It's official: Vancouver Canucks will miss the playoffs this year
It turns out the Vancouver Canucks’ goodwill with the hockey gods is over for the time being.
About 24 hours after Vancouver kept its playoff hopes alive with a historic three-goal comeback in the final minute in Dallas to fuel a 6-5 overtime win, an 8-7 overtime win by the Minnesota Wild over the San Jose Sharks was the final nail in the coffin for the Canucks’ playoff chances this year.
It means the Canucks will miss the playoffs for the eighth time in the last 10 years.
Five teams in the Western Conference have now clinched playoff spots, with the Wild, Edmonton Oilers, and St. Louis Blues in prime position to land the last three.
No playoffs in Vancouver this year (NHL)
The Calgary Flames still have an outside shot at sneaking in, but as they’re five points out with just four games left in their schedule, they would likely need to win out and get some help to pull off that run.
Though the 2024-25 season began with high hopes after the team took the eventual Stanley Cup finalist Oilers to a Game 7 in the second round of the playoffs last year, Vancouver never quite found that special sauce at any point this season.
Unlike some years where there’s a massive losing streak that derails the season, that hasn’t been the case for these Canucks. Though they lost three games in a row to kick off the year, they haven’t had a losing streak of more than four games all season, having just one from Jan. 3 to 10.
But 15 different stretches of at least back-to-back losses did the Canucks in, as the team faced a clear issue from getting back on the right foot after a tough game.
If one overarching story enveloped much of the season, it had to do with a reported rift between forwards Elias Pettersson and the now-departed J.T. Miller, who was sent to the New York Rangers in a mid-season trade.
The biggest positive on the season was undoubtedly captain Quinn Hughes. When healthy, he established himself as the team’s clear leader and is 25 points clear of any teammate with 74 points in just 64 games this year.
On the flip side, the Canucks currently don’t have a single forward that’s hit 50 points yet this year, which is a tough way to win in pretty much any era of the NHL.
Despite being bounced from playoff contention, the Canucks still have four games left on the season, including a three-game homestand at Rogers Arena to close it out.
It might’ve felt like a long season at times, but it’ll feel twice as long this offseason as the Canucks search for answers as how to get their franchise back on track.
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