Canucks stock watch: Who’s trending up, who’s trending down after 11 games?

The Vancouver Canucks briefly fell behind against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night in Orange County.

If you squinted during the first period, you might have noticed some of the flaws that have been apparent for Vancouver across the early portion of its schedule.

Anaheim, usually a deeply conservative side under head coach Greg Cronin, found some meaningful success attacking Vancouver off the rush and its speed appeared to play as it built an early 1-0 lead.

Advertisement Once the Canucks settled into the game, however, it was no contest.

Vancouvers superior quality took over, completely smothering the Ducks at five-on-five.

From the latter stages of the first period levelling the score and quickly taking the lead on a lovely Kiefer Sherwood goal right up until the final whistle, Vancouver unequivocally put the boot into the Ducks with a dominant, organized and sharp performance.

It was, ultimately, Vancouvers most complete and convincing victory of the season so far.

It wasnt a statement win or an identity win, but it was the first time this season weve really seen the Canucks skate an inferior opponent off the ice without fuss.

As we consider the impressive show Vancouver put on in Southern California on Tuesday night, lets spotlight some of the players who have improved their stock with stellar performances through the first 11 games of this season and several others whose stock has trended in the wrong direction in the early going.

GO DEEPER How Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser powered the Canucks past the Ducks: 3 takeaways Trending up Garland is evolving from an excellent middle-six winger into a legitimate top-of-the-lineup driver.

The undersized, elusive forward is averaging nearly four extra minutes per game compared to last year.

Hes tied for the team lead in scoring with nine points in 10 games, with seven of those nine points coming at five-on-five.

We already knew from last year that Garland is a sparkplug who can drive a line with his pace, puck-recovery skills, playmaking and two-way chops.

But theres a difference between driving elite underlying results on a third line against middle-of-the-lineup opponents compared to now where hes dictating the same results as a full-time top-six player.

That used to be a question some outside-of-market skeptics had about Garland last year: Hes a good player, but if hes truly a top-line-calibre play-driver, why does he average less than 15 minutes of ice time per game? Now, that can no longer be questioned.

Advertisement Garlands success in a higher-profile role, which has also included some secondary penalty-killing time, is meaningful because not every player maintains the same level of impact when moving up the lineup.

He and J.T.

Miller are the only Canucks forwards with whom the club controls more than 60 percent of expected goals at five-on-five.

Garlands results are even more impressive because he spends significantly less time on the ice with Quinn Hughes , who plays a key role in boosting Millers two-way numbers.

Garland is cementing himself as an indispensable core piece for this franchise.

Where would the Canucks be without Lankinen? Signed during training camp after weeks of negotiation, Lankinen has cemented himself as Vancouvers first-choice starter in the protracted absence of Thatcher Demko .

And hes earned that role by being an incredibly steady, solid presence in the blue paint.

The numbers speak for themselves.

Vancouver has won six of Lankinens eight starts and has picked up points in every single game hes started so far this season largely thanks to Lankinens exceptional .923 save percentage.

By public and privately available goals saved above average numbers, Lankinens performance ranks comfortably among the top 10 goaltenders in the sport.

Lankinen has stepped up and established himself as an everyday-calibre option for the Canucks in net.

Thats been a massive development in Demkos absence, but it will continue to matter significantly even once Demko is back in the lineup at some point, hopefully in the near future.

Contending teams need bargain players who can outperform their contracts.

Locked up for this season and next at a tidy $1.5 million cap hit, Sherwood is already providing strong bang-for-buck value.

Sherwood is a wrecking ball, leading the NHL in hits.

But he isnt just physical for the sake of racking up his hit totals.

Hes pesky and disruptive on the forecheck, wins a ton of battles and is always creating havoc with his speed.

He has a distinct pain-in-the-butt-to-play-against identity that Vancouvers bottom six lacked at times last year.

Sherwoods showing he can hang in a top-nine role which is key because Garlands promotion up the lineup could have caused the bottom to fall out for that third line.

Hes also excelled on the penalty kill, where his speed applying up-ice pressure has made it difficult for opponents to gain the Canucks zone and get set up.

Offensively, hes chipped in with valuable secondary production, scoring all five of his points at five-on-five.

Brannstrom seized fourth mans ice smoothly as the Canucks entered the zone and hit Sherwood with a lovely drop pass.

With time and space to step into the shot, Sherwood made no mistake in spotting Vancouver a 2-1 lead it would never relinquish against the Ducks.

It was an instructive play.

A view into Brannstroms impact since arriving in Vancouver as a salary-cap throw-in to make the math work in the Tucker Poolman trade.

