I don’t know whether it was fatigue, bad ice conditions, or just general excitement about playing hockey in first city to legalize prostitution, but the Canucks did everything in their power to make hockey look incredibly difficult on this night. Whether it was passing or shooting, it just felt like Vancouver was handling the puck a bit like a hand grenade at all times.
Now, credit to Nashville, as they understand their role in the NHL is to make hockey excruciatingly painful to watch. They do this by skating really hard and taking away time and space. Not to generate thrilling offence, mind you, but just so they can dump the puck into the corner quicker and try and grind along the boards for minutes at a time.
Even on the power play, where you should have time and space to produce fluid puck movement, Vancouver seemed thrown off by Nashville’s insistence on pressuring the puck carrier.
The end result? This was the best chance the Canucks got on the first power play of the game:
They finally manage to move the puck around a bit, but the end result isn’t a high danger chance, oh no. Instead it was our old friend from last year, the point shot of eternal sadness.
Also note Quinn Hughes missing the bouncing puck, leading to a zone exit. On its own, no big deal. Happens all the time to people. That’s a hard puck to contain.
BUT THIS IS QUINN HUGHES, MAN. He would have three guys on him last year and he would like ninja kick his way into keeping the puck into the zone.
We have just seen a lot of moments this season where Hughes hasn’t been able to make the crazy plays he has in the past, and I honestly wonder if the frustration he’s showing is starting to bleed into his game a little bit. Gripping the stick a little too hard as Vito Spatafore would say.
Fun fact: At one point over 1500 sex workers took up shop in Nashville during the Civil War in a place called Smokey Row, leading to one private writing “They say Smokey Row killed more soldiers than the war.” Due to the STDs, you see.
This is why they legalized prostitution, to try and instill health practices and provide medical assistance to lower the amount of sexually transmitted diseases. Which to their credit, it actually worked! STDs began dropping! But then the war ended, and prostitution was illegal again.
All of which is to say this game was very boring but at least the history was exciting.
Best harnessing chaos for good
#Canucks are able to create extended offensive zone time in part because of Tyler Myers’ work behind the net. Power forward skills on full display
Tyler Myers tried to get his team going using the skill he knows best: Aggressively forechecking with chaotic intent:
And he does a good job to get the puck back, and ends up finding Drew O’Connor, who spins out and has a choice of either sending it back to Chaos Giraffe for the back door tap in, or send it far boards to Conor Garland who for some reason is calling for the puck from Alabama.
Drew chooses Garland, which is the wrong choice. When you have a chance to feed Tyler Myers in a net front position, you take that all day everyday. I don’t care if you have to feather a little lob pass through the crease, choose Chaos, damn it.
Perhaps insulted by Calendar’s inability to recognize the right play call, Myers completed a tidy bit of business by playing solid defence and separating Michael Bunting from the puck on this puck retrieval:
Now you might be wondering “Gee Wyatt, that clip wasn’t very exciting” but here’s the thing, IT IS EXCITING. For this game at least. Like this is legit a top five play from this game. Take it in, watch it a few times, and by the time this article ends you’ll be back up here apologizing to me and thanking me for including this.
Fun fact #2: Why won’t you see any Jake DeBrusk clips in this article? Because he was absolutely putrid in this game. He was last on the team in Corsi and his xGF% was 2.63%, which basically means anytime the he was on the ice, you were on a bus chuckling about being in danger; He wasn’t generating anything and the other team was generating everything.
But that also kind of shows the power of Jake DeBrusk, I think. I have seen every player criticized this year except for Jake. I don’t know how he does it. Dude is a magician.
Once again let’s head back to the Canucks on the power play and revel in their inability to create shooting lanes or passing lanes, resulting in zone exits.
Up first we have Elias Pettersson scanning the zone, looking for weaknesses, trying to find the right passing option, before promptly using Alex Edler’s ol’ trick, throw it in some shinpads:
Throwing the puck along the boards to the only guy skating in Conor Garland was probably the right play here, but it wasn’t just Elias making mistakes, as Corolla himself would duff a pass off the back of the next on the next offensive zone set up:
The Canucks finally escape the Nashville pressure, they move the puck around and, yeah, just another self-inflicted wound. This was a lot of the game, really. They just never seemed like a fluid team, which part of that is on Nashville making hockey akin to a paper cut on your eye followed up by splashing vinegar in it, but Vancouver did themselves no favours either.
