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Over the years there’s been lots of axioms we hear about the Canucks, they travel too much, long homestands are a distraction and it’s good to get on the road, back-to-backs happen too much, they face too many rested teams when they come back from a road trip who have been here waiting for them. One of the ones with real (tired) legs seems to be the first game back after a road trip is a trap.

That seemed to happen last night at Rogers Arena. The Canucks played well and were the better team for the first two periods but couldn’t capitalize and it was still scoreless going into the third. True dead legs seemed to show up in the third as Vancouver lost 5-2 to the Blackhawks. They now have two days in a row without a game for the first time in nearly a month. They could use the rest.

Patrick Johnston gave the Canucks their grades in his report card on the game. One thing that was a guilty pleasure for local fans might have been watching Connor Bedard, the local kid is really rounding into the star everyone thought he would be.

Connor Bedard was a true treat to watch. He’s found his game in the NHL, finally. Was a nuisance for the Canucks to cover all night.

Our Canucks fan council are tired of seeing the Canucks struggle to put together a string of games, and tired of talking about Elias Pettersson’s stop-start form all season.

Jimmy Ghuman: I didn’t realize (Pettersson) leads the league in blocked shots by forwards. Maybe if he can get to near a point a game pace he can win the Selke
Chris Conte: “Maybe” I like your positivity, Jimmy.
Jimmy: I try to be a glass half full guy with this team. With this team my glass is emptying
Chris: That is very poetic
Patrick Johnston: He used to be fast. Now he’s not. Whether that’s his tendinitis or something else, it’s clear something has changed with his skating. He also won’t talk about it. His shot is back at least. But he also rarely uses it.
Chris: Bang on. Slow and doesn’t shoot enough
Jimmy: Maybe he needs to move to the bumper position more consistently on the PP. Quick shot off from the middle when it’s there
Chris: Imagine if Petey shot the puck as much as Kane. The Canucks are the beige of hockey teams — so average they make vanilla look spicy. Experts in existing. The NHL’s default setting.
Patrick Johnston: They’re incredibly stale 
Chris: The 5 Stages of Grief for a Canucks Fan:

1. Denial
“This is our year.”
(It’s never our year.)

2. Anger
“SHOOT, PETEY! JUST SHOOT!”
(He doesn’t.)

3. Bargaining
“If we just sneak into the playoffs, anything can happen.”
Anything = first-round sweep.

4. Depression
You stop checking scores.
You start “forgetting” when games are on.

5. Acceptance
You no longer expect wins — just effort.
You’ve reached hockey nirvana: the beige zone. I’m teetering between 4 and 5 on a regular basis with a healthy dose of 2.
Samantha Chang: I’ve been on 5 for about 5 years now
Chris: I keep getting “tricked” into repeating the cycle. Except for 1.
Samantha: I might be on “6. self loathing”, where you’ve reached acceptance but you watch to make fun of the owners/the fans/yourself
Chris: I think we have a 6.
Samantha: Some people never make it past 1, so this is actually not bad

As the Canucks search for an answer to really be more than mediocre, the same names keep coming up in trade targets.

The Canucks’ centre depth is really thin right now, even with the acquisition of Lukas Reichel, who is probably better used as a winger. As a result, it’s no surprise that general manager Patrik Allvin is still working the phones to try to acquire a second-line centre, with the latest rumours suggesting Steven Stamkos, Pavel Zacha and Nazem Kadri as options. 

Steve Ewen did his weekly prospect power rankings, in case you were wondering if youth was going to offer any relief for the Canucks.

While goaltending isn’t really a concern for the Canucks at the moment, Steve looked at a top prospect in the crease this week.

Vancouver Canucks netminding prospect Aleksei Medvedev is turning heads with the way he is turning away opponents.
The London Knights sophomore puck stopper is the reigning OHL goaltender of the week after going 2-0 with a 1.00 goals against average and a .970 save percentage (65-of-67) across a pair of road wins. That included a 30-stop effort in a 6-1 London triumph over the Kingston Frontenacs on Sunday that had Kingston coach Troy Mann telling media afterwards that “Medvedev is probably the best goaltender in the league this season.”

As of Wednesday morning, the Canucks’ second-round selection from this past summer’s NHL Draft leads the OHL in goals against average (1.86) and sits second in save percentage (. 929), to go along with his 6-1-1-0 record. As a rookie last season, Medvedev was 22-8-2-0, with a 2.79 goals against average and a .912 save percentage.
He was the No. 47 overall pick this summer, and the fourth goaltender taken. Medvedev’s selection marks the earliest Canucks have chosen a goaltender since Thatcher Demko at No. 36 in 2014.

Medvedev, 18, signed his three-year, entry-level contract with the Canucks two weeks after the draft. The 6-foot-3, 180 pounder has aspects of his game that drew comparisons to both Tuukka Rask and Andrei Vasilevskiy from Canucks goalie coach Marko Torenius during development camp this summer.

Medvedev remains in the No. 2 spot on our weekly Canucks top-10 prospects power rankings, trailing only Seattle Thunderbirds centre Braeden Cootes, who was Vancouver’s first rounder this summer. 

ESPN did their yearly look at every team’s prospects. The Canucks aren’t in great shape, and haven’t changed since last year, ranked as having the 21st best collection of prospects for the second year in a row.

The Canucks have been in the mushy middle for a while, but have four prospects with potential to become impactful NHLers.

Braeden Cootes fills a significant organizational need for centre, and while he made the team out of camp, the Canucks made the right choice in returning him to junior. He’s going to be a solid, middle-six centre that produces secondary offence and drives play. Jonathan Lekkerimaki isn’t a complete boom-or-bust prospect, but his slight frame isn’t helpful to him if he’s anything but a top-line scorer. He’s certainly got the skill and shot to play in the NHL, but adding strength will increase his confidence to play in the middle.

Tom Willander already looks the part of a middle-pairing defender with shutdown ability, and should be a key piece of the Canucks’ blue line for years.

The Canucks were fantastic at developing goaltenders under Ian Clark, and while he’s stepped back from day-to-day involvement, Alexei Medvedev is the type of goaltender that should thrive in his development system. He’s young, with excellent athleticism and skating ability, and has a strong chance to become an NHL goaltender. 

Technically this isn’t Canucks news but it is Vancouver hockey news. The PWHL team has a name, the Vancouver Goldeneyes.

 

Check back for more Canucks news throughout the day …