Tocchet gives blunt explanation after limiting ice time for top Vancouver Canucks forwards
The Vancouver Canucks have a scoring problem.
Over the past few months, they’ve been unable to score goals at the rate needed to string together winning streaks and move up the standings.
Sunday night’s 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars was the most recent evidence to support that premise. The Canucks generated some scoring chances but could only manage a lone goal.
One of the biggest issues has been Vancouver’s big-name players producing at far below their usual rates. Forwards like Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk, and Brock Boeser have all been very quiet.
That trio has struggled to score since Jan. 1: Boeser has 13 points in 26 games, Pettersson has eight in 22, and DeBrusk has nine in 26. That is far from the production expected from those players.
They were ineffective once again against the Stars, and their ice times reflected that. Pettersson played 16:05, Boeser was at 15:49, and DeBrusk saw just 12:45 of ice time.
And it was no accident.
“You gotta earn your ice time,” Tocchet said when asked a question about ice time given to Pettersson, DeBrusk, and Boeser.
“You gotta earn your ice time around here, it’s how you win. You guys can stir it up all you want, you have to earn your ice time. I don’t care how long you’ve been here, you gotta earn your ice time.”
“That’s the way it works; that’s how you win Stanley Cups.”
Tocchet also called out an undefined group of players, saying the Canucks needed more from them. It doesn’t take a massive leap to infer it’s probably the big-name forwards he’s talking about.
“I thought we played a good hockey game. A lot of guys played hard, we need some more from a couple of other guys, though. I thought the team played well.”
While there have been some signs of progress recently, especially from Pettersson, the star forwards struggling have sent the Canucks offence into a tailspin. As a team, they rank last in goals per game since Jan. 1 and last in even-strength goals per game.
The Canucks don’t have time to experiment, they need more scoring as soon as possible, as they’re fighting the Calgary Flames for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Whether Tocchet can find a way to unlock that in the final weeks of the season could be the deciding factor on whether they make the playoffs or not.