Are the Vancouver Canucks Canada’s Best NHL Team?

Their 9-2-1 record has them perched comfortably at second place in the Western Conference,  just behind the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and they sit at third overall in the league. Yes, it’s still early, but the Canucks are playing like a well-oiled machine, with the team’s stars finally putting on star-like performances.

Assistant captain Elias Pettersson is, as of this writing, leading the league lead in points. Brock Boeser is second in the league in goals scored, just after Auston Matthews. Captain Quinn Hughes has now joined a very elite group – only three other defensemen in NHL history have ever reached the 20-point mark faster – Paul Coffey, Bobby Orr, and John Carlson.

Thatcher Demko is playing elite hockey right now, and leads all NHL goalies this season in wins and shutouts and has the second best save percentage.  His backup, Casey DeSmith, is no slouch either and has been playing consistently well on Demko’s nights off.

The Canucks have been plagued with inconsistency in the last decade, struggling most years to even make the playoffs. Since new head coach Rick Tocchet has been leading this club, however, there seems to be a shift in the team’s culture. They look confident, they look disciplined, they look and play like a complete unit. Is Tocchet the primary reason this team are playing like real contenders for the first time since 2011?

Maybe.

It’s also important to note that the rest of the Canadian NHL teams are just not that great. The Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers are having very rough starts, each of them struggling to win games with any consistency. The Toronto Maple Leafs, constantly touted as the Great Hope for Canada to bring the Stanley Cup back home, are clinging to a thin winning record and look totally unenergized. The Sens are more interesting and controversial off the ice than on, and in Quebec, the Montreal Canadiens are playing well enough to surprise, but aren’t quite at contender level just yet.

The reality is that it’s not too hard to be the best team in Canada right now, based just on the abysmal starts for most of the other Canadian teams. Vancouver is ahead of them all by light years.

There’s no guarantee that the ‘Nucks can keep up with this level of play, but it’s pretty clear that this team is sick and tired of missing the playoffs, year after year, and that they’ve had a fire lit under them. The fan base has been re-energized, and the vibes at Rogers Arena are exactly what the team and the city need to break a three-year postseason drought.

The team looks transformed under Rick Tocchet’s style of leadership and the turnaround performances from the club’s biggest players. It’s hard not to make a case for the Canucks being the best team in the country right now.