BEST POSITIVE

Somehow, Elias Pettersson’s legend balloons every game he doesn’t play.

Someone in the arena suggested post-game the Canucks are 50 per cent less entertaining when he’s not in the lineup.

It seemed like tonight you could have safely added 49 more percentage points to his estimate.

The Canucks are Pettersson’s team. And when he sits out and is on injured reserve they are not much at all.

Any more games like this and his jersey will be retired before his mild knee sprain heals and he will be named the most impactful Canuck of all time.

He hasn’t even been in Vancouver for five months and that already may be true.

Oh, the Canucks have players who are eager to step up, anxious to pick up the slack and willing to lead. Bo Horvat played more than 24 minutes, won 64 per cent of his faceoffs and had six shots on net.

It wasn’t enough.

Brock Boeser had eight more shot attempts. Virtanen had four hits. And obviously Sven Baertschi looked like Sven Baertschi again, scoring two goals mere days after his head coach pointed out he had been average since returning from a concussion late last month.

But the Canucks collection of core best players aren’t enough right now. They were not enough anyway to beat the Coyotes, the NHL’s sad-sack team which is as devoid of talent and star power as any we’ve seen in the past 20 years, give or take a decade.

Like, they’re really bad and they play a style which crushes fans’ souls.

The Coyotes got help. They got a goal that was kicked in and they got to play a team which rolled out Erik Gudbranson and Ben Hutton as a second pairing.

If this is the last game Guddy and Hutty are a thing then that’s the first positive to come out of an Elias Pettersson injury.

BEST FEELING

It felt unreal to Baertschi to have a game like he did after missing two months. He has spent much of his first five games back since trying to figure out how to play hockey again in a post-concussion world.

He finally put it all together tonight.

“It was incredible for me,” Baertschi said. “My whole life was kind of on hold for eight weeks. It was so tough.

“But when I started playing again, all of the incredible feelings started coming back.

“I just feel happy. That, out there, on that ice, that is a happy place for me.

“If you have it taken away from you for months, like I did, it’s really tough.”

The comeback wasn’t easy either, though it meant a lot to him that his return game was in Calgary where really this whole NHL thing started for him.

But he struggled to find himself. His coach, Travis Green called him average, not really in a negative way but more like saying “he is so much better than what we’ve seen so far.”

“He’s always been a huge help to me,” Baertschi said of Green. “He’s always been very direct with me.

“He makes me understand the point very quickly and that is great to have. I need that opinion.”

Green had one of his meetings with Baertschi before this game — surprise — and the pair dissected video together.

“There were a few plays where he pointed out I mishandled the puck or I was going into battle and I wasn’t going as hard as I could,” Baertschi said.

“He pointed them out and he wanted to make sure I did things right tonight.”

Oh, he did that.

The goals were great and important for his psyche and confidence. But the most telling moment came just before his second goal. Uninhibited Baertschi tore into a corner to engage in a battle in which he won but only after he was whipped to the ice by his head.

It’s a puck battle which led directly to his goal, and in the end the reason the Canucks left this game with a point.

If there was really a “Baertschi’s back” moment tonight this was it.

Would he have done that last game or the others before that after his concussion recovery?

“It’s hard to say, that’s a tough question,” Baertschi said. “But I’m feeling more comfortable out there and when you do you make plays like that.

“I’m more comfortable going into battles and really competing.

“There’s a difference between a 70 per cent battle and a 100 per cent battle.”

That difference tonight made for one goal, and a point in the standings too.

BEST PREDICTION

Green on Hutton and Gudbranson as a pairing: “They have to play better. You look at the last game in Toronto. Guddy had a rough game in the plus-minus but it wasn’t like, when you look at all five goals I think he was unlucky as well.

“I know they’re worried about it. They don’t like it. We’ll see where we go from there as far as the pairings go.”

How poorly has Guddy-Hutty been playing?

How about the worst defensive pairing in the league when it comes to controlling 5-on-5 goals scored.

I know this gets used a lot, but it’s true: It’s not even close.

Hutton and Gudbranson will NOT be a pairing Sunday. That’s my guarantee to you. If I’m wrong, @HalfordTSN will wash all of your cars. — Jason Brough (@JasonBroughTSN) January 11, 2019

Sure, but how about we take it one step further and predict Guddy is traded to FLA to reunite with Tallon hours before the game?

BEST WAIT, WHAT?

GREEN: “You don’t just go out and start getting scoring chances, it’s not how the game works. Or it doesn’t work for our team that way most nights.”

BEST REMINDER

On a night like this, which fluctuated between feeling like a tedious weekday and the lowest moment in Canucks history, the Adam Gaudette story seemed important.

