



The trade deadline, also known as the three-quarter mark of the NHL season has passed, and as we inch closer to the completion of the schedule, more and more fans (and even the Canucks management) are coming to terms with the fact that the Canucks will not play post season hockey this year.

As such, more and more people are jumping on the #TeamTank bandwagon, with the hope of grabbing Auston Matthews or one of those big Finnish wingers. The more losses the Canucks compile, the closer we’ll be to the bottom, and the better the lottery odds will be!

There’s a problem though. Much like the teams striving to reach the top of the standings, teams aiming for the bottom of the barrel have plenty of competition. Sometimes moving down is just as hard as moving up.

When March rolls around, there’s always plenty of scoreboard watching to be done. Each night, we check the other teams in action to see who’s winning, who’s losing, and how those results affect the Canucks. Depending on the year, we’re watching for different reasons.

Just five years ago on this date, the Canucks were enjoying a seven-point lead on second place in the entire league. During that spring, and the one that followed, Canucks fans checked the scores of teams like Philadelphia, New York, San Jose, and Detroit while competing for the President’s Trophy as the league’s top regular season team.

Fast forward a few seasons and we were again watching intently while competing with teams like Calgary and Los Angeles for a playoff spot in the Pacific Division.

This year we are seeing something entirely new. Scoreboard watching of the NHL’s worst teams, competing with the likes of Buffalo, Arizona, Winnipeg, and once again, Calgary, for the best possible lottery odds.

There are some of course, that are still holding out hope for a push to the playoffs, champions of dignity and the fabled “winning environment”. Many others openly appeal for throwing games and losing by any means necessary. Others try to combine the two, feigning dignity while inwardly celebrating.

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Oh no. The Sharks tied it. Oh no. Not that. — Patrice Bergeron (@JDylanBurke) March 4, 2016

Whichever side of the fence you reside on, you must have noticed that the manner in which the Canucks have been playing lately is more in tune with the ideals of #TeamTank than those of Team Playoffs. The Canucks have been losing an awful lot lately and they don’t even have it in them to make it past regulation anymore. Yet, with all those zero-point nights, they’re still sitting in that same 20th to 25th range that they’ve been occupying for a month.

Seriously, on February 9th, with a record of 21-20-12, the Canucks sat in 23rd in the NHL. Exactly a month and 13 games later, having managed just five victories, and never making it past regulation in their eight losses, the Canucks still sit at 23rd in the NHL.

The reason for that is simple: every team down in the NHL’s basement is just as bad as we are – and some are even worse.

Look at the last 10 games of the bottom eight teams in the NHL.

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Columbus is the hottest team in the group, but they’ve been floundering in the gutter all season – five wins in their last ten games leaves them within striking distance of the Canucks, who still have games in hand. Buffalo is in a similar situation.

Arizona and Calgary both just recently ended seven-game losing skids, while Winnipeg hasn’t won consecutive games for a month. Edmonton is still Edmonton, having a recent seven-game losing streak of their own, and Toronto is in the midst of executing its plan to perfection – they haven’t won a game since their fire sale at the trade deadline.

How is this possible, you might say, that the Canucks can outperform these losers with the injuries the Canucks are facing? No Brandon Sutter, no Alex Edler, and now no Henrik Sedin and no Chris Tanev. Well, we aren’t alone.

Toronto is missing James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Joffrey Lupul, and Stephan Robidas, on top of shipping out everything that wasn’t nailed down at the deadline. Arizona is missing both the goalies they started the season with, and ushered Mikael Boedker out at the deadline. Edmonton is missing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Oscar Klefbom, while restocking their lineup with Canucks cast offs like Adam Cracknell, Adam Clendening, and Zack Kassian. Winnipeg has lost Brian Little and Nik Ehlers, while Buffalo is without Ryan O’Reilly. Columbus is coached by John Tortorella for God’s sake.

The group of bottom feeders is so vast and so inept that it makes it difficult to make any headway.

Back at the beginning of the season, the Pacific Division looked so terrible that it might allow the Canucks to float undeservedly into the playoffs. Now it’s clogging up the drain.

Of course, we’re at the point now where we are looking at everything from the other direction. Forget playoff chances now, Canucks fans are more interested in lottery projections.

Toronto is so terrible right now that it’s unrealistic to think that the Canucks could ever really catch them. Vancouver’s goaltending has been a too good to allow that, and their shockingly youthful lineup can occasionally produce an outburst of offence. Every point in the standings makes it difficult to keep pace with these dumpster dwellers, particularly when the Leafs look like they might never win again.

Thankfully, the number of lotteries has tripled this year, and as such Vancouver’s chances of landing a franchise altering player are greatly increased.

xG Projections – Top 3 Pick Projection pic.twitter.com/fckciU41QE

— DTM About Heart (@DTMAboutHeart) March 5, 2016

If you’re still a little wary about the whole losing thing, don’t worry, there are others like you. Just try not to think of it as tanking, but rather making the best of a bad situation. If the Canucks are all but assured of missing the playoffs, why not look forward to the only thing we have left to win?

After all, the last thing you want right now is to be stuck somewhere in the middle.





