Canucks Live: Nowhere to go but up as Vancouver is LAST in the NHL

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Welcome to Canucks Live. Here we’ll highlight some of the news that drops daily about the Canucks. Come back throughout the day as we update with all the news you need to know. If you haven’t done so already, sign up for our Canucks Report to get our stories delivered to your inbox every day.

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There’s back-to-back games in town as the NHL’s worst team comes to Rogers Arena. Unfortunately, that’s the Canucks, who sit in last place in the standings, as Utah is here for a Friday game and Minnesota visits on Saturday.

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With Nashville and Calgary winning on Thursday, that drops the Canucks down to the basement with the fewest points in the NHL. Yes, Calgary have played two games more, but do you have faith the Canucks would win any of those games at the moment?

Before you get into any discussion about the standings, you have to ponder the plight of Vancouver’s captain Quinn Hughes.

We all know he’s got one year left after this one on his contract, that his brothers play in New Jersey, and that every fan who runs their own blog thinks they can get Hughes for a second-round draft pick. We also know that Hughes looks miserable. Patrick Johnston spoke to him Thursday at Rogers Arena:

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“I feel like I’ve seen everything under the sun here, good and bad. You want to win and losing sucks,” he said. “Just something I’ve got to continue to get better on.”

Canucks coach Adam Foote said he has been talking a lot with his captain about how to manage the frustrations.

“Yeah, we talk about it,” the coach said.

“He wants to win so bad and he knows he can make every play. He’s still young. He’ll be the first to tell you he’s learning that when he’s tired or has had long shifts, maybe not to push it, right? The beauty is he believes he can get it done. That’s the great part about it at times.”

The NHL media and fan spheres all seem to think it’s a done deal that Hughes is leaving and the vultures are circling. A Red Wings mailbag on the Athletic is answering questions about what it would take to get Hughes:

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Well, it’s Quinn Hughes. He’s a Norris Trophy-winning defenceman who is just 26, squarely in his prime and right in line with the age of Detroit’s top players. So the real question — after whether he will indeed be traded, of course — is: who wouldn’t you trade for him?

For me, I’d take Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson off the table. That’s Detroit’s long-term core, and dipping into it doesn’t make much sense for the Red Wings.

Detroit still has a lot of strong prospects and draft capital beyond that, though — more than enough to make a compelling offer for Hughes. They have young centres, which are hard to find. They have young winger prospects with some edge in their game, an increasingly valuable commodity. They have young goalie prospects. They have young defencemen. And they have players with serious pedigree at all of those positions.

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The fact anyone is “off the table” with a Hughes trade is a wild thought. He’s in a class with maybe two other players at his position in all of world hockey. The only players who should be considered ‘off the table’ should be Connor McDavid, Conor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini, Nathan McKinnon and of course his biggest comp Cale Makar. Other than that it shouldn’t be unreasonable to expect any player in a package for Hughes.

The end of the week is when a lot of outlets release their power rankings. As expected the Canucks don’t fare well. ESPN have them 30th:

Dec. 29 at the Kraken. When it comes to regional rivalries, the Canucks-Kraken matchup isn’t on the level of many others around the league … yet. Perhaps this game jump-starts a big run for the Nucks.

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Next seven days: vs. UTA (Dec. 5), vs. MIN (Dec. 6), vs. DET (Dec. 8), vs. BUF (Dec. 11).
The Score put Vancouver at 31st

31. Vancouver Canucks (10-14-3)
Previous: 24

Kiefer Sherwood. The Canucks entered the year knowing they had a good piece in Sherwood, but he’s emerged as one of Vancouver’s best players with 12 goals this season and unmatched physicality. If Vancouver had gotten off to a better start, it would’ve been looking to extend the winger instead of trading him.

Sportsnet drops the Canucks to last in whole leaguewhile examining the goaltending:

32. Vancouver Canucks (10-14-3) It’s just a bummer to see Thatcher Demko — the Vezina runner-up in 2024 — hurt again in Vancouver. He’s played a total of 33 games since the end of that 2023-24 campaign and, unlike last season when he really stepped up, Kevin Lankinen has not been able to locate his ‘A’ game in B.C. this year in Demko’s absence.

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TSN aren’t kind to the Canucks either, but highlight that this truly is a dreadful time for all Canadian teams:

It wasn’t a great month of November for most Canadian teams in the NHL.

When we last checked in, in early November, there were three Canadian teams ranked in the top 10 of our Power Rankings. Now, there are none in the top 15.

The Vancouver Canucks drop from 31st to 32nd on our list. Vancouver sits 30th in the league in points percentage following a 4-7-3 month.

Keeping the puck out of the net has been a challenge for the Canucks, who allowed 4.21 goals per game in November, the most of any team in the NHL. Unfortunately, as the calendar flips to December, the Canucks will be tested immediately in Colorado against the best team in the league.

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Immediately the Canucks play the Utah Mammoth for the first time tonight, technically. They were here last year as the Utah Hockey Club but this is your first chance to see the new duds in person with the cool Mammoth logo on the front. And a reminder the game starts at 6 pm tonight, not 7.

Utah Mammoth (13-12-3, 5th in the Central Division, 22nd in the NHL) vs. Vancouver Canucks (10-14-3, last in the Pacific Division, last in the NHL)

Rogers Arena, Friday, 6 p.m.

BOTTOM LINE: The Vancouver Canucks play the Utah Mammoth after losing three in a row.

Vancouver is 10-14-3 overall and 3-7-1 at home. The Canucks rank fifth in league play with 114 total penalties (averaging 4.2 per game).

Utah has a 6-9-2 record on the road and a 13-12-3 record overall. The Mammoth have a +four scoring differential, with 87 total goals scored and 83 allowed.

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The matchup Friday is the first meeting this season between the two clubs.

TOP PERFORMERS: Quinn Hughes has two goals and 20 assists for the Canucks. Elias Pettersson has five goals and six assists over the past 10 games.

Logan Cooley has 14 goals and nine assists for the Mammoth. John-Jason Peterka has scored six goals with two assists over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Canucks: 2-6-2 the worst in the NHL, averaging three goals, 5.1 assists, 4.8 penalties and 11.5 penalty minutes while giving up 3.8 goals per game.

Mammoth: 3-5-2, averaging 2.9 goals, 4.6 assists, 3.8 penalties and 8.4 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game.

A truly troubling story about former Canuck Ryan Kesler. The Athletic has lead the reporting on the charges against him in Michigan:

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The criminal case against Ryan Kesler, a former NHL centre charged with two misdemeanour counts of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree, is headed to trial, a judge ruled on Thursday.

The prosecution successfully established probable cause against Kesler during a preliminary examination, district judge Marc Barron found.

According to the criminal complaint, both counts allege that Kesler engaged in sexual contact with a 16-year-old child “through force or coercion and/or (had) reason to know the victim was physically helpless.”

The alleged victim is now 17 and was a friend of Kesler’s eldest daughter.

Check back for more Canucks news throughout the day …

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