In fact, it was Calendar of all people who probably created the best scoring chances of the first period when twice he found Aatu Räty in front of the net, only for the puck to be sent wide both times:
I have been critical of Drew, but this was one of his better games, even if that bar was low.
I still don’t think a Drew O’Connor shot can be considered a scoring chance, but on a night in which the Canucks looked stuck in the mud, he was at least driving the puck to the net, and he set up a linemate twice with very good passes.
Which is more than I can say for Jake DeBrusk.
You can’t escape everything just because you’re relatable and you enjoy Pokémon Jake! You will pay for your “had a bad night of hockey” crimes! This is the night we bury you! Prepare to be stung!
(this game was really tedious, I’m so sorry, this is all I have.)
Just brutal 5 on 3 and PPs right now. Tough to watch and really boring #Canucks
When you have a five on three in hockey, usually you would want to score a goal. That feels like a reasonable request.
But the closest the Canucks came to scoring on their two man advantage was Garland trying to clean up a Elias Pettersson pass that was meant for Brock Boeser, but was deflected in the crease:
There was just nothing clean in this game. Every pass, every shot, it just felt like it was hitting something.
And even when the Canucks settled in and looked to break down the Nashville Predators penalty kill? They looked absolutely bewildered by it:
It was as if they had never seen a triangle set up before. Squares? They can handle squares. Lines? No problem. But a triangle? Woah there.
I dunno. That clip doesn’t really inspire confidence. The Canucks get pushed to the outside and they just cannot break through the Nashville penalty killing unit for the life of them. They resort to a wrist shot from the point that Nashville promptly blocks and clears out of the zone. No high danger chances on an extended five on three, unless you count Garland trying to smash in the puck off the deflected pass earlier.
Even worse than that? The Canucks only had five high danger chances on the night. Four of them were in the first period. For the life of me I cannot remember three of them.
Best first period summary
They’re making it look so hard. My kid was watching and said wow Hockey looks really hard. I don’t think I’ll play it. I don’t actually have a kid, but if I did, they’d probably say that.
This game really gonna end 0-0 and go to a shootout #Canucks
When the Canucks started taking penalties in the second period, I assumed Nashville would score because that’s just how hockey works. If you insult the Hockey Gods by not scoring on a two man advantage, they will do their best to humble and humiliate you in response.
But Vancouver actually had better offensive chances in the second period when shorthanded, then they did with the man advantage.
Up first we had Calendar generating a rush chance, as he does, and not scoring, as he does:
Then you had Kiefer Sherwood breaking up a play in the neutral zone and getting a breakaway chance, but he is also denied by Juuse Saros:
This is what life is like when the PDO bender doesn’t go your way, alas.
Best inevitable conclusion
yeah we might have to start declining powerplays #canucks
Luckily for Nashville, Vancouver got another power play, which meant Nashville was able to get the game’s first goal off of a quick counter attack:
Fil Hronek throws a pass to Arshdeep Bains, and he mishandles the pass, allowing Ryan O’Reilly to walk down Thatcher Demko and beat him clean.
To me, Ryan O’Reilly will always be that guy from Oz, so I am also kind of weirded out when I have to write about Ryan O’Reilly in the NHL.
Both of them are similar, however, in that they both make watching hockey feel depressing and hopeless.
Sasson is this seasons hero honestly #canucks
Max Sasson did not have good underlying stats in this game! In fact, he kind of got crushed in his audition as the second line centre between Jake and Brock.
But a lot of people got crushed in this game (looking at you Jake), and at least Max got this sweet, sweet goal off of a great outlet pass from Linus Karlsson:
The dude has good speed. That’s a fantastic spin move to get himself behind the Nashville defence. The finish is so clean that even Max doesn’t look too excited about scoring. He acts like he’s been there before. This is a Calder Cup winning man we’re talking about after all.
But yes, ultimately this is probably the high point of the game for the Canucks. Tied 1-1 with the Nashville Predators.
I still love me some Max, even if he isn’t ready for a top six role quite yet. In a perfect world he goes back to the Castle Fun Park Line when the Canucks have a full roster, and he goes back to crushing competition on the bottom six.
Heck, Linus Karlsson played with Max only briefly during a line change and he got an assist on the goal.
