Canucks

Against all odds, the Vancouver Canucks in a playoff race. Legitimately. Nobody saw this coming on December 5.

That’s not far off what they’ll need to be in a playoff spot at the end of the season. MoneyPuck.com’s playoff prediction model now gives the Canucks a 22% shot to make the postseason. They’re still long shots to make it, but it will no longer take a miracle for the Canucks to make the playoffs from this point forward. By points percentage, they’re really chasing the Dallas Stars — tied in points, but Dallas has three games in hand. “When I look over to [Boeser] and [Pearson] flying up the ice, I know that I’ve got to get up the ice too. But all of a sudden, the Canucks are streaking again, and they’re doing it without Vezina-level goaltending every night. At that moment, the Canucks were 29th in the overall standings by points percentage, sitting with a woeful 8-15-2 record after 25 games. But with the way J.T. Miller is playing? They’re all buying into it, so it’s a good thing.” And they’re scoring goals because of the forecheck. We’ve shown a lot of videos of the positive stuff when we do the right forecheck. After 36 games — nearly half a season, the Canucks have the eighth-best points percentage in the NHL. Forget .600 hockey; the Canucks are closer to a .700 hockey team in the Boudreau era.

Le capitaine des Canucks a inscrit son 21e filet de la campagne. Tanner Pearson, Brad Hunt, Nils Hoglander et Juho Lahmmikko ont aussi marqué pour les Canucks.

Le New Jersey a été blanchi lors de trois avantages numériques. J.T. Miller a été complice de trois buts. Le capitaine des Canucks a inscrit son 21e filet de la campagne.

Bo Horvat put up three points and the Vancouver Canucks exacted some revenge on the New Jersey Devils with a 6-3 win on Tuesday.

Vancouver went up 2-0 midway through the frame when Hoglander jammed the rebound off a Horvat shot into the Devils net. The Devils tied the game up 4:25 into the second when Jesper Bratt flipped a high pass into the neutral zone. "We got a big save right from (Gillies) right away and then we had our opportunities to probably change the complexion of the game but you got to give Demko credit, he made he made a couple really big saves for them at critical times." The assist extended Miller's point streak to 13 games, with 25 points (eight goals, 19 assists) going back to Feb. 12. "He was a true leader tonight," Boudreau said after the Canucks doubled up the Devils 6-3. On the bench, he was vocal, he was a true captain tonight." "That was just pure I don't know what I'm doing, to be honest with you," Horvat said. But a couple things there and I thought we fought back well," he said. "Puck went through him on a couple of goals. "I think that was my first slap shot goal, I'm not even lying. "Obviously things are going in and helping your team offensively, you feel good about yourself," Horvat said. A shot from Sharangovich hit Demko in the mask and as the goalie scrambled for the rebound, Bastian swatted the loose puck into the net from his knees, collecting his 11th goal of the season 11:55 into the second.

Bo Horvat put up three points and the Vancouver Canucks exacted some revenge on the visiting New Jersey Devils with a 6-3 win on Tuesday.

Vancouver went up 2-0 midway through the frame when Hoglander jammed the rebound off a Horvat shot into the Devils net. NOTES: The Devils were 0-for-3 on the man advantage. The Devils tied the game up 4:25 into the second when Jesper Bratt flipped a high pass into the neutral zone. The assist extended Miller’s point streak to 13 games, with 25 points (eight goals, 19 assists) going back to Feb. 12. The Canucks captain had two goals and an assist, while Tanner Pearson added one of each. The play unleashed Hughes on a breakaway and the star centre sent a shot under Demko’s arm from the bottom of the slot for his 19th goal of the season.

With the trade deadline fast approaching, plenty of different Vancouver Canucks players have seen their names tossed around in trade rumors.

Considering any return for Myers would likely be negligible, the real benefit coming in the newfound cap space, is it worth it for the Canucks to trade one of their better right-handed defencemen? Cap space is the most valuable asset in a hard cap league, just look at the circumstances that led to the Canucks acquiring J.T. Miller, and dealing Myers should be a no-brainer to management if it’s an option. The Canucks would likely only get a mid-round draft pick and they might need to add to Myers to complete the deal. While Myers is a contributor for the Canucks, his contract is outsized compared to his value, making him an easy trade candidate for the new Canucks regime to deal in order to free up cap space. While it’s easy to imagine teams being interested, whatever assets being sent to the Canucks would likely not amount to much. On one hand, Myers arrives with a large salary cap hit and hasn’t shown much to deserve it during his time in Vancouver. On the other hand, Myers is a smooth skater for his size who has a 52.25 xGF% at 5-on-5 this season, third among Canucks defencemen who’ve played at least 300 minutes.

The Vancouver Canucks look to get a win in the fourth game of a seven game homestand as the New Jersey Devils come into Rogers Arena.

His 44 points is second on the Devils. Miller is also climbing the Canucks record books. It is unlikely he plays Tuesday night against the Devils. He has reached the 70 point mark and has 24 points in his last 12 games. They have a 22-32-5 record and sit second last in the Metropolitan Division. Bo Horvat is the only Canuck that still remains from that game and that was back when he was a rookie.