The 2021-22 NHL season is now well underway, and it has been full of surprises for the Vancouver Canucks.
They currently hold 6th place in the Pacific division with a 4-5-1 record. Although the season is still young and things can change rather quickly, this team has definitely been under-performing thus far.
Here are our early top 10 Power Rankings for the Vancouver Canucks so far this season.
10: Alex Chiasson
Chiasson is fitting in better than expected in the Vancouver Canucks lineup so far this season.
The former Edmonton Oilers forward has 3 points (2 Goals, 1 Assist) with a -3 rating, averaging 10:51 minutes/game so far through 9 games.
Alex frequents the 4th line and is a regular on the Canucks 1st power play unit. Both of his goals have came on the Power Play, scoring 2/6 of the Canucks total man-advantage goals this season.
9: Brock Boeser
This has been an unusual start to the season for the Canucks all-star right winger Boeser.
However, he has been dealing with an undisclosed injury that kept him out of the lineup the first 3 games of the season.
Brock currently has 3 points (2 Goals, 1 Assist) in 7 games with a -1 rating. It is without a doubt that he will improve as the season progresses.
8: Oliver Ekman-Larsson
The new Canucks defenseman has been a great addition to this team early on. He currently has 2 points (1 Goal, 1 Assist) with a +1 Rating averaging 24:30 minutes/game in 10 games played. Ekman-Larsson currently leads the team in Short-handed ice time (28:17) and Attempts Blocked (23).
While he hasn't returned to his former goal-scoring glory days that he was having with the Arizona Coyotes, he has sure been solid on defense, and looks like a perfect match on the top defensive line with Tyler Myers.
7: Tyler Myers
Myers is off to a much better start than his two previous seasons. He currently has 4 points (0 Goals, 4 Assists) with a +1 rating, averaging 21:12 minutes/game so far this season.
Myers is second in blocked shots (15) and second in Short-handed ice time (28:11) amongst Canucks skaters.
Also, having only 2 turnovers in 10 games, is this the new and improved Tyler Myers?
6: Elias Pettersson
This has been a tough start to the season so far for the young Swedish star, but nonetheless still pretty impressive. Pettersson currently has 5 points (1 Goal, 4 Assists) and a +/- rating of 0 averaging 20:57 minutes/game through 10 games. His shot percentage is rather low at 3.7%, which is tied for second lowest amongst Canucks who have scored at least 1 goal this season.
After Elias had missed training camp as well as the last remaining 30 games of the season in 2020-21 due to injury, a slow start was almost certain.
5: Bo Horvat
Bo Horvat does everything right. So far this season he has 6 points (4 Goals, 2 Assists) and a +/- rating of 0 averaging 20:49 minutes/game through 10 games. His 4 goals currently leads the team. Bo is 10th in the league in faceoff % (57.2%) , 1st in faceoffs taken (236) and 1st in faceoff wins (135).
4: Quinn Hughes
There is no denying that Hughes has been spectacular this season. He currently leads Canucks defensemen with 7 points (2 Goals, 5 Assists) with a rating of +5 averaging 25:56 Minutes/Game of ice-time. Quinn also has 9 blocked shots, and 15 blocked attempts.
3: J.T. Miller
Jimothy Timothy Miller (i believe that's his name) currently leads all canucks with 11 points (3 Goals, 8 Assists) with a +/- rating of +1 averaging 22:10 Minutes/game in 10 games so far. With 22:11 short-handed time on the ice, Miller has been one of our key components on our penalty kill.
He remains great in the faceoff circle with a 53.3% faceoff percentage. He has 5 blocked shots, but his turnover rating is a team worst at -6 (9 giveaways, 3 takeaways).
There is no doubt that Miller has been one of our best players this season, but his defensive game has been weighing him down thus far. Which is why he holds down our #3 spot currently, with plenty more games ahead to improve.
2: Conor Garland
If you've been watching the Canucks this season, you should have expected Garland to crack the top 3 on this list. He currently has 10 points (3 Goals, 7 Assists), 1 Game-winning goal and a team-best +6 Rating averaging 16:32 minutes/game in 10 games. However, with a -2 turnover rating (4 Giveaways, 2 Takeaways), there certainly is room for improvement for the new Canuck.
1: Thatcher Demko
Was there ever any doubt that Thatcher Demko would snatch the top spot? He has a .923 SV% and a 2.48 GAA in 8 games, with a record of 4-3-1.
Demko has been playing lights out every single night, robbing some the NHL's best goal scorers on a consistent basis, and is tied with Robin Lehner in 5-on-5 high-danger saves
with a league leading 54.
Demko has only let in 7 of those high-danger shots while Robin Lehner has let in 15.
That concludes our top 10 power rankings after 10 games. We will be back again after 20 total games to see where our players stand.
Comment down below who you would add, remove or change
