NHL midseason concern-o-meter: Canucks drama, Bruins' woes and more

Cant watch daytime soap operas anymore? Dont worry, the Vancouver Canucks will give everyone their fill every night.

The Canucks have been interesting for all the wrong reasons this year.

The team is over-reliant on Quinn Hughes to be their MVP every night.

While Thatcher Demko is healthy now, his durability is a definite concern moving forward.

As a whole, the teams rush-based defense has cratered, and the power play is far from a weapon.

Advertisement Oh, and theres just a bit of drama between J.T.

Miller and Elias Pettersson .

The problem isnt necessarily that there is a rift between Miller and Pettersson.

Its that the situation seems to be dragging onto the ice and holding the team back from building on last years success.

After a disappointing playoff performance last spring, Pettersson has had an underwhelming first half of the season.

He is scoring at a career-low rate of 2.33 points per 60 through 39 games.

According to tracking by Corey Sznajder at AllThreeZones, his playmaking isnt remarkably different from last year.

But there are a few elements of his game that have declined.

Pettersson isnt as effective in transition this season, with fewer controlled entries.

And both his shot volume and speed are down in all situations.

At five-on-five, his average shooting distance is a bit further from years past.

All of that may be contributing to his goal-scoring rate plummeting.

Pettersson has really only had one hot streak this season and it coincided with Millers time away from the team.

Millers no stranger to having up-and-down seasons.

His scoring rate is closer to his levels back in 2022-23, and a lot of that has to do with goals in particular.

Miller, like Pettersson, is generating fewer shots and struggling to convert on them.

And unlike last season, he doesnt have the play-driving to back that up.

Holes in Millers game have come up in seasons past, especially when power-play scoring masked some of the deficiencies below the surface.

While his numbers dont look too bad on paper, its clear he isnt driving the second line offensively.

And there have been some serious defensive lapses on top of that.

The Canucks one-two punch down the middle is seriously struggling, and now its starting to drag the rest of the team down around them.

The Canucks woes lead off our look at the midseason concern-o-meterTM.

Vancouver Canucks Concern-o-meter: 10/10 The Canucks still have a very good shot of making the playoffs a 79 percent chance , to be exact despite all of their issues.

But the real question with this team isnt so much whether this team could make the postseason but if they can do any damage in it.

The team that took the ice on Saturday night against the Oilers didnt look like one with any internal beef or external issues on the ice.

The Canucks controlled play with 67 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share and limited a dangerous Oilers team to just 15 shots on goal in all situations.

But games like that have been few and far between in Vancouver.

Just days before, they were thumped 6-1 by the Jets and 5-1 by the Kings .

Advertisement At this point, the team may be better served stepping back and resetting for next season.

Instead, management seems more likely to solve the Miller-Pettersson situation by shipping one of them out.

And while that may have to be the solution eventually, acting on it in-season will likely tank the quality of the return and create bigger long-term problems.

Boston Bruins Concern-o-meter: 8.5/10 The Bruins already fired their coach earlier this season.

So what comes next after the teams latest 4-5-2 stretch? Management had reason to move on from head coach Jim Montgomery earlier this season, but coaching was far from their only issue.

The biggest problem is that this roster is fundamentally flawed, and general manager Don Sweeney only dug that hole deeper last summer.

The Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov signings looked like overpayments at the time and already havent aged well.

The Bruins center depth is still lacking, and the blue line, even fully healthy, is flawed.

Letting the Jeremy Swayman situation drag out until October only set the team back because the goalie, unsurprisingly, wasnt in form to start the season after missing training camp.

While Swayman is finally hitting his stride and looks like the No.

1 goalie that Boston bet on, the team in front of him is struggling on both ends of the ice.

The Bruins defense has been in shambles over their last stretch of play, and special teams have been a disaster.

The Bruins are still in the playoff mix.

But management faces a question similar to Vancouver: Do they truly envision this team, as currently constructed, going on a deep run? That doesnt seem likely without some bold in-season moves.

But a team can only change so much in the regular season.

Maybe if the Bruins prioritized their drafting and development over the years, the future would be brighter.

Advertisement Chicago Blackhawks Concern-o-meter: 8/10 Rebuilding is supposed to be a long, painful process.

Teams have to lose a lot to successfully tear down one iteration of a roster and build it back up from scratch.

But at a certain point, a team has to shift from that tear-down mode to the next phase.

The next wave of the core has to start taking shape to show what the future could look like.

The Blackhawks saw a glimmer of that in Connor Bedard s rookie season.

But even their most promising players are struggling this year.

The problem isnt necessarily that the Blackhawks are one of the weaker teams in the league.

That is to be expected based on where they are in this process and the overall strength of their roster.

What is concerning is the fact that Chicago isnt playing competitive hockey often enough.

This is the time to start molding the Blackhawks into the future version of themselves, and it cant be built on a culture of losing.

Decision-makers in the front office and behind the bench have to walk a fine line between being toward the bottom of the NHL standings and starting to play meaningful hockey.

