Internally shouting Braden Holtby has had it so far with the Canucks’ terrible defense

Internally shouting Braden Holtby has had it so far with the Canucks’ terrible defense

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You Must Feel For Former Capital Braden Holtby.

The Vancouver Canucks were beaten by the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Saturday. The Leafs scored five consecutive goals before Brock Boeser picked up an unimportant PP mark late in the third period. The Leafs win 5-1 and improve to 9-2-1 while the Canucks fall to a not pretty 6-9.

To be blunt, the Vancouver defense has been gruesome this season. Players often look lost in system play and tonight it was no different.

Three goals in particular summed up the Canucks night tonight properly.

Here, Wayne Simmonds is wide open in front of the net on a PP.

Here, Auston Matthews is holding a conical defender of the Canucks.

Here, Matthews is on the score again after JT Miller just gave up hope after being passed on the boards by Holts.

Holtby’s body language said it all after Auston passed again. He is like Scotty, radiate me to anywhere except here.

“Everything seems difficult for our team,” Canucks head coach Travis Green suspected by Thomas Drance of The Athletic. “It does not come easily, and perhaps it is something of a spiritual thing.”

Vancouver conceded the most goals in the league (60). Their four goals per game are the second worst only for the Ottawa Senators (4.33 GA / GP). The sieve defense caused the saving percentage of Braden Holtby crater (87.7 percent) and was below the hockey goalie Mendoza line (90%).

This meme nicely sums up the Canucks defense.

Over the off-season, Holtby bet on himself and signed a short-term deal with Vancouver that would likely give him the chance to recover lost money later due to the pandemic and a weak defensive year in Washington. On the contrary, it turns out that his new team wants to play shiny rather than good system hockey.

In closing:

Arme ou.

Screenshot courtesy of Sportsnet

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