Vancouver Canucks Disrespected in NHL Rankings Right Before the Regular Season Opner
Photo credit: The Hockey Writers
The season get's underway for the Vancouver Canucks tonight against the Calgary Flames, and while the team has lots of potential experts have already disrespected them and dismissed them from being playoff contenders in their latest ranking.
This season will be a pivotal year for the Canucks, it can either show that last season was a fluke bad season, or solidify that they aren't a good team.
"He went on to discuss how deep the Canucks' blue line is, led by captain Quinn Hughes - who is arguably the best defenseman in the National Hockey League right now - along with some really nice pieces surrounding him, including Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson, Tyler Myers, among others."-Jaxon
Experts have low expectations for Vancouver Canucks this season.
Trevor Beggs of the Daily Hive covered the lack of respect most people have for the Canucks entering this season. While they did not have a good season last year, on paper they are still a solid team and can compete for the Pacific Division title.
"Two outlets that rely on analytics both have the Canucks on the outside of the playoff picture. The Athletic has Vancouver ranked as the 10th-best team in the Western Conference and the 20th-ranked team in the league. Over at MoneyPuck, they have the Canucks ranked slightly higher as the 19th-best team in the league, but still the 10th-best team in the Conference."-Beggs
To not even have the Canucks making the playoffs on two major hockey polls is disturbing news to say the least. However, preseason polls are never taken too much into account. The first month of the season will tell us a lot about how the rest of the year is going to go.
"Despite widespread pessimism about the Canucks' ability to bounce back, it wasn't a clean sweep of experts who thought they'd miss the postseason. Greg Wyshynski of ESPN boldly predicted that the Canucks would make the playoffs."-Beggs
The Canucks have one thing in favour for them after all this, low expectations means less pressure, they can go play their brand of hockey night and night out, while it is a pivotal year for several players and the staff, it does offer a sense of freedom heading into the season.
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