Is this the year the Vancouver Canucks finally prove they’re for real?

This time last year, the Vancouver Canucks were on the brink of disarray. Mid-January team president Jim Rutherford held a press conference to address the team’s terrible season, which started with eight straight losses and didn’t improve much from there. “I’m quite disappointed in the job I’ve done,” Rutherford said at the time. The team’s fans felt the same way, especially regarding the team’s treatment of then-coach Bruce Boudreau, who was rumored to be on the chopping block, with Rick Tocchet apparently already waiting in the wings to take the to take over. At the press conference, Rutherford could only say, “Bruce is our coach, and that’s the way it is today.” The Canucks Boudreau fired a few days later Tocchet took over, as predicted. It was messy.

But winning makes things clear – and the Canucks have done a lot this year. As the NHL pauses for the All Star break this week, the Canucks sit atop not only the Pacific Division, but the entire Western Conference. They went 8-0-2 through their last ten games before the break, a record second only in the West to the streaking Edmonton Oilers, who shocked the Canucks with back-to-back losses to open the season – losses that led the Oilers , a preseason Stanley Cup favorite who has been reeling for months.

What’s working for Vancouver? Seemingly everything – even the things that shouldn’t be. For example, goaltender Thatcher Demko is playing very well, with a save percentage of .920 and a 2.44 goals-against average. But Demko’s numbers hide the fact that he faced a barrage of shots: 1,061 in the first half of the season, fourth most overall. (For comparison, Colorado’s Alexander Georgiev has faced 1,133 shots with a more credible save percentage of .898.) At the same time, the Canucks are scoring big (186 goals), second overall in goals behind the Avalanche (190 goals). What stands out about this comparison is not necessarily the overall goals, but Vancouver’s economy. The Canucks have managed to nearly tie Colorado’s goal total with nearly 200 fewer shots. The bottom line is that it is exactly what it sounds like: Vancouver scores a lot and doesn’t concede much.

Meanwhile, Vancouver has three top-10 individual point-getters in JT Miller, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes. As for Miller in particular, the turnaround since (again) last season has been stunning. The only thing people said about Miller at the time was that he had an attitude problem and was a bad teammate, mainly based on a moment in December when he shouted at Collin Delia to come off the ice for an extra attacker on a delayed power play. Now? He is the “effectively…motorcycle that drives” the Canucks, which is true in many ways – Miller has indeed shown he can be an effective two-way player and has 67 points for his work. At the same time, Hughes, recently named captain of the Canucks (the youngest in the NHL at just 24), is destroying teams from his position on defense, as follows:

Or this:

The question is whether Vancouver can keep this up for the rest of the season, let alone into the playoffs, where the veteran Avalanche, Stars, Golden Knights and Oilers will be waiting. To keep things interesting, all you can do is hope.

Top cheese: We’re going to stripe

After their surprisingly mediocre start to the season, few could have predicted that come January we would all be talking about the unbeatable Edmonton Oilers. But here we are, at the All Star break and the Oilers have won sixteen in a row, one win away from tying the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins’ NHL record of seventeen. The Oilers’ streak is aided by goaltender Stuart Skinner, who enters the break week with 12 straight wins, an Oilers record. During that time, Skinner’s goals-against average has dropped to a slightly insane 1.41 – even crazier when you consider it was 3.99 at the start of November. As for Connor McDavid, after his slow start (only two goals in all of October and six games without a goal at the start of the season) he has risen in the points standings and is now fourth overall with 67. Forwards Zach Hyman and His Leon Draisaitl woke up in the same way suddenly and scored 30 and 23 goals respectively in the season.

What changed? Coaching. In late November, Edmonton fired Jay Woodcroft and assistant Dave Manson and replaced them with Kris Knoblauch and Oilers legend Paul Coffey. Knoblauch coached McDavid during his OHL tenure with the Erie Otters, where he also coached NHLers Travis Dermott, Alex DeBrincat and both Taylor and Darren Raddysh. Knoblauch had four consecutive 50-win seasons in the OHL. He’s more than halfway to Edmonton. Since Knoblauch came on board, the Oilers are a stellar 26-6-0.

But the Oilers aren’t the only ones making streaks these days.