And not just because he scored, though that mattered because in a season where he’s been marginalized and weighed down by offensive anchors on his wing, this was the best it seems it’s going to get.

He got to play with decent players and he showed up and you can forget about blaming him for the Coyotes third goal because of a turnover at the blueline.

There are players on this team who do that type of thing every game and no one says anything.

Gaudette was good though limited again. He still couldn’t get to 11 minutes in playing time. But it’s pretty clear he’s going to be an NHL regular sooner than later because every time he goes to the AHL he tears it up.

All of this is especially noteworthy because Gaudette was a fifth-round pick, in other words, a project, and he’s contributing to the Canucks 3.5 years after his draft.

Chances are good the players the Canucks take in the first couple of rounds in 2019 could be helpful in 2-3 years.

This is a roundabout way of saying, trade for picks.

The Gaudette pick was acquired with Gilly’s last transaction as Canucks GM. In his one move at the ’14 deadline, he moved Raphael Diaz to the New York Rangers for a fifth-round pick

No one cared then because it was so stunning that the Canucks didn’t move Kesler.

Now when the team trades for a pick the market has a standing ovation.

The Canucks were left with the two fifth rounders and took Carl Neill who they obviously liked more with the first.

On the second, they took a chance on Gaudette.

That was Judd’s pick and a gut pick.

Remember it next month when people tell you that second- and third-round picks are a waste of time.

BIGGEST COMPLAINT

So the Canucks remain convinced the second Zona goal was kicked in and they certainly have a case.

This does look like a distinct kicking motion even though you can’t see the skate blade leave the ice on any of the angles and that’s usually the tell for a kicked-in goal.

MARKSTROM: “It was kicked. They don’t have soccer fans in Toronto … We need to get some soccer fans in Toronto.”

Well, he could have also controlled the initial shot and not dropped the rebound into all of this net front traffic.

BEST TRUTH BOMB

“I can’t just turn 10-goal scorers into 20-goal scorers.”

— Travis Green

No, no you can’t.

BEST UPDATE

The Canucks are off tomorrow but they do have ice and EP is expected to skate.

BIGGEST LETDOWN

The star is on IR, the team is vacant without and someone needs to at least try and fill the void.

Enter Littlethinger the Canucks marquee free agent signing from 2016. He was acquired to score goals. Lots and lots of goals.

It’s been a disappointing run for Little Things even though he has supporters in the local stats community who swear he could be great if he just had the chance to play with Pettersson all the time.

Yeah, him and 300 other NHLers.

The reality is, Eriksson should be a far more productive player than the one who’s shown up here.

This is a man who averaged 28 goals a season for a solid six year run. The fact he may not even get to 15 this year is incredibly disappointing and it’s on him as much as anyone else.

He had the chance to make amends to some degree tonight. The puck was on his stick and he was in on a 2-on-1. This is a player who has had a front row seat to all of the amazing things Pettersson has done.

Has he picked up anything?

The answer is a resounding no, because he lofted the softest muffin you will ever see at the Coyotes net.

Check out that goalie and the way he handles the puck like someone had just rolled a ball of yarn at him.

Loui, work on your freaking shot.

BEST WIN THEN LOSE

@botchford u see the @Canucks give the kid who won the trivia game in the rink a bloody little thinger jersey. Bloody hell I thought he won but in actuality he lost. — Chad Hedrick (@ChadHedrick1979) January 11, 2019

BEST ANSWERS

Cull’s deployment — Darryl Keeping (@dkeeping) January 11, 2019

BEST OH SNAP

Like The Province without Botch — Eddie Lack🇸🇪 (@eddielack) January 11, 2019

BEST WTF

BEST DIAGNOSIS

I’m old enough to remember a time when Granlund scored 19 goals in one season.

BEST BROADCAST

Honestly, this happened.

BEST COMPS

What’s life like in Van without EP playing?

BEST LET’S GO

A year ago this was actually a headline that happened in real life:

In it, imac hinted the Canucks could have got a second and a fourth for Guddy.

“If the choice – the main choice because this is a many-tentacled issue – was between re-signing Gudbranson, 26, or trading him for, say, second- and fourth-round draft picks, then the Canucks made the right call.”

Did they really though?

Because since then, Guddy has both the worst scoring chance differential and the worst goals-for percentage in the league at 5-on-5.

He’s been fifth worst in controlling unblocked shot attempts this season and sixth worst in controlling high danger shot attempts, which means the Canucks are getting pelted in tight and close to the net when he’s on the ice.

All of this strongly suggests no defenceman in the NHL has been under more water this season than Guddy.

