How concerned should the Canucks be during recent rough stretch?

The Vancouver Canucks haven’t exactly gotten off to the best start this season. Sure, they’ve been without goaltender Thatcher Demko all season, but a 9-5-3 record feels a bit too pedestrian for a team that performed so well last season, especially coming off of a disappointing 5-3 loss to the struggling Nashville Predators on Sunday.

Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk talked about how concerned we should be about the Canucks’ start on Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: My level of concern is probably a 3 out of 10. I’m sure Canucks fans are watching this saying “Is this guy blind? Does he watch any Canucks hockey? What’s wrong with him? Doesn’t he see the issues that are in front of us?”

Yes I do, but this is also a Canucks team that, at this exact point in time, has afforded itself a little bit of breathing room. They’re second in the division in points percentage, they’re on track for 102 points, they’ve got a 9-5-3 record to this point in time. And it’s not like they’ve been totally lost all season long.

For whatever reason, they really struggle on home ice. They have been a good road team, who I saw, for a six-game stretch, really looked like they had figured it out and turned the corner, and yet continue to kind of fall back into this hesitant and almost tentative state of waiting for the game to start for the other team to punch you in the mouth before finally waking up.

I think when you’re able to bank points though, you get a game like Saturday night. You’re outplayed by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first period, but then after that, you’re ahead 2-1 and you find a way to salt it away with two empty netters.

The sky is not falling, and I think in fact, at the end of it, it’s really healthy that the bar has risen to that level, that the Canucks turn around and say, “Hey, with our expectations, it’s not just okay being at 9-5-3 with some of the issues and warts in our game.”

Tyler Yaremchuk: I think you’re right. I think there is a positive to pull from this kind of mindset. Learn some tough lessons now, so you’re not learning them in March and April. It makes sense.

You can watch the full episode here…