The line had a 83% corsi last night.
Stats from:
https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20222023&game=20010&view=limited
Individually (from hockey reference) –
Pettersson 70% corsi in 74% ozs
Kuzmenko 87% corsi in 86% ozs
Hoglander 75% in 69% ozs
Miller 56% in 74% ozs
Boeser 53% in 71% ozs
Pearson 48% in 62% ozs (not good)
Horvat 67% in 77% ozs
Podkolzin 52% in 57% ozs
Garland 51% in 64% ozs (had 3 takeaways)
Aman 25% in 50% ozs (not very good)
Lazar 45% in 33% ozs or 67% dzs (very good)
Joshua 11% in 100% ozs
Summary:
There’s a lot to unpack here. Canucks had a very good first game at 5v5, and kept McDavid and draisaitl from looking dangerous. At 5v5 the Canucks were better than the oilers at creating chances and limiting chances against. Obviously special teams was the difference.
From the stats above you can see that the petey line was outstanding and if they can keep it up should be one of the better lines in the NHL. This line was very good at shutting down the McDavid line at 5v5 when deployed eachother. Pettersson did a great job defending him.
The horvat and Miller line were also good at 5v5. Pearson didn’t have the strongest game, so hopefully he can come back better. Miller had a decent game but he had multiple poor giveaways. Garland had the most takeaways for canucks forwards last night with 3. Podkolzin play in the defensive zone was good last night as well.
When mikheyev comes back, it may be worth putting him with Miller and Boeser to add speed and defensive fortification to recover for Miller. Miller needs a fast defensive winger with him, and that isn’t Pearson.
The 4th line wasn’t very good 5v5 aside from Lazar. Aman and Joshua didn’t create many chances. Joshua was very disappointing considering he started 100% in the offensive zone and had a bad 11% corsi. Lazar had a great game considering he started 67% in the defensive zone.
My concluding thoughts:
It was just one game but this team showed a lot of promise for the Canucks top 9 at 5v5. Their forechecking was fantastic. Special teams needs to be better as last year’s terrible start was due to special teams as well.
When mikheyev comes back it may be worth putting him with Miller and boeser. Then moving pearson down to the Lazar and Joshua to add more stability. I don’t think the Canucks should alter the pettersson kuzmenko hoglander line if they continue to dominate.
Let me know what you think of the Canucks first game below.
12 comments
I think Hoglander will have a short leash, regardless of analytics. I’d still expect to see him in and out of the top 6/9 and probably even out of the lineup on occasion.
Wasn’t a big fan of joshuas game, but honestly if he throws a huge hit last night and puts some sort of a stamp on the game, im not as worried about his analytics. He’s probably going to be a guy who plays -10 minutes a night in a sheltered role. So long as he plays physical and is noticeable on that end, im happy.
Good insights. Mikheyev should be on that Miller line if Boeser is there too, and that’s no knock to Pearson (who in my opinion did look good last night with solid positioning and several high danger chances, the penalty was weak though). Boeser didn’t look good, but was out for the majority of the Preseason so I’m not worried. Adding in Mikheyev will undoubtedly make that line better.
When is Mikheyev back?
I still think Petey should be the matchup center as he is our best two way center so for that reason I want Mikheyev to be on Petey’s line since Bruce has little trust in Hoggy’s defensive abilities and since Kuzy is too new to the NHL. We only got to see a period and a half of the intended Petey / Kuz / Mikheyev line and I’d like to see what that line can really do and what kind of two way impact that line can make. Petey and Kuz are a great offensive duo and Petey and Mikheyev can be a great defensive duo.
Hoglander is kind of the king of almost scoring
I’m probably the only one that thinks this, but Hoglander is to this line what Baerstchi was to the Horvat Boeser line was back a few years ago.
Petey is so one dimensional lately.
Just stands there still on the PP waiting for that stupid one timer.
Hoglander needs to bury the puck in the back of the net.
So the eye test matches the advanced stats. Pearson looked like shit. I mean it was a decent back check on the last goal, but then he decides it was a good enough effort and just leaves the best player on the planet wide open in the defensive zone. Not to mention the two minor penalties. I hope he comes out when Mikheyev is back.
calling out pearson for a 14% difference between corsi and zone starts and not his two linemates right before him for an 18% difference is peak canucks fan bias/ scapegoating
no fanbase hates their own players as much as we do i swear lol
I think tanner would do great with those guys
No idea what any of those stats mean but nice that peteys doing well