Canucks are off to their best start in 18 years

The Vancouver Canucks are off to their best start as a franchise since the 2005-06 season.

With last night’s 5-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues, the Canucks have not only won three straight, but have a 5-2-0 record on the season. Given that it’s their best start to a season in 18 years, the fan base is extremely excited about this year. While it’s early, it does appear that this is a much different team under Rick Tocchet’s guidance.

Thanks to their hot start to the season, the Canucks find themselves second in the Pacific Division behind only the Vegas Golden Knights. They sit seven points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers, a team in which nobody thought they would come close to this season.

To little surprise, Elias Pettersson is off to a scorching start with two goals and 12 points. However, there is plenty of reason besides just Pettersson that this team has been so great. Brock Boeser looks as good as he has in a number of years with six goals and nine points. Ilya Mikheyev doesn’t appear to have missed a beat after tearing his ACL last season with two goals and three points through three games.

Perhaps the biggest thing the Canucks needed to improve on from this season to last was goaltending, and Thatcher Demko has done just that. After an off 2022-23 campaign, he owns a 1.91 goals against average (GAA) paired with a .936 save percentage (SV%) in five appearances. Recently acquired backup Casey DeSmith has been fantastic as well, with a 2.28 GAA and a .938 SV% in two starts.

As good as the start has been, Canucks fans are well aware that it is a long season. While starting off as they have certainly helps their chances of making the playoffs, they can’t afford to let their foot off the gas in a division that should get much more competitive moving forward. They will look to keep the good times rolling tonight as they are set to take on the New York Rangers at 7:00 pm PT.

You might also like:
• Canucks thriving playing Tocchet hockey score another blowout win