PATERSON ON CANUCKS WINLESS PRESEASON
By: Stephen Lylyk, RP Show Intern
“I don’t give a single solitary bleep about preseason results.”
That is how Matthew Sekeres of the Daily Hive described his thoughts on the abysmal preseason of the 2022 Vancouver Canucks.
However with the NHL season starting next week, is it the time for Vancouver to be worried?
Veteran Canucks reporter Jeff Paterson stopped by the Rod Pedersen show Tuesday to discuss the team’s outlook heading into this new campaign.
“You have to keep in mind,” Paterson states, “that it’s the preseason. That said they’ve only scored 7 goals in those preseason games.”
While Paterson said the Canucks struggles weren’t the end of the world, he did stress the expectations within the organization for this season.
“The expectations are that this should be a playoff team,” Paterson stated.
The Canucks started out last season poorly with an 8-15-2 record before they replaced their head coach and front office in a form of organizational spring cleaning. While they made a great run with Interim coach Bruce Boudreau it wasn’t enough.
“If you dig yourself a hole it’s just so hard to claw your way out,” said Paterson.
One of the players that had to overcome alot of pressure last season was star Goaltender Thatcher Demko. Due to the efforts to make the postseason he finished last year playing 64 of a possible 82 games.
“They just couldn’t give Thatcher the rest he needed,” said Paterson, “Eventually he got hurt and needed offseason surgery.”
The Canucks offseason was highlighted by keeping star player JT Miller as well as signing former Toronto Maple Leaf Ilya Mikheyev. On paper the talent on this roster is there.
“Their top 9 forward core stacks up well with the rest of the conference,” Paterson surmised. “The issue for the Canucks remains the defensive end where there’s just so many questions the front office didn’t address.”
At the end of the day the key factor for the Canucks success will be maintaining Thatcher demko properly through an 82 game season.
“You gotta find the sweet spot of ‘how many games is too many games?’” said Paterson. “Especially being a team on the West coast with all that travel.”
The Canucks will put alot on Demko’s plate again as they went with an unproven option as their backup goaltender.
Goaltender Spencer Martin joined the franchise this offseason. Last last in six total games went 3-0-3 with a 1.74 Goals AGainst Average and a .950 save %.
While the Canucks look to improve upon their current form, the start of their regular season won’t make things easy. They play 14 of their first 22 games on the road and their first five games in three different time zones.
The Canucks regular season gets under way next Wednesday in Edmonton against the Division rival Oilers.
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily on Game+ TV across Canada and the USA, and on WQEE 99.1 Metro Atlanta)
