Welcome Matt: Canucks playoff push could've been focus of great sports weekend

This is traditionally the time of year when people in sports talk laud the season.

Arguably the best sports week of the year, right?

The Masters. The NCAA March Madness tournament final. Baseball’s Opening Day. And the conclusions of the NBA and NHL season and their playoff chase finales — albeit this year the NHL is delayed because of the original Olympic scheduling.

Well, you know what? Screw all that.

I’m tired of this evergreen topic taking our attention away from the bread and the butter.

One of these years — God help us that it’s 2023 — we need to talk about the Vancouver Canucks going back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, and early April being about car flags, opponent scouting reports, and full houses at Rogers Arena.

It’s high time.

A pair of 5-1 wins this week by the Canucks over the Golden Knights and Coyotes, and still being far from the bar of playoff qualification, only makes it more frustrating.

The Buffalo Sabres were mathematically eliminated this week and will miss the postseason for a league-worst 11th straight time.

You know who is second on that list if we discount the bubble postseason and the play-ins, where 24 teams had a shot at the postseason?

The Canucks.

Vancouver hasn’t made a traditional Stanley Cup playoffs in seven years.

That’s two more than the Detroit Red Wings, three more than the Ottawa Senators, and four more than the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and New Jersey Devils.

So, yes, I’ll be watching The Masters, baseball, soccer — shoutout to the Canadian women’s team at BC Place tonight — and the other sports happenings during this great time of the year.

All with the knowledge that one of these years I won’t be able to dedicate the time to these other sports because we’re too busy with the Canucks in the playoffs.

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