Posted by Once upon a time, a .500 record in the NHL could go a long way. With a .500 record, you were a cinch to make the playoffs. It was the dividing line between respectability and ineptitude.
The 1993-94 Vancouver Canucks, the last Canuck team to make the Stanley Cup Finals, were only one game above .500. The 1981-82 Canucks, who also made the Finals, were three games under .500.
Times have changed, of course. Making the playoffs in a 30-team league is several degrees of magnitude harder than in a 16-team league. In the Western Conference, the last five eighth-place teams have had 91, 91, 96, 95, and 91 points. Thus, in an 82-game season, to get a playoff spot in the Western Conference requires an average of about 93 points, which equates to a .566 record.
All of this is relevant to the 2009-10 Vancouver Canucks, who currently sit one game above .500 at 12-11, because the longer they play at this mediocre level, the more difficult it will be to make up those extra points they will need by the end of the year to make the playoffs. Already, they will need 69 points in the remaining 59 games, or 10 games over .500.
Thankfully for the Canucks, everyone’s starting to get healthy. Daniel Sedin just returned to the lineup November 22 against the Blackhawks, and Jannik Hansen came back November 12. With Roberto Luongo rounding into form, there’s nothing stopping the Canucks from meeting or exceeding the required pace.
That is, nothing except for a schedule that’s been maddeningly inconsistent, preventing the Canucks from building any sort of momentum. Case in point: Following their 8-2 drubbing of the Colorado Avalanche on November 14, the Canucks were inexplicably given six days off before another game against the ‘Lanche November 20. Without any carryover of momentum from the first game, the Canucks fell behind 2-0 in the second game, and only with a good second period and excellent third did the Canucks come back to win 5-2. Now, after being shut out 1-0 by the Hawks, the Canucks don’t play for another three days.
With a decent string of games, say five wins out of six, the Canucks will be back to or close enough to a playoff pace that none of this should be much of a worry. But until they end this flirtation with .500, the Canucks’ place in the postseason will be in question.
Derek Jung is a contributing writer covering the Vancouver Canucks for The Hockey Writers.
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