The Canucks need to bounce back in November

The Vancouver Canucks have not gotten off to the type of start they hoped for during training camp. Through 11 games, the Canucks are 5-6-0 and sixth place in the Pacific Division.

The state of affairs in Calgary and San Jose dictate that sixth is probably Vancouver’s floor, but things need to turn around quickly if the Canucks are going to be a factor this season. The team’s lack of center depth has been pointed out as a glaring flaw that the team seems desperate to fix, and Elias Pettersson still has not regained his all-star form.

Even worse, this record has come despite phenomenal performance in net for Thatcher Demko. The American net minder owns a .926 save percentage and 2.18 goals against average. The Canucks can’t ask for much more from him, and if he regresses a bit or becomes unavailable due to injury, it’s easy to see things getting bleak in a hurry.

At the same time, the team has been crushed by injuries, including one to super star defenseman Quinn Hughes, whose pending unrestricted free agency decision that is two years down the line looms large.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by NHL insider David Pagnotta to discuss what the Canucks need to do in the next month to get their season turned around.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Looking at teams that had not-so-great Octobers… where if they were to potentially have a bad November there’d be a lot of noise around them. The two teams are the Rangers and the Canucks, which one of those two do you think needs to have a good November more?

David Pagnotta: It’s funnier in Vancouver when the noise is so loud. It really is. It’s almost as aggressive in both markets… I think Vancouver, to a certain extent, because this was a team that anticipated getting back on track this season. The Canucks have been pummeled with injuries lately and really since the start of the season, but… with all the injuries, with everything going on, it’s a tough situation for the Canucks, but there’s so much pressure to right this ship and get back into playoff contention because of the whole Quinn Hughes factor.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…