How the Canucks stack up to Golden Knights and Kings
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Despite their sizzling start, the Vancouver Canucks are only the third-best team in the Pacific Division by points percentage.
Talk about a buzzkill.
The Canucks are ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for second in the Pacific. However, the Kings have four games in hand and their .763 point percentage is best in the division.
Even though the Canucks are effectively third in the division behind the Kings and Vegas Golden Knights, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
Namely, the Canucks are actually in the conversation for being one of the best teams in the Pacific, and not just the playoff bubble team that many thought they would be.
The Canucks are in second place by points and third by points percentage.
With the bar now being raised in Vancouver, let’s take a look at how the Canucks actually stack up against the best teams in the Pacific.
Kings reign supreme at 5-on-5
If you just look at goals-for and against, the Canucks and Kings stack up similarly.
Los Angeles has scored 51 goals for and 33 goals against at five-on-five. The Canucks have also allowed 33 goals and have scored 52 of their own.
However, if you peek under the hood, the Kings profile as the most dominant 5-on-5 team in the NHL right now.
The Kings lead the NHL with an expected goals differential of 57.9%. That’s mainly because they allow the third-fewest five-on-five scoring chances against in the entire NHL.
Just based on expected goals for percentage, the Golden Knights and Canucks are middle of the pack, ranking 16th and 18th overall respectively.
The Kings and Canucks have scored more than the Golden Knights, mainly because they’ve been clinical at finishing their chances. LA and Vancouver have the second and third best shooting percentage in the NHL respectively, while the Golden Knights rank 24th.
Canucks special teams aren’t so special
That’s a damning statement, because the Canucks have the best power play among these three teams.
Their power play ranks third overall in the NHL, and they’ve created the most expected goals per-60 at five-on-four.
However, the Kings and Golden Knights are in the top half of the league on the man advantage, and both squads boast elite penalty kills.
Here’s how each of the teams stack up when adding their power play and penalty kill percentage together:
- Canucks: 29.8% power play + 76.4% penalty kill = 106.2
- Golden Knights: 20.7% power play + 85.7% penalty kill = 106.4
- Kings: 20.8% power play + 89.4% penalty kill = 110.2
The Kings currently have the best penalty kill in the NHL, while the Golden Knights rank eighth.
Despite improvements compared to last season, the Canucks penalty kill ranks 22nd overall in the NHL.
Golden goaltending
You’d think this is where the Canucks might have a leg up, but not so fast.
Demko has been great, but his competitors from the Pacific have arguably been better.
NHL.com
Now, there’s still an argument that Demko has been the best goaltender in the Pacific Division. He still leads the NHL in terms of goals saved above expected, which points to the fact that the Canucks don’t do as good of a job at suppressing scoring chances compared to the Kings and Golden Knights.
However, the Golden Knights currently have the best goaltending in the division. That’s largely because Vegas’s 1B goaltender, Logan Thompson, has been spectacular in his own right with a .917 save percentage in 10 games played.
Casey DeSmith has been excellent for the Canucks, although his save percentage has now dipped to .907. Kings backup Phoenix Copley surprising hasn’t lost in regulation during his six starts, but his .868 save percentage is one of the worst marks in the NHL.
Can Canucks’ depth compete against Golden Knights and Kings?
It’s hard to deny that the Canucks have the best star power among their division counterparts.
J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, and Elias Pettersson make up three of the top six scorers in the NHL right now. You’ll also see Filip Hronek and Brock Boeser on the NHL point leaders list before you find anyone from the Kings or Golden Knights.
LEAGUE-LEADING 16TH GOAL FOR BROCK! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/GYwTGNZ17f
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 29, 2023
Further down the depth chart, the Canucks’ secondary forwards have been tops in the NHL. That’s saying something because you could argue that the Canucks’ division rivals in LA and Vegas have some of the best forward depth in the league.
It is worth noting that both the Kings and Golden Knights have better 1-2-3 punches at centre than the Canucks. William Karlsson is the third line centre in Vegas, while Pierre Luc-Dubois is in the middle of the Kings’ bottom line.
However, on defence is where the real divide seems to be.
Vegas’s defence was a big reason why they just won the Stanley Cup. Los Angeles also has a solid first pair (Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson), and their bottom pairings have absolutely crushed it in terms of limiting chances.
The Canucks have performed admirable despite middling defensive depth. Hughes, Hronek, and Ian Cole are a rock solid top-three, but the rest of the blue line leaves something to be desired.
Still, the fact that we’re looking at how the Canucks compete against two of the best teams in the league is a sign that their early placement as one of the best teams in the league might be for real. Even if they aren’t fully there yet.
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