Kraken 5, Canucks 1: The rebuild goes on, we hope

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Just going to be honest here: the last game your author watched was the gold medal final in Milan.

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In other words, this is confirmation that game 59 of this miserable Vancouver Canucks season is nowhere close to the best game ever played.

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It’s a drastic shift really.

Shocking, isn’t it?

These Canucks, well, they’re trying to be something new. Not today, that’s for sure.

One day maybe.

Not with many, if any, of these players.

This was a night where you were better off watching the Vancouver Whitecaps, who have picked up where they left off last season: their games are far more fun than the Canucks’.

One day maybe we’ll say they’re the same. (No don’t make a joke about how the Whitecaps might make this easy on all of us by moving. No one wants that.)

Anyway, if you sat through this game, good for you. Maybe you’ll agree with these grades.

Forwards

Elias Pettersson D

Early, good defensive work but gets demoted in game both off his line and then the top power play.

Evander Kane C+

Led a rush with ambition early and showed some life at times. He’s trying to show he’s still got something and he knows that’s his only hope of getting out of here.

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Jake DeBrusk C. If he’s going to be a solution here, he needs to show more. If he’s going to get out of here, he needs to show more. Either way, you get the point.

Marco Rossi C+

Canucks controlled play well with him on the ice, anyway.

Drew O’Connor C+

You know what you’re getting from him every night. Remains the leading candidate for most exciting player, which is good for him, not great for the Canucks.

Brock Boeser C

Where has that great scorer gone?

Teddy Blueger C+

He’s picked up where he was before the Olympics (and really during the Olympics too): a guy who plays with heart every night. A smart team is going to trade for him.

Liam Ohgren B

Scored a goal. He’s playing well in the midst of all this ugly Canucks hockey.

Conor Garland C

So far from vintage Garland. If you’re trading him, he’s not exactly at his best.

David Kampf C+

Continues to be fine.

Nils Hoglander C

Low man on the ice timetable; he gives you energy but is he ever going to score again? Remember when he scored goals?

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Linus Karlsson C+

He does bring it every night and deserves more ice time than he’s been getting.

Defence

Elias Junior Pettersson C

A nice enough first period, even as his team was sinking around him. Missed some physicality.

Filip Hronek C+

Moving puck well as ever. Showed some feistiness in the second.

Marcus Pettersson B-

One of his better games in quite some time. Too bad it didn’t really matter.

Tom Willander C-

Really tough defensive night for the rookie. Struggled to defend in zone too often. Moved the puck well. Bit of a standard game for him this season.

Zeev Buium C

Moved puck well but still made some poor defensive reads.

P-O Joseph C+

The fact you so rarely hear from him is a point in his favour.

GOAL

Kevin Lankinen C+

Not much help on the first two goals. Got beat on a big league move by Jordan Eberle for the third goal. He was fine. Hard to steal a win when your team only scores once though.

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