Canucks playoff fate sealed after Wild's thrilling OT win over Sharks 

The dream has officially died for the Vancouver Canucks.

Despite being crowned the Pacific Division champions and coming within a single victory of what would have been their first appearance in the Western Conference Final since 2011 in 2023-24, they were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Canucks managed to stave off elimination thanks to Tuesday night's historic comeback victory over the Dallas Stars in which they scored three goals in the final 60 seconds of regulation to knot the score, and then won in overtime.

However, it was too little, too late in the end.

The final nail in the coffin proved to be the Minnesota Wild's incredible 8-7 OT win over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

As Canucks captain Quinn Hughes explained before his team's thrilling win over Dallas, the way this season has gone is weighing heavily on his mind, and he feels the pressure to succeed as the leader of a Canadian franchise.

“This team named me captain, and I feel obligated to be a successful team here,” Hughes told Sportsnet. “That weighs heavily on me; I want to do something here.

What were the biggest factors that caused Vancouver to ultimately miss the playoffs just one year after their most successful regular season in recent memory?

What was it that went wrong for Canucks this season?

The first and foremost major issue with the Vancouver Canucks this season was their health.

Goaltender Thatcher Demko missed the first several weeks of the regular season after an injury forced him from all but one of their postseason games last spring; he's only appeared in 23 games and has a subpar 2.90 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage.

Additionally, captain and reigning Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Quinn Hughes missed multiple games with injury, as did last season's 40-goal scoring forward Brock Boeser, top-line forward Elias Pettersson and strong depth forward Dakota Joshua.

There was also a major in-house drama situation, as it was ultimately revealed by team president Jim Rutherford that all rumors of a personal rift between Petterson and now-former Canucks forward J.T. Miller were true; Miller was ultimately shipped back to the New York Rangers in a blockbuster deal in late January.

The fued subsequently had an effect not only on the Canucks' dressing room but on their on-ice performance.

Pettersson's performance has been particularly disappointing this season, scoring only 15 goals in 64 games after he scored 39 and 34 in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. His stats never improved even after the Miller trade; without his production, Vancouver's success was hampered.