Vancouver was at the wrong end of the goals-for list in 2018-19. That can’t be the case again in the 2019-20 campaign
The Vancouver Canucks scored 219 goals in 2018-19, which landed them in a tie for sixth worst in the NHL.The Canucks got better goaltending this past season and ended the year with a .905 save percentage, exactly league average. You can deal with that.
Underneath, there’s Adam Gaudette, who played a lot this season but struggled to make an impact for much of the year. He scored in college and while he turns 23 in October, you figure there has to be room for more. All this growth is a lot to bank on to solve the problem alone. What if Boeser, who has scored on roughly a 35-goal pace the last two seasons, scores just 30? What if he suffers another frustrating injury?
Tactical changesUnderlying a lot of the Canucks’ scoring troubles was a tactical choice that they have to get away from: the Canucks played too much dump and chase this season. Hughes, again, is likely to help in this regard: he’s a smart puck mover as well as an aggressive puck carrier. The puck was often too slowly distributed this past season, making the power play too predictable.
Because they lack a forward prospect who fits this bill — it might have been Jonathan Dahlen, but he’s gone, and Zack MacEwen may yet have an NHL future, but it won’t be as a front-line scorer — they will have to turn to free agency or the trade market if they really want this to happen.
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