This much is clear, the Vancouver Canucks miss Brock Boeser . And maybe more than anyone thought. Not only is the hockey club 2-3 in the five games since Boeser was the recipient of a cheap shot from Tanner Jeannot in Los Angeles on November 7th, but the team has managed just nine goals at 5-on-5 in that span – and of those, only five have been scored by forwards. Stop for a moment and repeat that last part out loud.
While the market loses its mind about the many defensive deficiencies on this year’s club, those problems in their end have overshadowed the club’s significant struggle to generate offence since Boeser left the line-up. Teams can overcome a handful of players hitting a rut at the same time, but it’s hard when almost all of the players expected to score wind up going missing in action at the same time. Somebody needs to step up to fill the offensive gap left by Boeser’s absence. A resurgent Elias Pettersson can’t do it alone.
JT Miller
The benching on Sunday night came after weeks of rather indifferent play from the Canucks star forward. Miller has two goals in his last 10 games, and both have been empty netters, including one on Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks. He is likely not playing at 100%, but he needs to do more to help this hockey club.
Conor Garland
No one is ever going to knock the hustle and effort the pesky winger brings to the mix, but quietly Garland has no goals in five and just one goal in his last 11 games – a power play goal in Los Angeles that Darcy Kuemper actually put into his own net. So Garland has gone nearly a month without a 5-on-5 goal and hasn’t actually beaten a goalie with a shot since an October 22nd game in Chicago.
Jake DeBrusk
Everyone says DeBrusk is a streaky scorer. Well, it’s time for the winger to go streaking again. He hasn’t scored on this homestand and, quite remarkably, hasn’t scored in 10 home games this season. His three goals as a Canuck so far came in consecutive games in California, but if he doesn’t score against the New York Rangers on Tuesday, he won’t have another chance to score on home ice until December 6th. On Saturday against Chicago, DeBrusk had eight shot attempts; however, only one of them actually hit the net.
Nils Höglander
The 24-goal guy from a year ago has been stuck on two goals for a month now. Both his goals this season have come against the Philadelphia Flyers, and his last one was on October 19th. Höglander has gone 12 straight now without putting a puck in the net. More than that, he has just 13 shots on goal during his goal drought. Sunday, he took a costly penalty with the Canucks leading 2-1 midway through the game. He showed last season that he can produce lower in the line-up. Any day now would be a good time to show he can do it again.
Teddy Blueger
Blueger scored the second of the team’s two empty net goals against the Blackhawks on Saturday. That’s the only goal the veteran centre has scored since October 17th against the Florida Panthers. Blueger got off to a hot start this season with two goals and five points in the team’s first seven games. He has the empty netter and three assists in the past 10.
Danton Heinen
Heinen has scored in just two games this season. He had a two-goal game in Chicago on October 22nd, and in the 11 outings since then, he has scored once – at Anaheim on November 5th. So Heinen’s now in the midst of a six-game stretch without a goal. It’s not that he’s playing poorly; he’s just not producing like so many of his teammates. He’s actually looked solid in a fourth-line role in recent games with Aatu Räty and Höglander.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki
The rookie gets some slack here, but even he hasn’t shot the lights out. He has one goal in his first four NHL games. It was a great shot off the rush against the New York Islanders last Thursday that gave Canucks fans a glimpse of what’s possible. But despite a role in the top six and on the first power play unit, he hasn’t been the volume shooter he has been at other levels. The 20-year-old has one goal on six shots four games into his NHL career. Sunday against the Nashville Predators, Lekkerimäki failed to register a single shot on goal.
Dakota Joshua
Like Lekkerimäki, Dakota Joshua gets some serious leeway as he works his way back from a devastating testicular cancer diagnosis. But even Joshua, who said he didn’t want to return to the line-up until he felt he could make an impact, likely feels his first three games have been underwhelming. He has zero points and has yet to record a single shot on goal, and his presence hasn’t given the Canucks much of a boost. This is the NHL, and if you’re in the line-up, there have to be some expectations of contributions. Again, it’s only been a week without training camp and the preseason. But Joshua is capable of so much more than he’s shown in his first week back on the job. The Canucks need him to announce his arrival soon.
Elias Pettersson, Pius Suter, Kiefer Sherwood, Aatu Räty and Jonathan Lekkerimäki are the only forwards that have scored for the Canucks in the past week. In some ways, it’s remarkable that the team is 2-2 over that stretch. The cause has been greatly aided by the fact defencemen chipped in with a goal in five straight prior to Sunday night. But without Boeser – who doesn’t appear set to return any time soon – somebody has to step up and fill the offensive void and the net.
There are certainly enough candidates. Now the question is: who’s up to the challenge? Without more offensive contributions from several players paid to produce, the Canucks don’t stand much of a chance of outscoring their defensive woes. The issues on this team aren’t all in their own zone. These days, there are problems at both ends of the rink.
