Started at the bottom now we here

Vancouver rise from the basement to the top of league

How it started...

The Canucks entered the season with extremely high expectations. After trading away the remaining of their future assets for immediate help, the time to win was now.  "We have everything, high end offensive and defensive forwards, a good mix of offensive, defensive and physical defenders and 2 solid goaltenders" said Gm Brisson.  First 2 games of the season were against the Flyers and Flames and starting the season 0-2 wasnt ideal but nothing to worry about.  Then the losses kept piling,  Swayman couldnt stop a beachball and team wasnt getting any luck sitting dead last in shooting % and save %.  

After 13 games and a 5-7-1 record, the GM had enough and made a trade.  Having plenty of small players, Vancouver sent 2 way forward Lehkonen, Suter and Cash for Greenway and Carlo.  2 big bodies to help on the defensive side of things.  The result? a brutal 6-2 loss.   Then the strategy change happened, Gm Brisson went with an all out offensive strat in every situation except the PK where an all defensive strat is used.  The result? 2 more losses allowing 10 goals in the process bringing the team record to 5-10-1. 

The turnaround...

How it happened is a mystery, the same strat and lines are being used but the team made a complete 180.  The team went on a 10 game winning streak and sits at the top of the western conference (win % wise) tied with dallas and 3rd in the entire league.  The exact record since is 23-3-2.   One could look at Swayman as the reason for this impressive run with his 18-2-1 record in that span but his save % is a modest .897% during that same timeframe.   The top line is providing all the fire power needed + the other 3 lines not hurting the team is how this team has done it.   

What's next...

Nothing.  Dont fix something that is not broken even if that means letting the defenceman with the highest def rating in the league sit in the bleachers all year. Sorry David.  There is some cap issues in the future but the team will deal with that in the offseason.  3 of the next 4 games are against "easy" teams in Edm twice and Washington, i fully expect to lose a couple of them from karma from writing this article lol.