The Vancouver Canucks have underwhelmed in the first half of the 2024-25 season. Patrik Allvin would very much like for that to not be in any way his fault.
The Canucks' general manager did an interview with Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre that made some waves this week, as he had some pointed words for the Canucks' top players.
"I think it's fair to say that you expect your best players to be the difference-makers, and the best players when you need them," said Allvin. "And unfortunately, I think we haven't got the most out of those specific guys. If those guys would have performed to their capability, I think...we probably would have won a couple of more games."
When asked specifically about Elias Pettersson, Allvin didn't mince words.
"Petey has shown up to this point that he is an extremely talented, quality player that could and should be a number one centre," said Allvin. "I believe in him. I believe that he's capable. [But] he needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don't go well. Is [a trade] possible? I guess I would say anything is possible."
Allvin was also clear that his criticism of the team's top players wasn't limited to just Pettersson, however, when he was asked about Brock Boeser.
"I'm happy that Brock is scoring goals here lately," said Allvin. "But I would have him in the same boat as Petey and Miller in terms of giving us more when we need more. There is more to give, absolutely."
Let's be clear here: the Canucks' top forwards can be better. Neither Pettersson nor Miller are scoring at the 100-point pace they managed in previous seasons. Pettersson hasn't been anywhere near as dynamic and dangerous as he has been in the past, while Miller has lapsed into some of his old bad habits defensively.
As for Boeser...well, he's been fine. He's on a 38-goal pace over 82 games despite a slow return to form after coming back from a concussion. He deserves a little bit more grace than Allvin gave him.
But the fundamental problem with this Canucks team is a simple one: their defence corps, after Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek, is atrocious.
The injuries to Hughes and Hronek have only highlighted a previously existing problem. The Canucks essentially don't have any second-pairing defencemen. With Hughes and Hronek out, their entire defence corps now consists entirely of third-pairing defencemen — or worse. It's awfully hard for the team's top forwards to be difference-makers when their defencemen can't get them the puck.
Here is the Canucks' blue line right now:
Derek Forbort - Tyler Myers
Carson Soucy - Noah Juulsen
Erik Brännström - Vincent Desharnais
Yes, most teams' defence would look bad when missing their entire top pairing, but this is beyond the pale.
While Allvin and his management team have done an outstanding job at navigating the difficult salary cap situation they inherited and put together some quality forward depth, they can't escape blame for this defence. Allvin made a series of bad bets this past offseason: that the aging Tyler Myers could be a credible number three and deserved a three-year deal, that Vincent Desharnais was worth a two-year contract , and that the injury-prone Derek Forbort would somehow stay healthy.
Those three defencemen took up $6.5 million in cap space that could have been spent more wisely. Now Allvin needs to find a way to fix the mess on the blue line.
Allvin went on to say that making trades right now is hard but that's the job. One might say that he "needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don't go well."