Throughout a rebuild, things have to get worse to get better.

And that could happen again in Chicago when the deadline approaches.

The Blackhawks will likely move out NHL-caliber players for returns that will help in the long run.

But decimating this roster too far could hurt their up-and-coming cores progress.

Navigating a path forward will have to be a balancing act because any missteps could elongate the process.

New York Islanders Concern-o-meter: 7.5/10 The Islanders are still in the playoff race because the Eastern Conference is so wide open.

A run of brilliance by Ilya Sorokin could be all this team needs to better their odds.

There are worrisome elements of the Islanders game right now, from their inconsistencies at five-on-five to their awful power play.

But the most concerning is what management will do if this team doesnt look like a real playoff hopeful or threat when trade season heats up.

Advertisement The big picture is what lands the Islanders on the concern-o-meter.

Standing pat would be the absolute worst path for the Islanders because at best, it keeps the team floating in the dreaded middle.

But it does nothing to help them in the long term.

The Islanders could wait for the summer to improve, but trading players at the deadline can help teams facilitate their offseason moves.

This management group has not shown a willingness to proactively plan for the future even when just outside of the playoff mix just look back at the 2022 deadline.

With a thin prospect pipeline to lean on and clear holes on this roster, this team cannot afford another missed opportunity to improve.

GO DEEPER 2025 NHL prospect pool rankings: No.

25 New York Islanders Kevin Fiala s scoring Concern-o-meter: 7/10 Holding Connor McDavid , Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers to just one goal is legitimately impressive.

But last weeks 1-0 loss to Edmonton was a reminder of what the Kings are missing.

Between Anze Kopitar , Phillip Danault , a blue line led by Mikey Anderson and Vladislav Gavrikov , and the impending return of Drew Doughty , the Kings have shutdown talent.

And that will help them contain and slow down high-octane teams like the Oilers.

But the Kings also have to find a way to push back offensively and force their opponents to play defense a lot more if theyre going to make some noise in the playoffs.

It would help if their $7.87 million top-six winger played anywhere near that value.

Kevin Fiala is scoring at one of the lowest rates of his career, at 1.95 points per 60.

Among forwards with at least 500 minutes this season, that ranks 158th in the league (prior to Mondays matchups).

Fialas production shouldnt be what makes or breaks the Kings, but his slowed scoring exposes a weakness that has held this team back year after year in the playoffs.

Casey Mittelstadt s five-on-five game Concern-o-meter: 6.5/10 Advertisement The Avalanche came into the season short-handed, missing a few key pieces of their top six.

That was expected to weigh on Casey Mittelstadt, who wouldnt have as much support around him on the second line.

But despite those absences, he got off to a great start with 16 points in 15 games.

And then Mittelstadts play completely dropped off.

Since that first month of action, he has just 13 points in 33 games.

His scoring hasnt slowed due to bad luck or losing his spot on the top power-play unit.

Mittelstadts five-on-five game has completely dropped off, with a sub-44 percent expected goal rate.

He isnt nearly as effective in transition this season, especially compared to his first regular-season stint in Colorado last spring.

He is shooting the puck less and generating fewer scoring chances off the rush.

Even the real bread and butter of his game, his playmaking, is down.

Mittelstadt just had his best game of the season after he dominated his minutes against the Stars .

That downgraded the concern-o-meter from a seven because it showed that he still has the juice, especially if he has support on his wings.

But to be off the meters radar, he has to show that level more consistently.

New Jersey Devils Concern-o-meter: 5.5/10 The Devils were proving to be one of the stingiest teams in December.

But in the 11 games since the holiday break, the Devils rank 25th in the league with a 47.4 percent expected goal rate.

Their offense has dried up and their expected goal suppression has trailed off.

Jacob Markstrom has done the most to give his team a chance to win on most nights, but he doesnt have enough two-way support to turn that into wins.

The team only earned two wins in that time and nine losses (six regulation, three overtime).

Usually, this would raise a lot of red flags.

But the Devils benefit from a few things.

There are a lot of middling teams in the Eastern Conference, so the top three Metropolitan Division teams seem relatively safe.

Plus, the other top two teams have had their own recent struggles.

The Devils also still have options to get out of this rut.

The coaches havent really mixed up their lines or pairs to give this group a fresh look.

And there is more than enough time to address their issues externally, whether the team adds a top-six winger, considers upgrading their bottom-six center depth or brings another defender in the mix (and the team has a very good one waiting for a call-up from the AHL).

Advertisement The Devils should get back on track and return to their early-season form.

But until that happens, there is at least some reason for concern.

Honorable mentions on the concern-o-meters radar: The Vegas Golden Knights , Carolina Hurricanes and Sam Bennett s scoring.

Data via Evolving-Hockey , HockeyViz , HockeyStatCards , AllThreeZones and NaturalStatTrick .

This story relies on shot-based metrics; here is a primer on these numbers.

(Top photo of J.T.

Miller and Elias Pettersson: Bob Frid / Imagn Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.