Handing out awards to the Vancouver Canucks at the halfway point

by Nathan Caddell on January 4th, 2020 at 12:35 PM

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When the Vancouver Canucks take on the New York Rangers tonight at Rogers Arena (for 90s night!), it will mark the team’s 42nd game of the season, effectively moving the club past the halfway point.

Currently, the Canucks are 22-15-4 in 41 games, good for third place in the Pacific Division (but with games in hand on both the teams above them). It’s a place many would not have expected after a rough November. But then came a six-game winning streak and the Canucks are back looking pretty.

Much of the success the team has had can be credited to a few players. You likely know who they are, and you’re bound to see their names a lot in the next several paragraphs.

Let’s give out some awards (both of the real and completely made up varieties) to the Vancouver Canucks at the halfway point.

Most Valuable Player

Winner: Jacob Markstrom

With a .917 save percentage and some sparkling underlying numbers, Markstrom’s success this season has been very well documented. He’s kept the Canucks in a number of games and improved on his solid 2018-19 campaign. If he can keep it up, Vancouver should be able to glide into a playoff spot.

Of course, because this is Vancouver, his excellence is also forcing the Canucks into a hard spot given his upcoming expiring contract. But for now, we can just enjoy Markstrom’s very good play—the Canucks sure have.

Runner-up: Elias Pettersson

It won’t be long before Pettersson gets to gobble up all the team MVP awards he can handle, but the inconsistency of the team writ large has allowed Markstrom to shine.

Pettersson has obviously been the team’s best player otherwise and has 44 points in 41 games to show for it. Which brings us to…

Most Exciting Player

Winner: Elias Pettersson

Yeah, not much of a contest.

You get the feeling every single time Pettersson touches the puck that something incredible could happen. And it often does.

Runner-up: Quinn Hughes

Also surely not much of a surprise. The rookie rearguard has 29 points in 40 games and has probably been even better than the stat line indicates.

He’s already a star, it doesn’t matter if he wins the All-Star Game fan vote or not.

Best Defenceman

Winner: Quinn Hughes

This isn’t meant to disparage Alex Edler, who has almost been quite good, but it’s impossible to pick anyone but Hughes here.

Runner-up: Alex Edler

Like we said, Edler has been great. He has 20 points in 31 games and it’s probably no coincidence that the team struggled without him in the lineup. The Canucks went 5-5 in the 10 games Edler missed.

Biggest (good) Surprise

Winner: J.T. Miller

There’s been a couple, but J.T. Miller has been better than even the most ardent supporters of general manager Jim Benning could have predicted. After a four-point night against Chicago, he’s now up to 40 points in 41 games and has formed an absolutely potent top line with Pettersson and Brock Boeser.

Runner-up: Tanner Pearson

We were slightly tempted to go with Jake Virtanen here, but Pearson has picked up where he left off last year and then some.

The forward looks to have found a permanent home on Bo Horvat’s wing, to the tune of 30 points in 41 games. That’s good for fifth on the team in points, and it’s huge for the team to get such good production out of a player they got for Erik Gudbranson.

Biggest Disappointment (so far)

Winner: Micheal Ferland

It’s not necessarily his fault, as he’s currently out with post-concussion symptoms, but even when he was healthy Ferland was having trouble fitting in the Canucks lineup.

Slated to be on Pettersson’s wing to start the season, Ferland wasn’t able to produce in that spot. And he hasn’t looked comfortable anywhere else either. He’s scored five points in 14 games and his current injury issues are a problem for the team that signed him to a four-year contract in the offseason.

The most important thing for Ferland should obviously be to get healthy again. There’s (hopefully) a lot of hockey left for the 27-year-old.

Runner-up: Jordie Benn

Benn wasn’t brought on to the team to be a world-beater. But he was signed to bring a strong defensive presence. That hasn’t really happened. The Victoria native had been getting caved in his own zone constantly and has been scratched for the last four games in favour of Oscar Fantenberg, who was considered the team’s seventh defenceman at the start of the year.

Likewise, still a lot of time for Benn to turn things around, but he has to get back in the lineup first.

Best Rookie

Winner: Quinn Hughes

Big surprise. Barring injury, Hughes is a lock to be nominated for the Calder Trophy at the end of the year.

Runner-up: Thatcher Demko

Somewhat overshadowed by Hughes as a rookie and Markstrom as a ‘tender, Demko has had a perfectly fine season. It was actually looking to be much better than that until he suffered a concussion, but the Canucks should be happy with how their goalie of the future has performed. He has a .907 save percentage to go with an 8-4-1 record.

Best Moment

Winner: Antoine Roussel scores in return

After missing close to a calendar year of NHL hockey, Antoine Roussel returned in style, scoring on his first shift on a night when the Canucks honoured his hero, Alex Burrows.