Winless Canucks Visit Panthers After Big Step Forward Last Season

The Vancouver Canucks have a little bit in common with the Panthers.

After missing the playoffs for three straight seasons — sort of like the Panthers from 2016-19 — the introduction of a new coach (Rick Tocchet) and general manager (Patrik Allvin) brought big changes.

Last season, in Tocchet’s first full season behind the bench, the Canucks had a 26-point improvement, winning the Pacific Division before Edmonton burst their bubble in the playoffs.

Tocchet won the Jack Admas Award as coach of the year.

Since Tocchet took over behind the bench after the much-ballyhooed dismissal of the popular Bruce Boudreau, the Canucks have gone a commendable 70-36-11

This season the Canucks feature a few players very familiar to the Panthers.

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Jake DeBrusk led the Bruins in playoff scoring last season.

In the Florida series, he scored two goals with six points in six games. 

Vancouver took a chance on DeBrusk, signing him to a seven-year $38.5 million deal.

In that same playoff series, the Panthers also faced now-former Bruin Danton Heinen and Derek Forbort.

Both signed free-agent deals with Vancouver.

Vincent Desharnais, who Florida faced against Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final, also signed as a free agent.

So, there will be a lot of familiarity on ice tonight.

The Canucks were expected to do big things this season but are off to a slow start — dropping to 0-1-2 after losing 4-1 at Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. 

This is still a formidable opponent, which, at least on paper, has improved over last season.

On the downside, goalie Thatcher Demko, who had a career year last season with a 35-14-2 record and a .918 save percentage, will be out for at least a month with a knee injury sustained during last year’s playoffs.

Demko was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season.

Backup Arturs Silovs had an excellent playoff after Thatcher’s injury, but neither he nor free agent acquisition Kevin Lankinen are proven NHL goaltenders.

Offseason losses include Elias Lindholm, a late-season acquisition, and tough defender Nikita Zadorov.

Desharnais and Forbort replaced some of the sandpaper lost with Zadorov’s departure.

On the offensive side, DeBrusk offers scoring punch, J.T. Miller had a career season with 103 points, and veteran Brock Boeser approached stardom with a 40-goal season.

Elias Pettersson has a lifetime scoring pace above a point per game, and Norris Trophy defenseman Quinn Hughes had an amazing 92-point season, including 38 power-play points.

The Canucks finished sixth in the NHL in both offense and defense.

They are clearly in win-now mode.

Especially after losing their first three games to start the season.