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The Pacific Division, everyone pic.twitter.com/E6g1jwXVPq — Jason Brough (@JasonPHT) November 30, 2016

As Jason Brough has noted ina fine post of his own on this grey, rainy, West Coast Wednesday, in any other division, the Canucks would be *11* points out of first.

So, here we are, pondering a mediocre playoff run.

Say what?

Yes, it’s possible.

A big thing to consider is that for all their flaws, the Canucks are the league’s least-lucky team, as measured by the PDO stat. PDO is simply adding even-strength shooting and save percentages; generally they’ll add up to 1,000. Anything below 1,000 means you’ve probably been mostly unlucky, a number above the opposite.

Of course, good teams can keep themselves a bit above 1,000 — because of better-than-average goaltending or a collection of high-end shooters — while bad teams will often hover a little below.

The Canucks currently have a league-worst PDO of 969, driven by them being second last in both even-strength shooting percentage and even-strength save percentage. Both of those stats have been found to be heavily influenced by luck, meaning that teams on the edges generally move back toward the middle.

So, unless the Canucks really are the league’s worst shooters and are also icing the league’s worst goalies, that’s not going to continue.

That means a few more goals for are on the way, and a few fewer goals against.

Buckle up.

The Corsi Caveat

A big problem in 2015-16 was the team’s shot attempts on offence fell through the floor. It’s still not totally clear why, but my working theory is they just couldn’t get the puck out of their zone with control often enough. That probably matches what you saw with their eyes.