Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Friday night, the Vancouver Canucks celebrated the official retirement of Alex Edler. He holds virtually every team record for a Canucks defenseman — although Quinn Hughes is coming up quickly on the points side. But Edler sits fourth in franchise history in both games and seasons played with the organization — behind only Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Trevor Linden.
Both of those marks are set to stand for quite a while.
Like Kevin Bieksa in 2022, Edler skated out in full Canucks gear for his pre-game ceremony at Rogers Arena.
Alex Edler, you are forever a Canuck! pic.twitter.com/0euUM8idDf
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 12, 2024
At 38, Edler is just one season removed from his last NHL minutes with the Los Angeles Kings. He’s younger than two blueliners still in the league — Ryan Suter and Brent Burns.
So when Tyler Myers went down in a heap after suffering an apparent leg injury on his first shift of the game, a ripple went down press row. Was Edler still suited up? He’d signed a contract, after all. Could he help out??
It would have been an incredible viral moment. But of course, Vancouver soldiered ahead with five defenders for the rest of the night — a 65-minute affair that ended when Morgan Frost beat Kevin Lankinen in the fifth round of the shootout to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 3-2 win.
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Even though Quinn Hughes plays the left side and Myers is a righty, the Canucks captain shouldered the biggest part of the extra load, hitting a career high with 31:29 of ice time.
After giving up six goals in their season-opening overtime loss to the Calgary Flames, the Canucks’ blueline is already under scrutiny despite the presence of Hughes, the reigning Norris Trophy holder.
Nikita Zadorov and Ian Cole are gone from last season’s roster, replaced by Derek Forbort and Vincent Desharnais. And while Noah Juulsen dressed for Game 2 and delivered a solid 19:39, Desharnais will most likely draw back in when the Canucks start a four-game road swing in Tampa next Tuesday.
The good news — hopefully — is that coach Rick Tocchet said Saturday that Myers may have “dodged a bullet” with his injury. The rangy veteran is currently listed as day-to-day with a lower-body issue and will join the team for the road trip.
The Canucks need all the help they can get as they look to improve on a tepid 0-0-2 start to the season. Masters at defending leads last season, they let their advantage slip away in the final frame in both their games this week, then couldn’t scoop up the second point beyond 60 minutes.
They’ve already slipped outside the playoff picture over this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. And while Vancouver is still missing injured starting goalie Thatcher Demko and impactful power forward Dakota Joshua, coach Rick Tocchet is looking to get his group onto the same page as soon as possible.
“It’s simple things,” he said after practice on Saturday. “It’s changes — I don’t like our changes this year. It’s over-extended. Guys are staying out for 50 seconds. We’re doing stuff that we didn’t do last year, for the majority of the time.”
Tocchet added that he didn’t want to single any players out, whether they’re newcomers or established team members.
“But I do believe that we have to make sure we get to our staples pretty quick,” he continued. “We’ve got to start going through people. I don’t think we’re battling as hard as we should. But like I said, it’s early. And we’ve got to get to it.”
Most of the team’s numbers so far are in the middle of the pack. Now under the guidance of new assistant coach Yogi Svejkovsky, the power play has been more dynamic and gone 2-for-9 through two games, but also given up one shorthanded goal.
The good news: the Canucks have controlled an impressive 60.97 percent of expected goals at 5-on-5 through two games, per Natural Stat Trick. They’ve also been good in the faceoff circle, winning 55.8 percent of its draws. And while playoff hero Arturs Silovs had some trouble handling shots from distance against the Flames, newcomer Kevin Lankinen was steady in his debut with his new team on Friday, making 29 saves against the Flyers and finishing at plus-0.2 goals saved above expected according to MoneyPuck.com.
Tocchet has it right. While the Canucks’ core foundation is solid, sloppy details have cost them points in their first two games.
In the National Hockey League, points lost in October can come back to haunt a team in March and April. Perhaps some bonding time on the road can bring the group together and help them rediscover their swagger.
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News Summary:
- The Canucks Can Give Thanks For Time To Fine-Tune Their Details
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