Canucks are scoring goals, but Rick Tocchet says attack is still a work-in-progress

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The season is now two weeks old. The Canucks’ puzzle is starting to come together, but lots of gaps remain.

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Published Oct 26, 2023  •  Last updated 2 days ago  •  4 minute read

Filip Hronek shoots against the Tampa Bay Lightning last week. Photo by Mike Ehrmann /Getty Images

Scoring goals so far this NHL season hasn’t been an issue for the Vancouver Canucks.

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Through the first six games of the season, the Canucks have netted 23 goals, ninth-most in the league before Thursday night’s games.

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That’s a solid total — but it’s partly built off a strong 13.0 team shooting percentage, third-highest in the league.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Canucks aren’t generating many chances from the high-dangers areas near the crease. Now, not every shot is created equal in NST’s model, but the overall sense is that the Canucks can do a better job creating shots from the slot area.

Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet acknowledged Thursday his team’s offensive approach remains a work in progress, even if they’ve been having success putting the puck in the net.

Vancouver Canucks’ coach Rick Tocchet talks to media at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC., on February 15, 2023. (NICK PROCAYLO) Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /00099871A

“We want to keep more puck possession. I thought a couple of times on the road trip we were a little bit ‘one and done’,” he said after a hour-long practice at Rogers Arena. “And we kind of fixed a little thing about that.”

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Holding the puck a little longer is one thing, but he also wants his defencemen to be more active in the offensive zone, he said. Doing so will put opposing defences more on their heels, creating more space for the rest of the Canucks’ attackers.

“I think a little more activation from the other defence, not just Huggy (Quinn Hughes) or (Filip) Hronek. I thought some other defence were participating, whether it’s a deep dive or going down low. And I thought our neutral zone (play) was a lot better, which also helps your puck possession,” Tocchet said.

The coach also saw progress in the team’s breakouts, which he implied led to a reduction in scoring chances against and an increase in scoring chances for. Since the first game of the road trip in Edmonton, where the Canucks gave up 30 scoring chances at 5-on-5, the Canucks have cut down such chances against, with each successive game seeing a reduction compared to the previous one.

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By Tuesday in Nashville, the Canucks yielded a very respectable 17 chances against at 5-on-5. And along the way, the Canucks have created more chances of their own, getting more than 20 four games in a row now — peaking at 28 in Nashville — which is actually more per-game chances than the 18 they had in their sensational season-opening 8-1 win over Edmonton.

“I don’t think we were breaking out as well earlier in the trip,” Tocchet said.

“I felt we held onto (the puck). I felt that we had more quick ups with the puck. And you know, we advanced each zone a little bit quicker, and it’s just not the defence. It’s five guys,” he explained.

Here are a few other numbers to consider:

25

Both Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek are averaging more than 25 minutes per night. They are the Canucks’ top defence pairing at the moment.

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But Tocchet admitted that much ice time isn’t something he really wants to sustain going forward.

“I’m not sure we can ‘red-line’ it every game like that. But the way the schedule is, the way they’ve taken it into their level of play, it’s hard not to get them out there. But we’re going to have to get some minutes off some of the other guys, for sure,” he acknowledged.

Quinn Hughes has been named the 15th captain in Canucks franchise history. Photo by Derek Cain /Getty Images3.67

“Man, are we ever going to get some power play,” J.T. Miller apparently quipped during Thursday practice, as he and his teammates got set to work on the power play setups.

The Canucks’ power play has been a potent weapon — scoring on 35.3 per cent of their chances so far this season — when they have actually had a chance to go to work.

But that’s the rub — the Canucks have drawn the third-fewest penalties in the league so far, just 3.67 per game.

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The Canucks haven’t necessarily been driving to the slot enough, which Tocchet acknowledged, but he was also philosophical about how the officials have managed the Canucks’ games to date.

“I’ll be honest, the last two games I thought we went to the net as best we have all season,” he said. “(But) I think it evens itself out. You know, there was no penalties until the end in Nashville, and I think the other night, we only had one in Tampa Bay. Same thing. Sometimes you feel like we should get a couple more, but that’s it. I think it all evens out.”

J.T. Miller of the Vancouver Canucks and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning fight for the puck first period during a game at Amalie Arena on October 19, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. Photo by Mike Ehrmann /Getty Images

19:14

Through six games, Brock Boeser is averaging the second-highest ice time of his career, behind only the 19:19 he averaged in the otherwise miserable 2020-21 season. He was just about the Canucks’ only bright light that season, a year where the team’s salary budget was cut, the team got off to an awful start, never caught up, and they had the worst COVID outbreak in all of North American pro sports.

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He was the team’s best player that season.

And this year he’s been one of his team’s best, playing on a line with J.T. Miller that has proven remarkably solid in the defensive end, along with being a strong offensive force.

Brock Boeser is congratulated by J.T. Miller after scoring the first of three goals against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Arena on Wednesday. Photo by Derek Cain /Getty Images

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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