Playoffs are gone but Detroit is in sight

The Vancouver Canucks lost in embarrassing fashion in Pittsburgh Wednesday (Nov. 29) and they are now officially out of the playoffs before December even hits.

They are tied in points with the Toronto Maple Leafs who fired their coach.

They are 6 points up on the last place LA Kings in the Western Conference.

That's the good news.

The bad news is they are 11 points up on the Detroit Red Wings for 1st place in the NHL lottery draft.

And since the Canucks traded away next year's 1st Round Pick for the soon to be 27-year-old JT Miller for possibly a 1st overall draft pick next year... yeah, things couldn't get much worse.

But there's a chance for redemption.

The Canucks have pieces to move if they begin to fully commit to a rebuild.

Bo Horvat has value.
Alex Edler has value.
Chris Tanev has value.
JT Miller has value.
Jakob Markstrom has value.

There are draft picks to be had IF ownership green lights what needs to be done - and that's a 100% rebuild.

Put the FOR SALE sign on every player on the team and take the best offers.

There's really nothing on the roster that moves the dial in terms of making an impact or making a run to the Stanley Cup.

Pastranak in Boston has 23 goals in 24 games.

There's no one on the Canucks roster even close to that, not now, not ever.

And so without a franchise player - they're a duck out of water, a ship without a rudder.

There's really no point for them to proceed forward.

The goal now is to recoup that JT Miller idiocy and try to own the NHL draft over the next 5 years.

Whatever it takes.

So if someone wants an Elias Pettersson - you pull the trigger if the offer is high enough. If someone wants a Brock Boeser - you pull the trigger if the offer is good.

You're not moving forward with anything here. That's the point. It's a collection of some nice players and lots of 4th liners.

Keep Jake Virtanen - he's the one player you don't flip. He's still only 23 and has tremendous value and leads the team in even strength goals and is a force when played.

Obviously firing the GM and Coach are a no brainer.

They have to get someone in who can work with Virtanen and that's not Green. And they need someone who can draft properly and that's not Benning.

Time to close shop.

The ball is in ownership's hands now to fix the tire fire.

Will they?

If they're smart they'll do it. Because in the long run - this is killing them financially. You can't sell that roster.

You start the rebuild with the franchise player. You'll know that when it looks like Nathan MacKinnon.