On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, many were surprised that Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen had the Vancouver Canucks in sixth place on their Western Conference power rankings for the playoffs, despite the fact that they’re leading the West. When you consider their lack of experience compared to other teams surrounding them, it makes sense, but it’s still quite the surprise.
Today, Tyler and Colby brought on Luke Gazdic to talk about whether he thinks they were crazy to rank the Canucks so low, and if he thinks they have what it takes to go far in the playoffs.
Luke Gazdic: No, I don’t think you’re crazy. I always laugh when we do the betting odds on TV as a sponsor segment and the Canucks are always pushed way down. I just think it’s because they’re probably the least playoff battle-tested, right? There’s not a lot of guys on that team that you can say have been through it and done that.
I wouldn’t debate the six-hole, it’s been something for me the entire year covering them a lot, where they’ve kind of had to win me over. But watching them Saturday night versus Winnipeg, I’m consistently impressed by how they bring it almost every night, and that’s a Winnipeg team that was 5-0 on back-to-backs going in there on Saturday night. I know Rick Bowness said the Jets played their worst game ever, but I honestly have to give credit to Vancouver and how well they played.
I say “play the right way” a lot but they roll four lines, they’re strong down the middle, and for my money, this might be a hot take, but Thatcher Demko might be the best goaltender in hockey. And I know there’s a lot of talk about Connor Hellebuyck with everything he’s done and the body of work he’s accomplished. But watching Demko, it’s a nightly display of athleticism and conditioning and just a great veteran presence in that net.
I’m very, very curious to see how they do. This is going to be fun down the line too! They have 16 games left, eight against non-playoff, but then we’re going to see them play Colorado, Dallas, Winnipeg, Los Angeles twice, Vegas twice, and Edmonton. So a bunch of teams that they’re going to have to stack up against, and this will be interesting to watch them finish the year here.
You can watch the full episode here…
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