It’s not Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet who’s telling the team to shoot so often from the point.
The Canucks rank below the 50th percentile in high-danger shots and goals per NHL Edge data. They rank fifth-last in high-danger shots at five-on-five, and too often, they’re fine to settle for outside chances from near the blue line, hoping for a tip or lucky bounce.
The team ranks second-last in shots this season, and offence has been difficult to come by.
This approach has frustrated fans who have taken to the internet to express their feelings. Some of them have pointed fingers at Tocchet; however, the head coach shares in that same frustration.
“A million per cent,” said Tocchet when asked recently if his team over relies on point shots.
“It’s been a struggle all year. I shouldn’t say a struggle; it’s something that we’ve talked about. And we’ll have a game where you’ll go, ‘Wow, we did that.’ It’s the sustainability where we are having a tough time.”
There are signs of progress. Last game, Quinn Hughes scored a beautiful goal by driving to the middle of the ice, creating space and havoc before finding the back of the net. The Canucks need more of that, and they need it from players other than their captain.
Captain Quinn reporting for duty 🫡
📺: Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/f0U1vBqeA6
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 26, 2025
“Hughes’ goal is something we can build on. ‘Hey, look at him, he’s taking it to the interior and making a play.’ I don’t know if a lot of guys can make that backhand, though; there are very few who can do that.”
This isn’t an issue Tocchet is hoping will disappear by itself. The coaching staff has a plan to get their team motivated to attack the interior, and this starts with altering their practice habits.
“Practice it more; when we practice, we actually talked about tweaking our practices where instead of having three or four points, just basically do a lot of interior offensive stuff for a half-hour, don’t even worry about defence. I think we have to start doing that more, so tweaking our practice will help, and it’s on us coaches to really preach it.”
The Canucks are three points out of the playoff picture. They’re running out of time to turn things around and badly need a winning streak. They’ll get a chance to start one tonight when they take on the St. Louis Blues just a few days after beating the Washington Capitals.