Price is Right: What should we expect from the Canucks this season?

Another hockey season is upon us. A chance to reload your Vancouver Canucks hope and optimism, or give in to the pessimism, which I think might be a tad harder this year than in previous years. Blue-line depth is still a huge issue, especially on the right side, but everything else can be argued to be at least somewhat better.

The Canucks’ penalty kill was horrific of course, and with Teddy Blueger, Ilya Mikeheyev, Sam Lafferty, Pius Suter, Ian Cole, and Carson Soucy there’s a big time upgrade.

Third- and fourth-line centres are appropriate now as well with Blueger and Suter.

The left side of defence should be impervious to basic injury stress, but if they’re robbing from the left to plug the right, then really both sides have depth issues.

They had 83 points last season. They will defend better, while scoring less, but I think it’s a nine-point improvement — 92 points on the season.

My hope in there though, on behalf of all fans, is that the 92 points are doled out in a fairly balanced manner. Please no 10-2-0 run to finish the season at 92 points. That would mean a season in which they really aren’t in the playoff race much at all, just getting hot late. Means they frustrate us all season, and flirt with a meaningless hot streak to finish.

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But with 92 points, with the Western Conference floor raised by some slightly better bad teams, they just barely grab the second wild-card spot.

The Canucks will be guided, as expected, by Elias Petterson. With a team a tad more structured, EP40 doesn’t get to 100 points, but he’s just below it at 96. And the overall play is still one step better than last season. Did you know Pavel Datsyuk never got 100 points? It’s a nice round number, but isn’t needed for a spectacular season.

He will also be the MVP. That doesn’t sound terribly original, but it’s most probably correct.

I will break the originality mould here though, my bold take for the season is this. Someone, in the core, is traded during this season. Those core players include: Pettersson, Thatcher Demko, J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Brock Boeser. Miller and Pettersson are the most unlikely in this unlikely of scenarios. A no-movement clause for Miller, and the aforementioned MVP season for Pettersson are the big reasons why. But defence is still an issue, and you have to spend to get.

That’s how I see it going down. Drop the puck.