Vancouver looking defeated early as toll of constant losing saps belief and energy as home disadvantage continues
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Are the losses beating down the Canucks? The ease with which the San Jose Sharks breezed past Vancouver at Rogers Arena was apparent to everyone. Especially the Canucks. The post-game quote from Tom Willander, who opened the scoring for Vancouver in a brief flash of hope, stands out in all the things said during this season infected with losses.
“I don’t think we played good anywhere,” Willander said. “Pretty much every detail was bad and I can’t name anything good. It’s annoying, The last few times we had results like this, we did a decent job with parts of our game and tonight I thought it was awful. I didn’t like much about my game. I have to be better with retrievals and make better plays.”
The Sharks are improved, but they’re not the Avalanche. This was the team that finished bottom of the NHL last year. Perhaps that offers hope for the Canucks that a rebuild doesn’t have to take a decade. Draft right, be prudent with your trades and free agents and get the right coach and you can get into the playoff mix in a hurry. Do you trust this front office and this coach to do that? Ben Kuzma graded the players last night, here’s some of his marks.
Jake DeBrusk (C)
Set screen on opening goal, PP chance at side, two shots, five attempts.
Elias Pettersson (C)
Threw PP pass back to vacated point. Went 11-for-15 on draws. No shots
Jonathan Lekkerimaki (C+)
Two chances on 5-on-3 PP, got into positions. Four shots, six attempts.
Liam Ohgren (C-)
Good wheels should have had him in the mix to create but no shots.
Tom Willander (C)
Had happy feet in O-zone. Got into slot, ripped wrister past DeBrusk screen.
Kevin Lankinen (D)
What can you say? Deep in crease. Easily beat on three goals. Fatigue setting in?
The Canucks can only hope they get a find in the draft like the Sharks got with Macklin Celebrini. The North Vancouver kid who stormed his way onto Canada’s Olympic team, had a goal and three assists to sink the team he loved as a kid growing up.
“It’s always special coming back home,” said Celebrini, who grew up cheering for the Canucks.
“It happened so fast you can’t really get put your head up and try to read it. You just try to put it over the pad or pick a nice spot,” Celebrini said of his goal that came right after the Canucks took the lead. “We kind of woke up a little bit. It’s pretty quick, when they scored, and I think we just kind of wanted to get to our game.”
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Adam Gaudette put San Jose ahead 2-1 at 4:43 with a one-timer high over Lankinen’s blocker. Celebrini intercepted a Hronek clearing attempt at the blue line and passed to William Eklund at the right hash mark for a quick, short pass to Gaudette at the left hash mark.
Tyler Toffoli extended it to 3-1 at 5:55 on another one-timer from the left hash mark, finishing a pass from Alexander Wennberg at the goal line with a shot between Lankinen’s pads.
“That’s what we’ve done a really good job of this year is when teams kind of push back on us, or try to get on their front foot, we do a good job of just kind of handling it, weathering it, and getting back to our game,” Celebrini said.
Celebrini spent considerable time around the Canucks as a kid because his dad, Rick, used to work for the team. He has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his four games back in Vancouver. … It was Celebrini’s fourth four-point game in the NHL, tying Jimmy Carson for the fourth most by a teenager in NHL history, behind Wayne Gretzky (14), Sidney Crosby (eight) and Dale Hawerchuk (seven).
The Canucks are the carcass all the NHL ‘insiders’ have been picking over all year. But now Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood have departed, what’s left? According to the Athletic’s trade board, there’s still meat on that bone. Evander Kane is third on their trade board, Elias Pettersson 25th, then Connor Garland 34th, David Kampf (!) 38th and Jake DeBrusk 39th.
Evander Kane
Kane has been snake-bitten since an off-season move to his hometown team, and his exit appears to now be getting expedited. Playoff-bound teams have the most interest in Kane’s physical brand of play, with the Dallas Stars among those poking around here. He remains an intimidating presence who is unafraid to go to the hard areas of the ice, albeit one who comes with some baggage. He played in the last two Stanley Cup Finals with the Oilers before the summer trade to Vancouver.
Elias Pettersson
Pettersson has played at a higher level than last season, when his name first circulated in trade rumours, but he remains a long way removed from the performer he was when Vancouver signed him to a $92.8 million, eight-year extension in March 2024. That obviously impacts his trade value. However, the fact that Pettersson has previously been an elite offensive play-driver makes him an enticing proposition for some, especially since the price tag to land him shouldn’t be too steep. The biggest concern for the Canucks in considering a Pettersson trade is the fact that he may blossom again in a new environment.
Conor Garland
Garland signed a six-year extension with the Canucks last summer, but he has since seen the team pivot to a rebuild. He is a strong skater who is unafraid to skate through opponents despite his diminutive size. More of a playmaker than a goal-scorer, he’s an excellent complementary piece who can be counted on to produce at a 50-point pace. Teams are interested in the player, but moving this kind of contract might be better tackled in the off-season.
David Kampf
The Czech Olympian found the playing time he was looking for when he signed in Vancouver in November, but the Canucks are going nowhere fast. Kämpf is ideally suited to be a fourth-line centre. He’s a low-maintenance player who kills penalties, wins faceoffs and consistently remains on the safe side of the puck. Neither team tends to get much done offensively during his minutes.
Jake DeBrusk
A strong skater with a nose for the net, DeBrusk is a difference-maker when on his game. But those stretches have been counterbalanced by quiet periods. DeBrusk scored 28 goals during his first season with the Canucks but hasn’t seen the puck find the net at nearly that same rate this year. There’s a lot of meat left on the bone with a contract that includes a no-movement clause, which definitely complicates things, but DeBrusk is at an age where missing the playoffs won’t sit well. There are competitive teams out there sizing up the potential fit.
The NHL insider was on the NHL Network Tuesday evening and asked what he knew of any pending deals.
Evander Kane
It appears likely that he might be a post Olympic break deal at this point and time… I think the Canucks are hoping for a third round pick or something like that, you know Soucy (former NY Ranger) just went for a third rounder. They’re willing to retain if it allows them to get a bit more, drive the price of that up, but that’s kind of what they’re looking for right now. Earlier today I was hearing likely after the deadline, although I always hate saying things like that cause it’s really easy to make me look stupid.
Elias Pettersson
Petterson has no move clause and I think if you want to trade him, you’d have to convince him that it would be worth doing. I looked into this the end of the last week the word I was getting this that everyone I heard was he wasn’t looking to wave at this point and time… but I mean you never know if you get something that you want to take to him and say ‘Hey, we want to do this does the situation appeal to you at all?’ You never know what a player can say, although I heard he wasn’t inclined to wave right now.
Conor Garland
I think the Garland one is really interesting because: first of all I think he’s a really good player… the other thing for the Canucks is that on July 1 Garland gets control of the situation. He gets a clause. He doesn’t have it right now. So maybe it doesn’t happen now, maybe closer to a draft thing. But I’m curious to see Vancouver is gonna say here ‘You know we want to do this while we still have control over the situation.’ I think Garland is a really good player I think Vancouver would take it either way. Keep him or deal him. But the one thing that stands out here is that they lose control on July 1.
Check back for more Canucks news throughout the day …
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