Welcome Matt: Canucks have to avoid two major roadblocks in order to make playoffs
So, can the Vancouver Canucks screw it up from here?
The answer is ‘yes’ because they’ve done this once before, but missing the playoffs after a 9-2-1 start — the best in franchise history — would be quite a trick and join an infamous list.
Shoutout to Big Head Hockey for the tweet about teams missing the playoffs following eight wins through 11 games.
Teams with 8+ wins through 11 games that missed the playoffs in the cap era:
— Sabres (19/20)
— Blues (17/18)
— Canadiens (15/16)
— Stars (11/12)
— Blues (10/11)
— Canucks (05/06)Out of the 70 teams with 8+ wins through 11 games, 64 of them made the playoffs (91.4%)
• Golden… pic.twitter.com/E3YbEtIdWV
— Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) November 6, 2023
Let’s start in 2005-06 when the Canucks stormed out to an 8-2-1 mark, the same record as this year’s team had heading into Monday’s 6-2 triumph over Edmonton. They pushed the mark to 10-2-2 before cracks started showing.
That Canucks team lost starting goaltender Dan Cloutier firs to a concussion, then to an ACL tear, and watched helplessly as defencemen Sami Salo and Ed Jovanovski also missed significant time due to injury.
Two five-game losing streaks derailed the season and that length of skid was a common denominator amongst teams that missed the postseason after great starts.
The others:
2018-19 Buffalo Sabres
Ripped off a 10-game winning streak after a 9-2-1 start but then had seven- and eight-game losing streak in March and April. Became only the second team to win 10 in a row and miss the playoffs.
2017-18 St. Louis Blues
They got to 21-8-2 but had a seven-game skid in February and lost a trio of forwards — Jaden Schwartz, Paul Stastny and Patrik Berglund — for long stretches of the season.
2015-16 Montreal Canadiens
A 13-2-1 start got even better by December as the Habs sat at 18-4-2 before losing 10 of 11 in the final month of the calendar year. They then had a stretch of nine losses in 10 and were defeated 12 times in the final 20 games. Injuries to star players at three positions — goalie Carey Price, defenceman P.K. Subban, and forward Brendan Gallagher — played a big role.
2011-12 Dallas Stars
They started 11-3 then lost five in a row. They had another five-game losing streak in January, and closed the season with a third five-game drought. These Stars had the worst power play in the league and didn’t have goalie Kari Lehtonen for all of the season.
2010-11 St. Louis Blues
Much like the Stars a year later, this team started strong then lost five in a row: 9-1-2 turned into 9-5-3. They had two other five-game skids, and two more four-game skids amid injuries to defencemen Eric Brewer, Erik Johnson, Barrett Jackman and forwards T.J. Oshie and Andy McDonald.
Basically, if the Canucks avoid injuries to core players, and can avoid a five-game losing streak (or an elongated spell) then they should qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the expanded playoff field in the 2020 bubble.
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