VAN struggling

[Da_Berr 219]

Vancouver's hopes of making the playoffs this year are looking grim. Despite losing much of their original core (HHH and Freeman), Vancouver this season looked like a dark horse candidate for making a deep playoff run. With the recent acquisition of promising prospect Micah Adrienne (R), along with the development of Gino, Su and Jungkok, VAN looked set for a solid season ahead of them. That with not even considering their original core of Manzer, Downey and Spyro. Unfortunately, somehow VAN's tires seem to be stuck in the mud and are currently tied for 5th in their division with a record of 18-19-4 and 40 points. The reasoning behind why they are struggling so much is because of their special teams, specifically the penalty kill. VAN, as a team, is currently leading the league in penalty minutes with 502. That combined with the second-worst PK group in the entire league at 75%, can be used to explain their struggles this season. Last season VAN suffered a similar problem with Freeman racking up too many PIMs and the eventual trading away of him. Hopefully, VAN can somehow find a way to improve their special teams this season or the next, or else they may never find themselves in the playoffs.