nhl.com – CanucksBanter

By Andrew Phillip Chernoff |CanucksBanter

November 07, 2025

The Vancouver Canucks have faced one of the NHL’s most challenging schedules so far this season and their upcoming games don’t get any easier, with their remaining strength of schedule for November ranked among the toughest in the Western Conference.

Despite a brutal early stretch marked by significant travel, little rest between games, and injured key players, Vancouver has managed to hover around .500 but has struggled to maintain consistency against stronger teams

Strength of Schedule & Performance to Date

Through 15 games, the Canucks have already played a heavy, travel-intensive schedule with little time for practice and recovery, which has increased injury risk and prevented key lineup stability when compared to their recent seasons.
Vancouver’s record is bolstered by overtime and shootout success, but they have only three regulation wins in their first 14 games, and their regulation goal differential is -9, indicating they’ve often been outscored at even-strength against tougher opposition.
The metrics show improvement in five-on-five play over their recent road trip, but the sample suggests that underlying possession and scoring chance differentials still lag behind playoff-caliber teams.

Playoff Projections

Current playoff odds for the Canucks are around 25–30%, with most models predicting a wild-card bubble finish, projecting them in the 92–98 point range—right on the cusp for a playoff spot in the West.
Their schedule strength remains a concern—ranked as the 4th or 6th toughest remaining in the league.
Upcoming opponents include several elite teams, so a hot streak is necessary to solidify postseason positioning.

What They Must Do to Reach or Stay in Playoff Position

Improve five-on-five performance in regulation:
- The Canucks must win more games in regulation and develop stronger control of the shot and scoring chance metrics, which are currently too buoyed by goaltending and shooting percentage runs.
Health and consistency:
- Returning and keeping key players (Hughes, Garland, Hronek) healthy is critical, as lineup disruptions have led to defensive lapses and a lack of offensive cohesion.
Special teams:
- Continued strong penalty killing and power-play production are vital, ideally turning close games into regulation wins, especially during this midseason “make-or-break” stretch.
Goaltending:
- Thatcher Demko must maintain his elite form against high-danger chances, as the team leans heavily on his ability to steal games while defensive coverage finds greater consistency

If Vancouver sharpens their five-on-five play, gets key players back to full strength, and carves out more regulation wins—even with their grueling schedule—they have a realistic path to remain in contention for a Western Conference playoff spot.

Until next time, hockey fans

Sources: powerrankingsguru, nytimes, thehockeynews, yahoo sports, canucksbanter, canucksarmy, money puck, espn, tankathon, nhl.com

Posted by David Rogers on Sep 11, 2016 10:53

When the NHL awarded Las Vegas a new expansion team beginning in the 2017-18 season, they passed on other options such as Seattle and Quebec City. Though the league’s decision to bring hockey to Vegas was a blow to the effort in Quebec, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has indicated that it’s still a goal of his to bring a team to the city.

Daly spoke with NHL.com and discussed the decision to pick Vegas and what it means for Quebec in the future:

“I think while I’m sure they (Quebec City) would have wanted the answer to be different last June, they understand the reasons that we did what we did, and we’re going to continue to work together going forward.

Daly also spoke about the need for an arena – which Quebec has – and what the biggest hurdle is preventing the city from obtaining a team.

The time those conditions were important was the time we were making those decisions. I think I would say probably the most important of those situations hasn’t resolved itself and can’t really resolve itself without a further expansion, and that’s the geographic imbalance. So I think that was a huge hurdle that this expansion application had from the start. I think we were upfront about that.”

Quebec City has an outstanding arena which could serve as a great host for a future NHL team. However, it sounds like the league is more concerned with geography than the other logistics. That’s a pretty significant obstacle which will need to be discussed and figured out before any serious talks begin.

That being said, Daly is still optimistic and hopes to eventually bring a team to the city. He just can’t say when.

“I wish I knew, I can’t give you that answer. I was actually asked at customs today whether I was coming to announce the Nordiques coming back. I said, ‘Not today.’ But hopefully at some point in my career.”

In summary, the league still wants to bring a team to Quebec which should keep fans in the city optimistic that one day they will once again have NHL hockey.

Source: The NHL is still considering Quebec City for a future team – Puck Drunk Love