NHL teams
Matthew Coller, Special to ESPN 10y

Summer Skate: Vancouver Canucks

NHL, Vancouver Canucks

Summer Skate series index

Although the weather doesn't necessarily make us think of winter pursuits, it's a good time to take the temperature of every NHL team. Hockey Prospectus will guide us through the leaguewide tour and spotlight one player trending up and one player trending down for each club, as well as a key statistic as we look ahead to the 2014-15 season. References will be made to goals versus threshold (GVT), a Hockey Prospectus proprietary statistic; for more on GVT, click here. All other advanced stats are courtesy of Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com.

The John Tortorella experiment lasted only one season in Vancouver. The Canucks' ownership fired Torts not long after watching their former coach Alain Vigneault lead the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup finals. Bringing Tortorella to Vancouver seemed doomed from the first time he asked stars Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin to block shots.

There was more to the story, however. While Tortorella's news conferences became the talking point, an absurd amount of injuries and the trade of goaltender Roberto Luongo were also notable factors in the Canucks' playoff-less season.

With a new man behind the bench and a new starting goalie, hopes are high. However, the reality is that the loss of Ryan Kesler -- combined with a forward group short on depth -- may prove too much for first-time NHL coach Willie Desjardins to overcome.


Trending Up: Daniel Sedin, F

Last season: 6.6 GVT
VUKOTA Projection: 8.2 GVT

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