Is John Tortorella Making the Canucks Better?

Right now, the new coach of the Vancouver Canucks has his team for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

This is the first time that John Tortorella has coached a Western Conference team in the Canucks. But this has been a challenging time for him. Now, remember, coaching is never easy at any professional sport. And for Tortorella, the difficulty level is high because of the competition that the Western Conference produces.

The Canucks, right now, sit at 16-10-5 with 37 points. They're tied for the final Wild Card spot in the West. They've played two more games than the Coyotes, who currently have that spot. If they were in the East, they would be fourth.

There are a couple reasons about why the Canucks are doing the right things, as well as doing the wrong things. Let's take a look at them:

Stars still producing
Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, and Ryan Kesler are currently leading the team in scoring. At the early point of this season, many feared that the system Tortorella had would cause the skill players to block more shots and not be in attack-mode as often. Right now, that can be dismissed because the stars are producing and in a big way.

Tough Penalty Killing
Vancouver's kill ranks first in the NHL with an 89.2 percent rate. Three shorthanded goals as well. You may remember that when Tortorella coached the Rangers, they had a strong penalty kill. Good transition coaching to Vancouver pays off well.

Road warriors
The Canucks are currently 10-5-2 on the road. Those 10 wins are the second-most in the NHL, behind the Chicago Blackhawks. Need I say more about being road warriors?

Struggling vs. the West
The Canucks have been poor against Western teams this season. They are 6-6-3 against the West, and they need to beat their conference opponents more to be a playoff. Also, they are at 6-5-3 at home. They have to start winning at home and against good teams from the West if they expect a good playoff run.

Close-Out Games
Third period is not on the Canucks' side. They have blown third-period leads in five of the last seven home games. They blew a 2-0 lead to the Coyotes but won in overtime in the last tilt. Gotta hold on to third period leads if you're gonna win games.

Tortorella, in my opinion, gets a B effort. Honestly, his team still needs to do some more work so that they get out of being on the edge and into the playoff picture for good. But, right now, they look strong and hopefully Tortorella will send the Canucks to their sixth straight postseason.