Inside look at Vancouver Canucks

NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Vancouver Canucks.

Rick Tocchet is hoping to make the Vancouver Canucks harder to play against and better defensively this season, and several key additions in free agency are expected to expedite that process.

The Canucks finished 38-37-7 last season, missing the playoffs for the third straight season and seventh time in the past eight, but were 20-12-4 after Tocchet replaced Bruce Boudreau as coach on Jan. 22. Much of the improvement was driven by better defensive play, with Tocchet demanding accountability and structure from all five skaters on the ice, a sharper focus on fitness, and better habits even on simple things like getting to the bench quickly on a line change.

Vancouver has since added defensemen Carson Soucy and Ian Cole, and forwards Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter in free agency, four players who exemplify those traits. It should make the Canucks better, especially defensively and on the penalty kill.

"Their pedigree is being team guys, doing the little things, defending the puck, especially on the PK," Tocchet said. "It really comes down to determination, details, the willingness to block a shot, the willingness to just roll your sleeves up and get the job done. I would call them system guys, and when you add players like that, it becomes infectious. It helps a coach teach things a little quicker because people follow people. That's why those guys can help us."

Quinn Hughes is the only defenseman from last season's opening night lineup to return this season (Tyler Myers was injured for that game but also returns) after buying out the final four seasons of Oliver Ekman-Larsson's eight-year contract June 16 and signing Soucy and Cole.

Soucy, a left-shot defenseman, adds a physical presence (6-foot-5, 208 pounds) and experience killing penalties (1:43 short-handed ice time per game last season). Cole has a plus-70 rating his past four seasons, was used in a shutdown role against top players last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, can play both sides of the ice, and kills penalties (2:53 short-handed ice time per game last season).

"We took a lot of pride in that shutdown role really trying to free up opportunity for guys like Quinn Hughes, guys like (Lightning defenseman) Mikhail Sergachev to have free reign to play in the offensive zone and create and do what they do best," Cole said. "If there's an opportunity to play a shutdown role or certainly add in a lot of quality defensive minutes and free up guys like Quinn and (Canucks defenseman) Filip Hronek to go and create, then that's where I think that trade-off can really help the team."

Soucy and Cole each fit Tocchet's playing-style preferences, something the Canucks didn't have enough of, and should significantly upgrade a penalty kill ranked last in the NHL the past two seasons (73.2 percent).

"I know Ian Cole very well from the Pittsburgh days (Tocchet was an assistant coach with the Penguins from 2014-17 when Cole was on the team) and the courage that he has to block shots," Tocchet said. "That's very infectious. We're adding courage to the PK too."

Even the forward additions of Blueger (2:05 short-handed ice time per game) and Suter (1:44 per game) are defense-first centers who kill penalties.

"[Tocchet] likes hybrid, versatile players," Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said. "We're very strong in our top-six and haven't had an issue scoring goals, so (it's) more about helping and taking care of our back end."

The Canucks finished 13th in the NHL last season in scoring (3.29 goals per game) and 11th on the power play (22.7 percent), but were 25th defensively (3.61 goals-against per game) and last in the NHL on the penalty kill (71.6 percent).

Part of the problem was No.1 goalie Thatcher Demko missed almost three months because of a groin injury sustained Dec. 1. But even before that, the Canucks leaned too heavily on goaltending because of poor defensive play.

Things improved after Tocchet took over for Boudreau, with the goals-against dropping from 3.96 per game to 3.17, and the penalty killing improving from 65.9 percent to 78.4.

Personnel changes should make it easier to continue those trends, and the players are convinced they can start better than the 18-25-3 record through 46 games last season prior to the coaching change.

"It's a little more tangible," Demko said. "You can see it in our defensive play, the structure we've put in place, the staff coming in and putting in new systems and I think that's stuff we can build around."