The Vancouver Canucks finally know who they will be facing in the first round of the 2024 Playoffs. With the Dallas Stars winning 2-1 in a shootout over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, they avoid the boring Los Angeles Kings and defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights and will draw the Nashville Predators when their long-awaited return to the postseason begins tonight. Here are three burning questions heading into their first meeting with the Preds since the 2011 Playoffs when Ryan Kesler was a one-man wrecking crew with five goals and 11 points.
Who Will Be This Year’s Ryan Kesler?
During the 2011 Playoffs, Kesler caught fire against the Predators and was a monster in almost every game with two multi-goal efforts and four multipoint games over Games 3, 4, 5 and 6. He was unstoppable as the Predators didn’t know how to shut down the 41-goal scorer from the regular season. The rest of the roster was a bit snakebitten over the series, but Kesler put the team on his back and led them to a six-game victory.
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Kesler still follows the Canucks and is invested in how this series and playoff run goes. In a recent interview, he identified JT Miller as a player that could follow in his footsteps and dominate the Predators like he did almost 15 years ago.
“I know I’m compared a lot to JT Miller and even though I think he’s a better player than I was, he’s going to be a big piece to the puzzle. You know, they’re going to need him to be at the top of his game…”
Miller has many of the same qualities as Kesler: they both wear their emotions on their sleeves, can play a finesse and power forward style – sometimes on the same shift – and win face-offs with aplomb. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did the same thing in this series and be a reason why the Canucks make it to the second round for the first time since 2011.
Kesler also highlighted Conor Garland as someone that could make a difference against the Predators. He and his linemates Dakota Joshua and Elias Lindholm will be key in this series as they will likely go against the Preds’ top trio of Filip Forsberg, Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O’Reilly. Garland has shown his competitive spirit and worker bee mentality all season long as he scored 20 goals for the first time in a Canucks uniform and was as consistent as they come game in and game out. He and Joshua could also be candidates to be the Kesler against the Predators and score some key goals en route to the second round.
Can the Canucks Shut Down Filip Forsberg, Gustav Nyquist & Ryan O’Reilly?
Speaking of Forsberg, the Canucks will have to find a way to shut down the 48-goal scorer from the regular season as well as newcomers Nyquist and O’Reilly, who put up 75 and 69 points respectively in their first go-around in Music City. Forsberg set a franchise record for goals, beating out Matt Duchene’s 43 from 2021-22, and almost had his first 100-point season in the NHL. He finished with 48 goals and 94 points and will be coming into the series on a heater with five goals in his last three games.
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As for Nyquist and O’Reilly, the former was an underrated free agent signing by general manager Barry Trotz and has fit like a glove alongside Forsberg and O’Reilly. His previous career high was 60 in 2018-19 split between the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks, and he finished with 75 this season. The latter, a veteran of 75 playoff games and Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 2019, always comes to play in the postseason and will be a handful for the Canucks as he seems to have found a new lease on life in Nashville after a couple of down seasons in St. Louis.
As mentioned, the Canucks will likely counter that lethal trio with a shutdown line comprised of Joshua, Lindholm and Garland. They are certainly capable with their ability to forecheck and keep pucks far away from Thatcher Demko’s net. Garland and Joshua in particular seem to be masters of gaining possession in the offensive zone and never giving it up. Even when it seems like they have lost it, they gain it back with a combination of tenacity, physicality, and in the case of Garland, an uncanny ability to spin off checks and still have the puck on his stick.
Rounding out the shutdown unit will be Lindholm, who will go head-to-head against O’Reilly in the face-off circle, at five-on-five and on special teams. He could be this year’s Kesler in the sense of being the matchup center going against the opposition’s top players. Scoring will be a bonus, but with Garland and Joshua, he could also add some goals to the mix and “shut down” the Predators’ top line that way, too. After all, a good defence is a good offence, right?
Will Quinn Hughes Out-Duel Roman Josi?
Moving from the forwards to the defence, this series will pit two insanely talented top-pairing blueliners against each other: Quinn Hughes and Roman Josi. Hughes finished the season with 17 goals and 75 assists for 92 points – yet another Canucks franchise record – and Josi countered with 23 goals and 62 assists for 85 points. Both of them will play a ton throughout the potentially seven-game series as they play in all situations and average 24 minutes a night. Basically, get ready to see a lot of No. 43 and No. 59 on your TV screen. You might wonder if they ever leave the ice.
The Hughes-Josi matchup will be a fun one to watch, no matter if you’re a Canucks or Predators fan. They both have a package of elite skating, hockey IQ, playmaking and offensive instincts, and can burn you in multiple ways. While Josi might have the edge in his big shot and ability to score on the power play, Hughes has developed more of a scoring touch this season with an underrated wrist shot that always seems to find its way to the net. He is also difficult to contain when he walks the blue line and uses his smooth edges to move effortlessly through stick checks and pressure. All in all, I am looking forward to seeing them work their magic in this series.
The Fun Begins Tonight
Get ready Canucks fans, because the playoffs are back at Rogers Arena. As someone who has covered this team professionally over the past four seasons and has been a fan for the past 30 years, there’s nothing like playoff hockey to watch and write about. Let’s hope this series lives up to the billing as a tough, fast and back-and-forth affair.