On a penalty killing against the Florida Panthers? Keep Sam Reinhart away from the puck. Reinhart has already scored 20 power-play goals this season, surpassing the previous Panthers record of 19, set by both Scott Mellanby and Pavel Bure. Thanks in part to his power play ability, Reinhart also has a 13 game point streak. In Colorado, Nathan MacKinnon also shed a tear, at least on home ice. When the league shut down, MacKinnon was in the middle of a 25-game home points streak, with his last appearance coming against LA:

Contenders

There has been little movement at the top of the NHL over the past month, so the real action has been in the wildcard spots, where there has been a fairly steady rotation of teams. In the East, Toronto had an odd enough January to fall out of the top three in the Atlantic and now, along with Detroit, hold one of the last two spots in the playoff race. Meanwhile, Carolina has come online and climbed the standings to second in the Metro, while the Flyers enter the All Star break on a five-game losing skid.

In the West, the St. Louis Blues have managed to secure a potential playoff berth, edging out Nashville and Seattle for the final spot in the conference thanks to a five-game winning streak through January. Elsewhere in the Central, the Winnipeg Jets briefly held first place not only in the West but also in the NHL before dropping two straight to the Leafs to end the month. Colorado and Vancouver are still of great importance – and it goes without saying that Edmonton (now with a rehabilitated and apologetic Corey Perry) finally made it into the chat.

Pretenders

Good news and bad news in Chicago, where the Blackhawks are still at the bottom of the league. Yes, Connor Bedard did that breaking his jaw on Jan. 5 in a game against the New Jersey Devils and isn’t expected to return for another six to eight weeks. However, Connor Bedard already is skate back (although the timeline for recovery remains the same). Even without Bedard, the Blackhawks have managed to stay tied with the still-terrible San Jose Sharks.

Columbus forward Patrik Laine did that temporarily stopped playing hockey to participate in the NHLPA/NHL Player Assistance Program to focus on his mental health as the team sits near the bottom of the East. Elsewhere in the metro, Patrick Roy joined the New York Islanders this month as the new head coach. The Iles are currently in the bubble, five points out of a play-off spot. In New Jersey, excitement about last year’s playoff appearance has been dampened, with the Devils now three spots behind a wild-card berth.

Elsewhere in the hockey world

London, Ontario – More than a year after we heard about it sexual abuse London police have filed charges against members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior Championship. Former Ottawa Senator Alex Formenton appeared in London on Monday and released a statement claiming his innocence. Playing Tuesday were Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart, New Jersey Devils players Cal Foote and Michael McLeod and Calgary Flames forward Dillon Dube were also all charged with sexual violence. Lawyers for that group have all said their clients deny any wrongdoing. London police have said they will inform the public at a press conference on Monday, February 5. While the Flyers and Devils released Hart, Foote and McLeod for leave, respectively curt explanations that gave no reason for their departure, as Dube parted ways with the Flames, the team said publicly that he was out indefinitely “while he attends to his mental health.” On Tuesday evening, the Flames provided an update, to report that the team “had no knowledge of pending charges at the time Dillon’s request for leave was granted.”

Salt lake city – The Smith Entertainment Group, owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz and MLS’s Real Salt Lake, released a statement in late January that it formally requested that the NHL begin an expansion process to bring a team to Salt Lake City. The NHL responded, saying the league “appreciates the interest.” Utah, the NHL said, “is a promising market and we look forward to continuing our discussions.”

Los Angeles – Sold out season ticket packages, record attendance, and some Nice goals. That’s the story so far of the first month of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which kicked off on January 1. Can the success continue? New polling data released this month offers a glimpse of the potential for that continued growth if the PWHL can market itself. As many as 45% of Canadians surveyed in January told Abacus Data they were “little aware” of the PWHL – 20% said they were completely unaware it existed. But despite this, the PWHL, along with its purpose and impact, is generally well regarded. For example, 42% of respondents said they believe the PWHL is “critical to women’s sports,” and about a third said they felt it would inspire more women to play hockey and create opportunities for female players to play to advance their careers. February promises even more as Toronto will take on Montreal on the 16th at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. A potentially record-breaking crowd of nearly 19,000 people is expected at the “Battle of Bay Street“.

Pittsburgh – Yet another current NHLer who was directly influenced by Sidney Crosby in their youth got the chance to play against him this month: Vegas Golden Knight Brendan Brisson, the son of Crosby’s agent Pat Brisson, and who Crosby babysitting once. Brisson scored his first NHL goal and the game winner for Vegas on January 20 against the Penguins. Crosby is now officially old. But he’s still incredible.