{"id":323166,"date":"2025-12-03T18:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T18:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/323166\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T18:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T18:10:09","slug":"canucks-have-realistic-shot-to-be-nhls-last-place-team-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/323166\/","title":{"rendered":"Canucks have realistic shot to be NHL\u2019s last-place team this season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vancouver Canucks fans, unfortunately, are accustomed to their team not being very good.<\/p>\n<p>But this year is different.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s true for a myriad of reasons, one of them being that their two franchise pillars should be in their prime and dominating, but let\u2019s focus on the standings.<\/p>\n<p>After the Canucks lost 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night, their record <a href=\"https:\/\/dailyhive.com\/vancouver\/canucks-update-evander-kane-skate-cut-scare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dropped to 10-14-3 on the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves them just one point ahead of the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, the Canucks are one point away from being the worst team in the NHL.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Canucks NHL standings Dec 3\" title=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1266\" height=\"1120\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2221255\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-9.46.08\u202fAM.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2221255\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Canucks haven\u2019t been this close to the basement in a long time. (NHL)<\/p>\n<p>The lacklustre start is nothing new for this group.<\/p>\n<p>During the bizarre 2020-21 North Division season, the Canucks had a slightly worse 10-15-2 record after the 27-game mark. Right now, nine teams have fewer points than the Canucks. Vancouver would finish the season as the eighth-worst team in the league.<\/p>\n<p>The Canucks also had a 10-15-2 record the following season in 2021-22. They were 8-15-2 before Travis Green was fired and Bruce Boudreau was hired.<\/p>\n<p>But even though their record at the 27-game mark in 2021-22 was worse than this year\u2019s Canucks, Vancouver was only the seventh-worst team in the league. They were also 10 points clear of the basement-dwelling Arizona Coyotes.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what makes this crappy start unique for the Canucks.<\/p>\n<p>Gary Bettman\u2019s vision of NHL parity is alive and well. Even though the Canucks\u2019 porous start is similar to previous seasons, the NHL basement has risen.<\/p>\n<p>Recent bottom-feeders like the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks are closer to the playoff bar than the basement.<\/p>\n<p>In the Eastern Conference, seemingly everyone has a shot at the playoffs. Two of the three worst teams in the East right now are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n<p>For the Canucks, unlike the 2021-22 season, it doesn\u2019t seem like a new coach bump is on the horizon. And, <a href=\"https:\/\/dailyhive.com\/vancouver\/potential-trade-returns-canucks-veteran-players\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">they might actually trade veterans<\/a> to weaken the short-term prospects of this group.<\/p>\n<p>So yes, the Canucks have a realistic shot at finishing with the worst record in the NHL.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps this is a long-overdue blessing for Canucks fans. Vancouver hasn\u2019t picked top three in the draft since 1999, when they snagged the Sedin twins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Canucks fans, unfortunately, are accustomed to their team not being very good. But this year is different.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-323166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}