You see those GF and GA numbers?

He’s been on the ice for 42 goals against after tonight and just 20 goals for at 5-on-5. The only defencemen close to that kind of gloom is Ben Hutton, his, uhm, partner.

Meanwhile, all kinds of potential gems were drafted in that second round including Samuelson, Berggren, Romanov, Wilde, Noel, Thomas and Hollander.

Meanwhile, Guddy is now a minus-20 which is worst on the Canucks and second worst in the NHL. It’s also a favourite stat among hockey men unless it’s attributed to one of the players they like, then it’s ignored.

I heard so often early this year Gudbranson was healthy and playing better.

Give it time, some warned, let the number breathe.

The numbers suggest this has been Guddy’s worst season as a Canuck.

Is this a good time to mention, he’s making $4 million?

But there is an out.

The NJ Devils have been interested in Guddy before and they could come again because they are getting poised to make some moves.

"I’m getting the sense the #NJDevils are real close to moving out some pieces." https://t.co/oCqpDzW5Hj — Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) January 10, 2019

It doesn’t end there.

There’s FLA and Dale Tallon who have called for Guddy since trading him to Vancouver and right now that could happen again.

Consider this:

One note overlooked last night with Luongo being pulled and the benchings: #FlaPanthers coach wants more defensive defensemen; ‘we get exposed’ — https://t.co/pI6Wo7ujoJ — George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) January 9, 2019

I am here to tell you Guddy can be moved and he can be moved for assets which will help the rebuild.

It would instantly make the Canucks better too because Stecher would step into a more prominent role.

Do the Canucks have the guts to do it?

They do love his locker room presence but how long can that love last given the number of goals against he’s one ice for?

Just don’t show Tallon any of these clips.

Don’t show this awkward clearing pass that was a turnover which led directly to Zona’s first goal.

And don’t show this next one either:

BEST ASIDE

imac, and others in the media, are beating the drum Edler will be hard to replace.

imac: “But what’s almost certain is that whatever the Canucks could fetch for Edler, his departure would make the organization’s defence weaker next season.”

It’s the same angle many, including me, took last year with the Sedins.

The offence would be worse. The forward depth would be worse. Entertainment would nosedive. Scoring would be down.

But the Canucks have become a faster, more interesting and dangerous team without the Sedins because of Pettersson and there’s a chance Hughes can work similarly.

Edler will be 33 in April. Who knows how he plays next year. No one can say the Edler you see today will be the one you see a year from now, let alone two or three years from now, presumably the length his extension.

Edler is a fine player, he’s not that hard to replace.

He’s not one of the best defencemen in the NHL.

As someone said to me:

Boy Genius, among others, made a case in the offseason the Canucks should have signed Calvin De Haan. He reasoned rather than signing all of the bottom six forwards the Canucks chased, give the money to De Haan.

He is 27 years old and settled on a four-year $18.2 million deal in Carolina. He has been playing well enough that if he were a Canuck right now any Edler trade would be an absolute no brainer.

They’d have a ready replacement for Edler and whatever asset bounty he could get next month.

It was a missed opportunity.

BEST STORY

During the ups and downs of an NHL season, there are certain unanswerable questions which surface regularly on my phone.

One which never seems to die is a variation of this:

“What the hell is Chayka doing?”

John Chayka is among the most fascinatingly mysterious executives in recent sports history and if he were running the Oilers like he runs the Coyotes there would be more venom spit at him than there is at Chiarelli this year.

OK, maybe not that much. But it’d be close.

Chayka is a tweener on the NHL landscape. He is dismissed as a numbers slave by Hockey Men who don’t seem to grasp he goes unclaimed by hockey’s analytics community. He is not viewed as a potential conquering hero who is doing nerd god’s work, disrupting a planet overrun by Hockey Men.

Hardly.

But, it should be noted, Chayka is not “rejected” by hockey’s data side. He’s not understood so people are not sure what to make of him.

His analytics have always remained private, or black-boxed, and it means they’ve gone unverified or unchecked and with that it’s hard to make judgments.

Maybe he is on to something. The Canucks once thought so because under Gillis Vancouver was a client and the Canucks held an option to buy Chayka’s company, Stathletes Inc. The current regime let that option expire.

And that brings me to one of the confounding parts of the Chayka story because the Stathletes company he co-founded not only exists, it’s growing and has an expanding roster of NHL players as clients, and presumably NHL teams.

In fact, the company is so prominent, Meghan Chayka, a co-founder, was ranked ninth on The Athletic’s much-discussed list of the leagues top 40 powerful people under 40 years old.

