One thing has defined this Canucks season more than anything.
No, it’s not the performance of the team’s stars, who have been all over the leaderboard in goals, assists, and points and have made the Canucks the top offensive team in the NHL. It’s not the improved defence or the goaltending, which have the Canucks sitting second for the lowest goals against per game.
It’s not the depth scoring from the bottom-six, the special teams, or the good luck they’ve had along the way.
It’s that the Canucks refuse to be satisfied.
"We haven't achieved anything yet."
This has been an incredible start to the season. The Canucks are first in the Pacific Division with a seven-point lead on the second-place Vegas Golden Knights. They’re tied with the Winnipeg Jets for first in the NHL and have a league-leading +54 goal differential. They are deservedly sending five player to the NHL All-Star Game.
But the Canucks are not resting on their laurels. In fact, if you ask them, they don’t have any laurels yet.
“We’re happy with where we’re at — I mean, this is everything we worked for in the summer,” said J.T. Miller on Wednesday. “But, at the same time, we haven’t achieved anything yet.”
It’s a sentiment that has echoed throughout the roster all season. Yes, the Canucks have had a good first half of the season but that doesn’t mean anything.
“If I were to say something in the dressing room for our group, it’s that we haven’t done anything,” said Thatcher Demko coming out of the Christmas break. “If we’re not careful or we don’t respect the work that we’ve put in and realize that we have to continue doing that, we’re going to lose what we’ve accomplished in a hurry.”
Even when the Canucks came back from their seven-game road trip — one of the toughest road trips of the season — with an impressive 5-1-1 record, Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said it wasn’t good enough.
“The thing with me is that I felt we probably should have won every game,” said Hughes. “We should’ve went 7-and-0.”
Canucks have set a higher standard this season
The expectations have been raised astronomically from past seasons, where the goal simply was to play “meaningful games in March.” The bar has been set a lot higher but it’s not even the results that matter to the Canucks. Instead, it’s become clear that head coach Rick Tocchet and the leadership group have the team focused far more on the process.
It’s understandable that the Canucks might be disappointed and critical of themselves after a loss — Miller bluntly said, “We just didn’t play well today, there’s not a whole lot to like about it, if I’m being honest,” after their loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets — but the Canucks have struck a similar tone after wins.
There have been plenty of games where the Canucks dominated on the scoreboard then came into the room after the game and ripped themselves to shreds, knowing that they didn’t play up to their own standards. Even after some of their best games of the season, the Canucks have said they need to dissect what they did poorly.
“We’ve stuck to the mantra ‘day-by-day’ all year,” said Miller after a statement win over the New York Rangers. “We’re going to totally enjoy tonight, we’re going to learn from what we didn’t do well tomorrow morning, and then we’re going to get right back at it.”
That’s the focus of the Canucks right now: even after a great game, there are things they didn’t do well, areas where they can be better, and mistakes that can be fixed. After seemingly every single game, you’ll hear a variation of, “We’ll look at the video tomorrow,” as they refuse to get too high on themselves and know there’s more to work on.
"It's massive, just the mentality of how guys want to win and not accepting losing or playing at a standard that we don't accept," said Hughes.
Canucks are setting themselves up for sustainable success
That refusal to be satisfied is one of the most encouraging facets of the Canucks’ season.
When the Canucks got off to a start that so many analysts said was unsustainable, the secret is that the Canucks knew it was unsustainable too. It wasn’t because of PDO or any other numbers on the page, though surely the number-crunchers behind the scenes were well aware, but because they knew that they were making systemic mistakes and missing assignments offensively and defensively.
If the Canucks had looked at their hot start and saw it as an accurate reflection of well they were performing, then regression would surely have come calling. Instead, they were honest with themselves and knew they had to play better for sustained success.
That’s a big part of why the team’s underlying numbers have improved so significantly over the course of the season.
Since January 1, the Canucks are fifth in the NHL with a 56.4% adjusted corsi at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. Their 59.4% expected goals is second in the NHL. The Canucks are not just winning now; they’re winning in a way that can be reasonably expected to continue through the rest of the season.
But still, the Canucks can’t be satisfied. No one wins a trophy for being first in the Pacific Division in mid-January.
“We’re treating it like our record is 0-0. We try to go into every period like it’s 0-0,” said Miller. “I think it’s a great mindset for our group and it’s worked for the most part for us so far…We’re not a satisfied group and it starts with worrying about the immediate future.”
