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We’re a little over a quarter of the way through the season, so it’s time to assess the Canucks and hand out some first-quarter grades.
Team Grade: C+. The Canucks have exceeded expectations to start the 2017-18 season, but only because those expectations were so low to begin with.
FORWARDS
Sven Baertschi: A-. Hard to complain about a 28-goal, 60-point pace from what some thought would be the weak link on the top line.
Brock Boeser: A+. I was tempted to give Boeser an “A” to give him room to improve, but really, the point-per-game rookie has done everything expected of him and more.
Alexander Burmistrov: C-. Burmistrov has had his moments, but they’ve been too few and too far between.
Derek Dorsett: C+. While Dorsett has undoubtedly been lucky to start the season, 7 goals is 7 goals.
Loui Eriksson: C. Expectations are too high for Eriksson because of his contract, but he also needs to step up his game.
Sam Gagner: C-. Signed to a 3-year deal to provide secondary scoring, Gagner has been snakebit to start the season.
Brendan Gaunce: Incomplete. With his injury recovery to start the season, we just haven’t seen enough to judge Gaunce.
Markus Granlund: C-. Playing on a checking line doesn’t help, but Granlund will be hard pressed to match his 32 points from last season given his slow start.
Bo Horvat - A-. Horvat has stepped up as the Canucks’ first line centre, meshing well with Boeser. Needs to improve on the penalty kill.
Daniel Sedin: C. While solid in limited minutes at even-strength, the Sedins haven’t been able to do enough on the power play.
Henrik Sedin: C. Ditto.
Brandon Sutter: C. The extent to which he and his line have shut down their opponents is overstated, but Sutter has settled into a defined defensive role.
Thomas Vanek: B. Vanek has done exactly what was expected: provide secondary scoring while mostly being completely invisible.
Jake Virtanen: C+. Virtanen has shown flashes of the player he could be, but a lack of ice time hasn’t helped him establish a rhythm.
DEFENCE
Alex Biega: C+. Biega has held his own with injuries to the Canucks’ blue line.
Michael Del Zotto: C+. Del Zotto is being asked to do too much and is leading the Canucks in ice time. He’d likely produce better results from fewer minutes.
Alex Edler: C+. Consistency has been an issue this season, with wide gaps between his good games and bad games.
Erik Gudbranson: D. Gudbranson has seriously struggled this season, but has been trending upward recently.
Ben Hutton: C+. Formed a solid top pairing with Chris Tanev at one point, but hasn’t produced much-needed offence.
Derrick Pouliot: B. Leading all Canucks defencemen in shot-attempt differential, Pouliot has been this season’s most pleasant surprise.
Troy Stecher: B-. In a lesser role than last season, Stecher was quietly quite good before getting injured.
Chris Tanev: A. Tanev’s importance to the Canucks became particularly evident while he was out with an injury.
GOALTENDERS
Jacob Markstrom: B-. On some nights, Markstrom has been the Canucks best player, but a few too many soft goals hurts his overall grade.
Anders Nilsson: A. You can’t ask for much more from a backup/1B than two shutouts and a top-10 save percentage.
Stick-taps and Glove-drops
There’s no one to drop the gloves with, but it’s still disappointing to see Anton Rodin’s time with the Canucks end. His issues with injuries prevented him from ever getting a real chance to break through in the NHL and a veteran-heavy roster in Utica meant he bounced in and out of the lineup in the AHL. He has been released from his contract and signed with HC Davos in Switzerland.
A tap of the stick to Elias Pettersson, who continues to get Canucks fans excited for when he eventually makes his way to Vancouver. The 19-year-old wunderkind is scoring at historic levels in the Swedish Hockey League, moving into first place in scoring this past week. He now has 11 goals and 28 points in 21 games.
Big Numbers
9 - Heading into Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Brock Boeser had 17 points in 17 games. Pavel Bure, who holds the franchise record for most points as a rookie, had just 9 points in the first 17 games of his rookie season. This isn’t to say that Boeser is better than Bure, but it puts into perspective just how good Boeser’s start has been.
11.01 - According to hockey statistics site Natural Stat Trick, Jake Virtanen has the second highest rate of scoring chances on the Canucks, with 10.17 scoring chances per hour at 5-on-5. That stands in stark contrast to his team-low ice-time of 9:44 per game.
