Since Thatcher Demko's made his way back to the ice, we've seen a completely different line-up and if they had demonstrated that kind of performance we'd definitely be talking about a playoff spot at this point.
Apart from the team's play, one thing really stood out since Tocchet took over. The fear was that with Tocchet's defensive-inclined strategy, the player's productivity would be going down and yet the statistics tell otherwise. In his defensive inclined system, Tocchet was able to get the best out of forwards that were previously underperforming and it indeed presents great things moving forward:
Elias Pettersson has raised his game a notch and counts 29 points in 20 games. However, Brock Boeser and Conor Garland have really taken their game to the next level since they respectively have 18 and 15 points through those 20 games. Miller on his part has not gained the confidence he had last year, but he's expanded his threats to the penalty kill and the 5-on-5.
As for Andrei Kuzmenko and Quinn Hughes, it really is not a surprise to see them atop this list. One thing that may be concerning, is that, in a period where the Canucks' management has declared to be prioritizing development over results. The team's young players like Vasily Podkolzin and Vitaly Kravstov are barely seeing quality minutes.
