Vancouver Canucks are shooting blanks

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It’s really remarkable to look at the Vancouver Canucks shooting data. They have not generated many scoring opportunities. There is no denying that.

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But according to HockeyViz.com, the Canucks have left 15 goals on the table so far this season, depending on where they took their shots from.

It’s all due to its brutal completion.

From the main scoring areas around the net and into the low slot, the Canucks are having success shooting at a rate 10 percent below the NHL average.

Even some of those goals would have changed a game or two down the Canucks trail.

Now the overall picture remains lackluster, even with a couple more wins. A couple more wins puts them on the brink of playoff chase, nowhere near the middle.

Better balance

It hasn’t always been pretty, but the truth is that the Canucks’ process has been going well over the last month. They have obtained a better participation both in the attempts and in the quality of the shots. So much so, that his numbers for the entire season are not atrocious.

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They are actually positive on shot attempts, and they direct the puck towards the opponent’s net more than it has been towards their own.

According to Natural Stat Trick, a hockey data-tracking website, the Canucks have averaged 56.4 shot attempts per game with uniform force, while they have produced 53.5 shot attempts at their own net. That’s a solid improvement over the past three seasons – they averaged 54.2 shot attempts per game and 59.6 counter shot attempts per game from 2018-21.

That said, on the season, they’re still slightly negative in terms of shooting quality – according to Natural Stat Trick, so far in 2021-22, the Canucks are at approximately 2.1 expected goals per game, 2.3 expected goals against . In reality, both figures are down from 2.2 in favor and 2.5 against from 2018-21.

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That fits with the idea that the Canucks are no longer playing “fast,” something that head coach Travis Green agreed to earlier this week.

The interesting thing to note is that the Canucks have actually been taking slightly better shots than their opponents for the past month. at least according to data from MoneyPuck.com , another data tracking website.

They have the Canucks’ expected goals as positive since early November.

Puck luck

There’s a simple, final number to consider in understanding the Canucks’ offensive struggles this season: They have the worst shooting percentage in the league at uniform power so far this season. The Canucks have made just 6.1 percent of their shots, roughly 1.5 points below the league average.

So yeah, again, the Canucks’ record should probably be slightly better, but that’s about it. This is a team that just doesn’t tend towards a contender by any stretch of the imagination.

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