We are two weeks away from Christmas Day and Santa Claus is getting ready to deliver presents to everyone worldwide. The Vancouver Canucks have exceeded expectations so far this season and are definitely on the “nice” list, so what do they want to see under their tree this year? Let’s peek at the wish list they sent up to the North Pole.
Goals For Andrei Kuzmenko
It’s no secret that Andrei Kuzmenko has struggled to find his offensive game this season. After a marvellous rookie campaign in the NHL that saw him score 39 goals and 74 points, he is only on pace for 13 goals and 48 points in his sophomore season. It was probably expected that he would see a dropoff after a crazy 27.3 shooting percentage, but I don’t think anyone expected this. He has a 10.5 shooting percentage so far in 2023-24 and doesn’t look as confident making plays with the puck as he did last season.
Kuzmenko has also taken up residence in head coach Rick Tocchet‘s dog house, seeing everything from a demotion to the fourth line to stints in the press box as a healthy scratch. He has lost his mojo from last season and the Canucks need him to get it back fast. While they are sitting pretty at the top of the league with 107 goals and 3.82 goals per game, they would be much better off if their happy-go-lucky Russian could return to his scoring ways. So, Santa, please leave a golden stick under the tree for Kuzmenko and ask your friends the hockey gods for more luck around the net in the new year.
Healthy Carson Soucy & Pius Suter For The Rest of the Season
It never fails, new faces on the Canucks always seem to battle injuries in their first season with the team. Carson Soucy and Pius Suter are no exception as they have both missed significant time already. Their last game came against the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 12, and while the correlation may be purely coincidental, the Canucks have seen their record fall off from 11-3-1 to 7-6-0 since they both left the lineup.
Soucy was signed in the offseason to help stabilize a defence that had struggled to keep the puck out of the net. He did just that over his first 13 games, averaging 16:52 of ice time (1:49 of the penalty kill) along with two goals and five points and a plus-6 in the plus/minus column. He also formed a pretty good partnership with Tyler Myers, who arguably played his best hockey this season with Soucy by his side. Since he went out of the lineup, Myers has reverted to his “Chaos Giraffe” self and has cost the Canucks a few goals with his mistakes. It seems Soucy not only stabilized the defence, but Myers as well.
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As for Suter, he may have started the season off slow with no goals in his first nine games, but he was playing good two-way hockey and providing energy on the third line with Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua. He also caught fire in the six games before he got injured with four goals and was rocking a 55.6 faceoff percentage on the season. If not for Teddy Blueger’s return and seamless integration between Garland and Joshua, the Canucks might have been worse off. Nevertheless, his absence from the lineup has been felt defensively, especially considering how good he is at the little things in that department.
Santa, bring this duo back soon and protect them from further injury!
More Magic From Hughes, Miller, Boeser & Pettersson
Without a doubt, the Canucks have benefited from the hot starts of Quinn Hughes, JT Miller, Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson. As a quartet, they have combined for 53 goals and 145 points and have driven the offence right from the first game of the season when Boeser potted four goals against the Edmonton Oilers.
As of Dec. 11, Hughes leads all defencemen with 36 points, Miller is second only to Nikita Kucherov with 40, Pettersson is tied for fifth with Sam Reinhart with 37 and Boeser is tied for second in goals with Auston Matthews with 18. The Canucks’ top guns are firing on all cylinders, and all fans want from Santa is for it to continue in 2024 – all the way to the playoffs and potentially a Stanley Cup.
Some Sort Of Extension For Elias Pettersson
Speaking of Pettersson, he is on pace to record his second straight 100-point season and is in line for a big raise come the offseason. Little progress has been made on an extension so far, but maybe jolly old St. Nick can push things along. Pettersson is one of the faces of the Canucks and he needs to be with this franchise long term. Unfortunately, it looks like it will only be a short-term pact at this point, but it would be great to get it done sooner rather than later.
Return of the October/Early November Thatcher Demko
Like most of the Canucks in October and early November, Thatcher Demko got off to a scorching start with an out-of-this-world 1.92 goals-against average (GAA) and a .935 save percentage (SV%) along with a shutout. November saw a bit of a drop-off with a 2.37 GAA and .922 SV% and so far in December, he has a rough 4.02 GAA and .848 SV%.
While Demko hasn’t been terrible, he hasn’t been the Vezina Trophy-caliber goaltender he was in October and early November. The defence hasn’t helped him out in the past month or so, but it would be great if Santa could return the magic Demko displayed at the beginning of the season. If that happens and the defence stays healthy, the Canucks should be well on their way to a playoff spot and a top-three finish in the Pacific Division.
Canucks Finally On the Nice List
It’s been a while since Canucks fans could feel happy and secure about their team going into the holiday season. In 2021-22, they fired Travis Green and Jim Benning at the beginning of December after an 8-15-2 start. Then last season, while they didn’t fire their coach and general manager, they were the definition of mediocre the day before Christmas Eve sporting a 15-15-3 record. Eventually, the same thing happened when they sent fan favourite Bruce Boudreau packing on Jan. 22, 2023.
In both seasons, the Canucks were out of the playoff picture before Christmas and looking for answers to their many struggles. This season, they are finally on Santa’s nice list and will not be getting coal in their stockings come Christmas Day. Hopefully, he will bring them some cool gifts, culminating in the ultimate gift – playoff hockey at Rogers Arena in April.
