Top-Shelf Takes: Canucks at a crossroads again after dismal early season start

Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.

The Vancouver Canucks certainly have to be wishing for a reset button right about now.

We're just a few weeks into the 2022-23 NHL season and the Canucks (0-5-2) still have yet to get themselves into the win column. As the NHL's only remaining winless team, you'd expect the results to not be pretty by virtue of their lack of wins. Of course, with Vancouver being Vancouver, these last few weeks have been an excruciating ordeal as the Canucks bungled leads in five of their seven losses to start the season.

So yeah, the vibes in Vancouver are extremely poor right now. Poor enough that Canucks fans booed their team -- and tossed a jersey on the ice to match -- after losing their home opener 5-1 to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

And if that wasn't enough, the team has been ravaged by injuries with Quinn Hughes out week-to-week, Brock Boeser out day-to-day, and Tucker Poolman sitting on the injured reserve list. Seriously, if there was a reset button on the season the Canucks surely would have hit it by now.

Unfortunately for the Canucks, general manager Patrik Allvin, and team president Jim Rutherford, this is the cold, stark reality for Vancouver.

The good (comforting?) news here is that the Canucks have been in this position before. Last year, in fact, when the team started the season 8-15-2 before the team fired Jim Benning and Travis Green and replaced them with Allvin and Bruce Boudreau respectively. Once Boudreau took over, the Canucks played at a 106-point pace, going 32-15-10 but missing the playoffs at the end of the season.

This year, however, was supposed to be different. Many believed a full season of Boudreau at the helm would have allowed him to work his magic once more. After all, Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Hughes had career years under his tutelage just one season ago. And now, this disastrous start to the season has the Canucks upper management mentioning a rebuild in the public press!

Look, the beginning of this season was always going to be a bit bumpy for the Canucks considering they started the year on a five-game road trip. It's never easy playing long stretches of time away from your home barn; ask the New York Islanders how well that went for them last year if you want a reminder.

And yet, the Canucks fumbled away multi-goal leads four times out of their seven losses and have been outscored 15-2 in third periods this season. That's flat out unacceptable from a team with playoff aspirations and it may just cost them a postseason spot down the line as well.

It's hard to say what the right course of action is for the Canucks. Firing Boudreau would leave the Canucks with two head coaching changes in under a calendar year. Boudreau isn't even a bad head coach either and much of the Canucks failings this year can hardly be put at his feet. A heavy-duty trade is possible, if only to help alleviate the strain on the team's mediocre and injury-riddled defense.

Or, the Canucks could finally pull the chute on this team's core and go full rebuild if they truly believe this situation isn't worth saving. Either way, something has to give for this Canucks team that's been saddled with too many bad contracts for too long. Bandages and patch jobs just won't work anymore with this team.

Three stars

3. Matthew Tkachuk lighting it up with Florida

The biggest trade of the offseason is already paying dividends for the Panthers, as Tkachuk has three goals and eight points in six games played. Sunday's game against the Islanders was the first time this season that Tkachuk didn't tally a point for the Panthers, as his transition from Calgary has gone as smoothly as can be.

2. Juraj Slafkovsky's first career goal was one to remember

The NHL's most recent No. 1 overall pick finally got on the score sheet in a big way last week. Slafkovsky's first NHL goal was a beauty, but his celebration afterwards is a real treat.

Oh yeah, that's a Hall of Fame goal celebration right there.

Congratulations to Slafkovsky on his first goal of a hopefully long NHL career!

1. Phil Kessel made history!

Phil! On Tuesday, Kessel broke the NHL's ironman streak with 990 consecutive games played. And what a night it was for the 17-year NHL veteran.

After the NHL ruined his 400th career goal on Monday with an offside call, this has to feel good for Kessel, who is beloved by many in the hockey world.

Overachiever of the week

Washington Capitals

After losing their first two games of the season, the Capitals are 4-1-0 in their last five and are on cruise control. All four of Washington's wins, however, came against bottom-tier teams in the Canadiens, Canucks, Kings, and Devils, with their most recent victory a 6-3 drubbing of New Jersey.

It's still too early for me to believe in this Capitals team, with a favorable schedule inflating their stock to the tune of a NHL-leading 5.86 goals for above expected, according to MoneyPuck. The real test for this Capitals club will be in the games to come, where they will see the Stars, Hurricanes, and Golden Knights in a week-long span.

What to watch

Canucks vs. Kraken - Thursday, October 27

Will the Canucks finally get their first win of the season against the lowly Kraken who continue to healthy scratch No. 4 overall pick Shane Wright? While the hockey may not be great, this game is a must-watch for the hot takes that are sure to spew forth on social media regardless of the result.

Jets vs. Coyotes - Friday, October 28

The Coyotes home opener at their shared college arena with Arizona State is certainly going to be an experience. While the Coyotes expect to sell out every game in their new -- hopefully temporary -- arena, hockey fans are dubious as to the long-term health of this plan. For now, it's a unique novelty that's only worth tuning in for to see how the arena looks because boy, the Coyotes are terrible.

Oilers vs. Flames - Saturday, October 29

It's the Battle of Alberta, need I say more? If Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl versus Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau isn't enough to entice you, I don't know what will.

Quick hits

• The Reverse Retro jerseys are back for the 2022-23 season, so check out our rankings for all 32 sweaters!
• Alex Nedeljkovic's cute message to his mother on his pads -- and her response -- may be the most heartwarming thing you'll see.

• The Bruins got the Halloween spirit flowing early with their incredible costumes from the Mario series. My only note: Brad Marchand absolutely should have been Waluigi, do not change my mind.

List

Ranking all 32 NHL goal horns, from sounding like cars in traffic (Canadiens) to the good ones