I know it’s ridiculous, but I just had to.

The Vancouver Canucks have played 41 games since Christmas. 41 games—that’s half a season. I just had to point that out in case anyone still thinks that it is merely a hot streak. Now this team had a great run in the second half of the 2001-02 season, a second half in which they had the best record in the NHL. But this year’s version has taken it to another level. It may not be important, it may not be relevant, but I can do it, so I’m going to:

Here are some of the Canucks’ numbers extrapolated over an 82-game season.

Henrik Sedin’s numbers would be basically consistent with his actual numbers this year. He would have 12 goals and 74 assists for 86 points. However, his plus-19 rating would become plus-32.

Daniel Sedin would have scored 50 goals. Actually, he would have scored 52, and collected 50 assists to give him 102 points on the year. 12 of his goals would be game-winners. He’d be a plus-34.

While the team has played so well over the past half-season, Markus Naslund has not been a large factor at all. The one-time League MVP as voted by the players, Naslund would have accumulated just 20 goals and 44 assists for 64, and would be a minus-2.

Roberto Luongo would have saved 93.3% of the shots he faced. His goals-against average would be 2.06, and his record would be 56-10-10. His 56 wins would be nine more than Bernie Parent’s NHL record, but 16 of those would have come in extra time (there was no overtime when the record was set).

In all, the team would have won 60 games and lost just 10 in regulation time, for a record of 60-10-12. Their home record would be 28-4-8, and their road record 32-6-4. The 132 points would tie the NHL record set by the Montreal Canadiens in 1976-77, when teams played only 80 games.

Of course none of this really matters.

But, as it stands, they currently have 101 points with five games remaining, are 47-23-7, and are fifth overall in the League. Not bad for a team that was 17-18-1 before Christmas.

Labels: Hockey

Posted by Farewell, Free Will on Friday, March 30, 2007 at 9:24 p.m. | Permalink