It read:

“9. Meghan Chayka, co-founder, Stathletes, Inc. – In the last year, the analytics firm Stathletes has quietly continued to grow at an impressive rate, while consciously lowering their public profile. Part of the focus has been on scalability and that meant an increase in more league-centric deals, deals with agents and international deals.”

Uh, so John Chayka is running an NHL team and is constantly talking about chasing “competitive advantages” for his Coyotes but the company he created is selling his supposed advantage — information — to the competition?

I’d get more worked up about the apparent conflict of interest but there’s a legendary story about this company and it had to do with a report on the Weber and Subban trade.

As the story goes, the company had the deal close but gave the Weber side the edge and the Habs used it as their stats defence vs. their own analytics guy.

This is one of the great NHL stories. The Habs hired an analytics guy, Matt Pfeffer, then traded Subban for Weber, then fired Pfeffer for being against it and calling it a dumb trade.

What a world.

And it’s the same “what a world” sentiment which was expressed by many in the NHL when they heard Chayka at last year’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference talk about brain MRIs helping assess hockey IQ.

Yes, this happened.

“One of the things I’m doing right now, there is a company called Performance Phenomics and what they do is MRI of brains,” Chayka said last year.

“It started off with concussion studies and it’s morphed into performance analysis.

“The simplest way to explain it is they’re measuring connectivity and density of someone’s brain. So for myself, I’m running on dial-up, I’m not as athletically gifted as professional athletes.

“Then you get Connor McDavid who they scanned and he’s running on fibre optics. Just the way he’s built, and who he is, he’s processing information — his proprioception and spatial awareness — he’s basically processing information at a speed faster than I’m moving.

“He’s anticipating what people faster than they’re doing it. Johnny Gaudreau, you’d think would be high on that kind of scale.

“There are physical attributes and also things like hockey sense, players ability to anticipate and read and react. We’re doing a lot of work on that.”

Chayka is really amazed someone can think faster than a guy can move?

Brain scans to measure hockey sense?

What a world.

All of this would be fine, probably, if Chayka was running a smartly run rebuild.

But the Coyotes have proven themselves to be a disconnected mess with no real direction at all.

They are at the start of a rebuild yet Chayka continues to move out prospects and assets. He traded a seventh-overall pick for a 29-year-old goalie and the right to take on a Derek Stepan salary dump.

Stepan has a $6.5 million cap hit, this year for two more, and has 18 points. By way of reference, Thomas Vanek is currently having the worst year of his career playing for the league’s least talented team and he’s got 17 points two weeks from his 35th birthday.

Can you imagine this deal happening in Vancouver, a seventh-overall for a goalie and an overpaid vet?

While every GM makes a mistake or two, Chayka’s continue to compound.

He dealt a winger in Max Domi to get a centre in Galchenyuk and then watch Domi become the Habs No. 1 centre while Galchenyuk is now Chayka’s third line winger.

Life moves fast.

Then, Chayka traded two legit prospects, one a top one, to buy high on Nick Schmaltz who spent more than 1,000 minutes last year on the same line as Patrick Kane.

Schmaltz is now out for the season so we’ll see how this goes.

Many of Chayka’s recent moves were meant to accelerate a rebuild but tonight in a game against the Canucks, Brad Richardson was the Coyotes leading goal scorer.

Richardson as your leading goal scorer is not going to sell anywhere let alone in a city where relatively few have a history with this sport.

In a recent story in The Athletic, Chayka essentially admitted he spent a year on the job just trying to figure out what was going on and what everyone did.

That’s fair, he’s the youngest GM in the sport’s history.

But this is Year 3 and Chayka brought in Lindsay Hofford as the club’s assistant general manager/director of scouting in July.

Hofford is buds with Mark Hunter, and the Leafs scout who was charged with a DUI after a golf cart incident at an amusement park.

He’s about as “Hockey Men” as it gets.

And one month after he was hired, director of amateur scouting Tim Bernhardt was out and so was the Coyotes U.S. amateur scout Rob Pulford.

Then last month Jeff Twohey resigned as the Arizona Coyotes’ assistant director of amateur scouting.

Bernhardt and Twohey are highly thought of and in jobs which usually last a long time. These are not generally jobs people in the NHL walk away from.

How bad is it?

Golf cart guy comes in and Twohey is so anxious to get out:

“He was in the final year of his contract and will forfeit his pay for the balance of the season.”

So he just said “eff it, I’m out, don’t even pay me my final cheques.”

No one does this.

Lucky for Chayka, his team is in a place, both in the standings and in geography, where few in the media spent any time thinking about him.

Too bad because there’s one hell of a story going on here.

El-Oh-El indeed.

(Top photo: Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)