What was starting to emerge as a strength early in the season has already become the Canucks’ kryptonite.



Since Oct. 29, when Brandon Sutter went down with an injury, the Canucks penalty kill has allowed 12.1 goals per hour shorthanded and teams are creating scoring chances and generating unblocked shots at a level commensurate with the raw production.



This begs the question: why exactly are the Canucks struggling? How have injuries to key penalty killers like Sutter, Jay Beagle and Alex Edler influenced these results? Are there structural flaws with the formation? Is deployment an issue given the available options? Or has luck been a factor?



To supplement the public data, I’ve been tracking special teams micro-statistics at both the individual and team level. For the penalty kill, I’ve examined zone entries against, puck retrievals, blocked passes+breakups, clearance attempts and on-ice rates for high danger shot assists including Royal...