'It Means a Lot': Canucks and Oilers Star in NHL's Unlikely Pacific Title Chase

Zach Hyman and Brock Boeser Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

A lot can change in just a few months, and that rings especially true for where the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks have been in the Pacific Division.

On Dec. 20, 2023, the Pacific Division-leading Vancouver Canucks had 46 points and picked up a point in their past seven games. Meanwhile, at 27 points, the Edmonton Oilers were coming off a road trip that saw them go 0-3-0 against Tampa Bay, Florida and the New York Islanders as they adjusted to life under new bench boss Kris Knoblauch.

Fast-forward to Saturday, and in the Oilers’ final matchup of the regular season against Vancouver, they tried to reduce the Canucks’ Pacific Division lead to one point. While chasing down Vancouver would have sounded absurd in the early stages of the season, the idea of the Canucks being anywhere near the top of the division wasn’t a widely held sentiment, either.

After Saturday night’s 3-1 victory over Edmonton, the Canucks now sit one point away from their first division title since 2011-12. While most players opted to downplay what it would mean to win a division title, Tyler Myers made it known what this turnaround has meant to him since joining the team in 2019-20.

“It means a lot, especially with what a bunch of us have gone through over the last three, four, five years,” Myers said. “It’s a testament to how hard we’ve worked and how much we’ve stuck with it, and we want to come out next game and try to make it happen.”

The Canucks had a rocky 2022-23 season, involving the departure of beloved coach Bruce Boudreau as they finished with their third straight year outside of the playoffs. Many questions were asked as to where exactly this franchise was going.

When these two teams kicked off the 2023-24 season, not many had the Canucks dominating the Oilers in an 8-1 victory, thanks to four goals from Brock Boeser. While Boeser’s pace dropped off since then, his play still saw him hit the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career while recording a career-high 73 points. He’s not the only forward having a strong season, as J.T. Miller cracked 100 points, and Elias Pettersson is nearing 90 points.

Rick Tocchet’s first full year behind the bench has seen the collective in Vancouver put things together after a few seasons of turmoil. Under Tocchet, the Canucks have recorded their first 100-point season since 2014-15, and the jump in points from 2022-23 to 2023-24 was their largest improvement in a decade. The last largest point improvement between two 82-game seasons was 101 points in 2014-15 from 82 in 2013-14.

While Quinn Hughes spent his first season as Canucks captain, he took another big jump in his play. It was already clear he was ready to break out as one of the NHL’s best blueliners, but Hughes has fully taken the reins as not only Vancouver’s best defenseman but a Norris Trophy candidate. His play in the offensive zone this year has also already put him in the conversations with some of the NHL’s best offensive defenders ever.

Secondary scoring, which the Canucks lacked in 2022-23, has also been one of their bright spots, thanks to the contributions of Sam Lafferty, Dakota Joshua and Pius Suter, players who all have double-digit goals this season.

From Edmonton’s perspective, going from 2-9-1 to second in the division has represented one of the greatest mid-season turnarounds in NHL history. Knoblauch has stabilized things behind the Edmonton bench since replacing Jay Woodcroft in mid-November. The Oilers also gained tremendous amounts of ground by winning 16 games in a row, the second-longest win streak in NHL history, which also included a perfect 11-0-0 in January.

It hasn’t been perfect at times, and some errors stood out earlier in the season, but Evan Bouchard has continued to develop into one of Edmonton’s better blueliners. This year, he became just the second Oilers defenseman to record 70 points in a season, and 2023-24 represents his fourth straight season of 40 or more points.

Playing with Mattias Ekholm has not only benefitted his game, but Bouchard’s impact has also aided his play on their pairing in what has also been his best offensive year in Edmonton, while recording 38 takeaways in all situations.

Up front, the goal-scoring leader to emerge for Edmonton has been Zach Hyman as a 50-goal man, currently sitting at 53 goals. Connor McDavid has still been the biggest cog, but more so with his playmaking, as he currently sits at 99 assists with just 31 goals this season.

While this year started with Jack Campbell in net, his struggles once again saw the reins being handed over to Stuart Skinner. While Skinner has had to work through some rough patches at times, he’s recorded a 35-15-5 record with a 2.58 goals-against average and a save percentage of .907.

Defensively, Edmonton has turned around to statistically become one of the more responsible teams in the league. The Oilers sit ninth in the league in fewest goals allowed per game, at 2.84.

While Edmonton’s turnaround has them going into the playoffs as a contender, Vancouver found a way to hold them off from closing the gap for a little bit longer with Saturday’s win.

While Tocchet chose not to get too into winning a division post-game, he did draw laughter from the assembled media.

“It’s not over yet, so I’m not going to answer,” Tocchet said. “Is there wood here? I don’t want to jinx myself.”

Tocchet still expressed how big it is for this team to be playing big games in April.

“Anytime you play late in a season, meaningful games, that’s something that this franchise wanted for a long time,” he said. “These are the games we need, so we have a big one on Tuesday.”

The Oilers have three games left. Two of them are against non-playoff teams in San Jose and Arizona, which opens the door for the Oilers to catch up if the Canucks lose to Winnipeg and Calgary in regulation next week.

The road to get to the end of the regular season for the top two Pacific teams may not have been the most expected, but it has been entertaining.