Advertisement Brannstrom has seized an early season opportunity and helped stabilize the non-Hughes minutes for the Canucks on the back end.

His impact as a puck-mover has helped Vancouver get the best out of Vincent Desharnais and has given the club an additional back-end facilitator that can help get the puck moving in a positive direction consistently with the Canucks third defence pair on the ice.

Its funny how quickly the narrative around Suter has shifted.

The versatile, low-maintenance Swiss forward struggled in preseason, got hurt and then lost the third-line center job he was initially considered the front-runner for.

If we had written this article a week or two ago, Suter might have landed in the stock down section because hed been relegated to the fourth line and his ice time had been cut following all of Vancouvers depth forward acquisitions this summer.

Most of Vancouvers new wingers besides Sherwood have struggled though, and Suters back into the Canucks top six after a two-goal performance against the San Jose Sharks .

Suters skill set lacks flash hes a below-average skater, undersized and doesnt have much dynamic skill but his hockey IQ and two-way chops are standout attributes.

He also has a knack for getting open in the slot and near the front of the net.

Suter has proven going back to last year that he can play a complementary top-six role, which cant yet be said for some of Vancouvers other wingers like Danton Heinen , Daniel Sprong and Arshdeep Bains.

Dakota Joshua s eventual return may force Suter back down the lineup again at some point, but were learning the latter is still one of Vancouvers best complementary winger options even after a busy offseason of fortifying its forward depth.

Trending down Sometimes when a star player is failing to produce, you can take solace in the fact that theyre at least generating a high volume of chances and looking dangerous.

A breakout is almost always right around the corner for a player in this situation because odds are that theyre just snakebitten and will go on a tear once the bounces normalize.

Petterssons rut is different, however.

It doesnt matter whether you look at his shot rates, the two-way underlying metrics, the eye test, or some of NHL Edges skating and shooting data they all suggest that his lacklustre production has been fully deserved.

This isnt just a matter of unlucky bounces, hes genuinely stuck in the mud and looking like a shadow of the dominant game-breaker we know he can be.

Advertisement The debates, takes and speculation around his struggles are swirling 24/7, like a thought loop that cant be stopped.

Some of the hot takes and criticism have been over the top, but you cant blame the market for being concerned about his listless start given how poorly he performed down the stretch last year and how high the expectations are now that hes carrying the fifth-highest cap hit of all NHL players.

The two biggest factors that could dictate whether the Canucks are more bona fide Stanley Cup contender rather than playoff team that could win a round or two if everything goes right are Pettersson bouncing back as an elite force and Demko becoming healthy and effective.

Even as the Canucks were dominant on Tuesday in Anaheim, Soucy had another tough night.

The big shutdown defender, a revelation for the Canucks in his first Vancouver season last year, was penalized twice against the Ducks.

Both penalties were clumsy and unnecessary.

Even though Vancouver outscored Anaheim in Soucys minutes and outshot the Ducks by a wide margin, the authority that was so apparent in Soucys game last season has vanished.

He just seems to be going through one of those stretches of hockey where he cant do anything right.

On the season, the underlying profile is stark.

Going into Tuesday nights game, Vancouver had been outshot 87-42 in Soucys five-on-five minutes.

More than just the shot counter, the club has been actually outscored by a 2-1 margin (10 goals for, five against) with Soucy on the ice at even strength.

Whatevers impacting Soucy in the early going, the Canucks need him to work through it and re-emerge as a stabilizing presence.

Thats what Soucy successfully provided throughout last season and during the 2024 playoffs, but hes been well short of that level through the first 11 games.

On Tuesday, Demko stepped on the ice at the end of Vancouvers game-day skate in Anaheim and took shots from Noah Juulsen , Jason Krog and one of the Sedins.

Nothing is guaranteed with Demkos unprecedented injury his recovery clearly hasnt been linear but this is another small step that hints he could be inching closer to a return.

Advertisement With Lankinen stealing the starters crease and Demkos return possibly on the horizon, Silovs is facing a massive uphill battle to earn NHL starts.

He may face an uphill battle to remain on the roster, given hes waiver exempt and how disciplined the Canucks have been at working to toll cap space daily.

Vancouvers schedule in November is relatively spaced out with only two back-to-backs, which further incentives the Canucks to ride Lankinen.

Silovs hasnt even cracked an .800 save percentage through his three starts.

The development for young goalies isnt always a straight arrow and this is a three-game sample, so the point isnt to write Silovs future off, but the season has been a nightmare for him since he was named Vancouvers starter.

(Top photo of Kevin Lankinen and Conor Garland: Michael Reaves / Getty Images).

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