THN.com/podcast. From THN On The 'A': Connor Carrick on How to Improve Engagement in Hockey Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk1NTM2OTY4NTY4ODA5MDI5/usatsi_19662036.jpg] The NHL is just about at its weeklong all-star break, providing a nice opportunity to check the temperatures of each franchise and project where they’re headed for the rest of this regular season. Eleven teams still had one game to play Monday or Tuesday before the break, but that still allows us to begin the process today, with the bottom-four teams in the Pacific Division – all of who are officially on break until the schedule kicks in again Feb. 6. CALGARY FLAMES Standings Position: 5th Record: 24-17-9 Projection: In the mix for a playoff spot but out of the mix for home ice advantage. Why: The Flames have been one of the league’s bigger disappointments this year. After one three-game win streak to begin the season, Calgary has put together one more three-game win streak. Other than that, they haven’t been able to win more than two straight games. Their offense (averaging 3.12 goals-for per game, putting them in the 16th-overall spot in that category) has been mediocre, and so has their defense (2.98 goals-against per game, the league’s 15th-best number). Coach Darryl Sutter’s famous sneer has been unable to push them to a comfortable spot in the Pacific, but there’s still enough talent on this team to keep them in playoff contention. That said, a deep post-season run for them is seeming to be more and more of a stretch. Many other teams in the West look deeper and more determined to play well into the spring. VANCOUVER CANUCKS Standings Position: 6th Record: 20-26-3 Projection: The mushy middle – not at the very bottom of the Pacific and Western Conference standings, not near the top of the entry draft lottery, and well out of a playoff slot. Why: It’s been another year of catastrophe for the Canucks, who once again have been bound and determined to try making the playoffs yet don’t have anything resembling to show for it. The Canucks’ salary cap situation is a dog’s breakfast of overpaid veterans, soon-to-be unrestricted free agents and young players not near their peak years. Team president Jim Rutherford and GM Patrik Allvin scapegoated former bench boss Bruce Boudreau, but the real blame for this mess falls at the feet of team ownership. Without a clear plan for the future, Vancouver is destined to finish too far away from the bottom of the standings to land a generational player in the 2023 draft and not nearly close enough to a playoff berth to make the last weeks of the season interesting. Canucks fans are right to be beyond frustrated with the direction of this organization. There is much pain and suffering ahead, and if that pain was leading to an elite new generation of Canucks players, that would be one thing. Instead, it feels more like the same, and that’s simply unacceptable. SAN JOSE SHARKS Standings Position: 7th Record: 15-25-11 Projection: In the bottom-five group of teams in the league, firmly in the Connor Bedard Sweepstakes. Why: San Jose began the year 3-9-3, and that was an accurate harbinger of what has followed. They have, far and away, the NHL’s worst home record (5-12-7), and they’ve had eight losing skids of at least three games. Mike Grier has his work cut out for him in attempting to chart a new course for the franchise, but he’s expected to be one of the league’s most active GMs prior to the league’s March 3 trade deadline. And that will almost assuredly mean the Sharks are just as bad, if not worse, than they’ve been thus far. The good news is San Jose should be a top-five selector in the NHL draft, meaning they’ll add a youngster capable of being a star for them down the line. But there’s so much work to be done in the meantime, and the challenge for Grier and coach David Quinn will be to keep things positive as their basement-to-roof rebuild continues. It won’t be easy, that’s for certain. ANAHEIM DUCKS Standings Position: 8th Record: 16-29-5 Projection: In the bottom-five group of teams in the league, firmly in the Connor Bedard Sweepstakes. Why: There were those of us who thought the Ducks would at least challenge for one of the wild-card playoff spots in the West this year. How wrong we were. Anaheim has been an abject disaster, with the NHL’s third-worst record, the league’s worst goal differential (minus-80) and no hope of rebounding in the remainder of the season. There’s nowhere near enough depth of NHL-ready talent, and once GM Pat Verbeek is done trading away the team’s many veterans, the Ducks are going to limp into the spring begging for the season to be over. Anaheim may well win the Bedard Sweepstakes, and if they do, all this hockey hell will be worth it. Even if they don’t win the draft lottery, the Ducks will still come away with a dynamic talent who can make an impact in the years to come. But for now, at least, there’s no balm out there for their many ailments. This team is still trying to develop an identity that isn’t “sad-sack”, and it will continue to take time before they turn the corner toward consistent playoff contention.
