In case you haven’t noticed, it’s Pacific Division week here on the eDraft Sports NHL page. The newly-formed division takes four teams from the previous Pacific Division and adds three teams from the former Northwest Division.
One of the teams that will be interesting to keep an eye on is the Vancouver Canucks, who are coming off of five consecutive Northwest Division titles. In 2011 and 2012, the Canucks won the President’s Trophy for best record in the NHL. They reached the Stanley Cup Final in the earlier year, but were upset by the Boston Bruins in seven games.
Despite Vancouver’s regular season success, it has come up short in the quest for its first-ever Stanley Cup, and the window of opportunity is closing very rapidly.
If the Canucks want to prove that they are still among the NHL’s elite, they need to overcome several important challenges this season.
Adjusting to a More Competitive Division
Not to take anything away from Vancouver’s accomplishments, but part of the reason the Canucks have been so successful in the past few years is because they played in one of the weaker divisions in the NHL. In fact, in 2009, 2011 and 2012, the Canucks were the only team from the Northwest Division to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Not only did a weak division help the Canucks have an easier shot at a division title, it also gave them an easier schedule. 24 of their 82 games per year would be against teams that were, for the most part, mediocre.
That will not be the case this season. All four teams (Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose) from the former Pacific Division that will become Vancouver’s rivals this season are definite playoff contenders and talented squads. This will cause the Canucks to have a tougher schedule as well as more competition within the division.
Only three-to-five teams can make the playoffs in each division, and the Pacific has six legitimate playoff contenders (sorry Calgary). Vancouver needs to be able to compete or it could be on the outside looking in for the first time since 2008.
Adjusting to John Tortorella’s Coaching Style
Under Alain Vigneault, the Canucks were known as an offense-first team, one of the more finesse squads in the league. They were also known as one of the league’s “softer” teams.
That will not be the case under Tortorella.
When Tortorella was with the Rangers, he made sure that his team put defense first despite having several notable names up front. He made his players block all sorts of shots, creating low scoring games especially with Henrik Lundqvist in net.
Maybe some of the Canucks’ failures in the past could have been because of their offensive style. Could the goaltending issue that has now been resolved been because of a lack of defensive play and shot-blocking?
Tortorella is the right man for the job in Vancouver, but it will be a major change in the style of play.
Is Roberto Luongo Good Enough?
Speaking of the goaltending issue, Roberto Luongo now does not have Cory Schneider to bail him out if he has trouble.
Luongo is the guy in Vancouver now, like it or not, and he has been known to crack under pressure. There was a time when Luongo was arguably the best in the game, but that time is long gone.
Tortorella’s shot-blocking game may help out Luongo in the sense that he will likely face less shots (or less shots from good scoring areas), but Luongo really needs to stop letting himself get rattled in tense situations.
Travel
Nestled on the Pacific Coast in Western Canada sits the beautiful city of Vancouver. As beautiful of a city Vancouver is, it is far away from the rest of the NHL and the Canucks will have to do an awful lot of traveling since they will be visiting all sixteen Eastern Conference stadiums this season.
Some divisional trips (Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix) are quite a hike as well, and more travel than most other teams could possibly lead to a little more fatigue.
Playoff Success
This is a little bit in the future, but if the Canucks make the playoffs again, they need to make a change and reverse their identity of a playoff choke.
Things have not gone well for the Canucks in the springtime, coughing up 2-0 and 3-2 leads in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, getting dispatched in five games by the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings in 2012, and getting swept in the first round last year by the San Jose Sharks.
Maybe Tortorella’s new style will help them out in this department, but the Canucks need to start playing in the playoffs like they do in the regular season.