Following a 5-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games, with a 14-7-1 record to start the year. The hot starts of J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes have helped fuel their success, along with strong performances from netminder Thatcher Demko, but injuries on the Canucks’ blue line have led to the west coast squad falling back to Earth.
On Monday’s episode of "Daily Faceoff LIVE," Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Canucks’ recent string of injuries and what they can do to steer the ship in the right direction.
Tyler Yaremchuk: One of the more stunning results from over the weekend was the San Jose Sharks defeating the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks are now 5-5-0 in their last 10 games, and there’s no reason to be concerned about where this team will go. Where they may be worried in the short term is with injuries, more specifically on the blue line.
Frank Seravalli: You take a look at the spot they’re in, already missing Carson Soucy, then last week Tyler Myers goes down and Mark Friedman goes down, and all of a sudden you’re playing with guys in your lineup who are predominantly depth guys.
One of the biggest changes the Canucks made over the summer was they beefed up their blue line. Yeah, you can talk about Thatcher Demko and his Veznia-like season or how ridiculously good Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes have been, but for me, the real truth to the Canucks’ success this season has been their reshaped blue line.
They need more help and support. They’ve been active on that front in trying to trade for something, but they’re not there yet. I think a lot of people saw the repeated injuries and how banged up some guys have been, does this heighten their call to go out and get more defensive help?
You can watch the rest of the segment and the full episode here…
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