The power of the CFP line cannot be disputed.
Best calling your shot blocks
Mannnnnn DPETEYYYYYYY. That boy deserves some drinks tonight #canucks
The defensive enthusiast Elias Pettersson had himself a John Tortorella shift late in the second period, when he blocked three shots on the same shift:
The Elias Pettersson who wears number 25 is someone I have enjoyed watching. Plays the game tough, doesn’t back down from a fight, but also doesn’t wander off to another zip code to try and hunt for huge hits so that Rick Tocchet takes him to his new team with him. He just plays solid, no nonsense hockey.
Well, a bit of nonsense. Having two Elias Pettersson’s is silly, we all know it.
But overall, I enjoy his game very much.
To end the second period of highlights, here is Tyler Myers both shooting a puck into an odd man rush, and then ending said odd man rush, I.E. the most Chaos Giraffe thing ever:
And just in case we didn’t talk about it, Thatcher Demko is the last problem this team has, as he continues to play like last season never happened:
I wish O’Connor was an ACTUAL offensive threat. The guy has had 3 or 4 recent breakaways and has done EXACTLY NOTHING with them. 🤦
I might be the biggest fan of the play of DOC this season, but at least he’s generating rushes on net?
Like, give him credit, he’s out here fighting for pucks and doing his best.
Right, Jake?
(I told you I was coming for you.)
Are the canucks playing hockey??? I cant tell
#canucks
Cole Smith put this game away at the start of the third period with our old friend, the “point shot of eternal sadness”:
Except in this case, Nashville got the deflection, and the puck just barely squeaked by Thatcher Demko. I cannot think of a better ending to this game than a goal that looked like it took a painful amount of effort to go in the net. It felt very apt.
Meanwhile we had a rare offensive Quinn Hughes sighting in which he took the puck and circled behind the net before finding Brock Boeser for the shot on net:
That’s what we mean when we talk about Quinn looking slightly off this season. He isn’t going full Superman on plays.
Which, yeah, I agree, that probably shouldn’t be your game plan on how to win games every night, and probably was their game plan every night last year. So in a way, this hopefully exposes some roster issues this team needs to address, rather than going “Sure hope Quinn can do everything again”.
The problem with Quinn being off, and Elias Pettersson still stuck in “the underlying numbers are good, it should turn around soon?” is you end up with games like this more often than not, especially with the centre depth this team currently has.
Pls don’t tell me that EP40 is turning out to be Loui Eriksson 2.0 😆 #Canucks
I swear to god, Elias Pettersson used to race down the ice and unleash laser beams for goals:
Man.
Best maybe there’s a chance?
Could use some Brock Boeser Game 4 magic again
I think the Canucks hoped Brock still had a little magic in his stick too, as their best chances to end the game were from his stick.
First you had Quinn Hughes sending it in the general direction of Brock and Jake, and since Jake refused to play hockey on the night, Boeser got his stick on a rebound in the crease:
And then with the clock winding down and Nashville fans reliving the game four downfall in their head, Boeser actually got off a fantastic one timer from the slot, only to be thwarted with an equally fantastic save from Saros:
And that was the ballgame.
The Canucks lost 2-1 and I am pretty sure we are never going to want to talk about this game ever again.
Hughes body language is not great lol he was pissed when Macus Pettersson took this Pim. He looks very frustrated lately #Canucks
As I said earlier, I won’t dive too deep into what is driving the frustration of Quinn Hughes, but we can say that he is showing frustration very clearly on the ice.
He had a very noticeable shaking of the head skating for the final faceoff:
And he had a very noticeable stick slam to let Evander Kane know he he needed to get in the right spot for the faceoff:
Which hey, the team is losing and not playing that well. Hughes himself is not piling up the points. Getting frustrated isn’t some unique situation for the Canucks captain. But it does stand out just in the sense that he hasn’t done it to this level in the past, expressing himself with a bit of that JT Miller flair.
And I’ve talked about this last season, but even his media scrums, he just does not seem like a person who is enjoying the game of hockey:
Which again, isn’t unique to Quinn. A lot of players don’t enjoy talking to the media at the best of times, much less after another loss at the end of a road trip.
But when you have an expiring contract coming up, and we seemingly can’t go a day without someone from New Jersey giggling and winking about what the future may hold, the noise is only going to get louder as the season continues.
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