Team Snapshot
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Key Insight
Vancouver is last in the NHL because they are last in both scoring and goals against—a complete structural failure with no offsetting strength. The 30th-ranked penalty kill and catastrophic second-period defense (113 goals against, worst differential of any period) have turned manageable deficits into blowouts, while 2.60 goals per game ensures no margin for error exists.
Strengths
Road record of 14-21-3 is meaningfully better than home record of 8-27-5, suggesting the team performs with less pressure away from home expectations—though both remain well below playoff standard
Power play ranks 17th at 20.5%, the only phase of the game where Vancouver approaches league-average competence and prevents total offensive collapse
Third in Pacific Division for road wins indicates some capacity to compete in lower-stakes environments, though this is negated by catastrophic home performance
Risks
30th-ranked penalty kill at 71.7% is the single greatest drag on results, allowing 62 power play goals and directly costing 15-18 standings points compared to league-average performance—this alone explains much of the -98 goal differential
