Canucks fans are fed up and head coach Travis Green doesn't blame them

On the heels of a 4-game losing streak and a 10-game stretch that has the Vancouver Canucks plummeting in the standings, managing an abysmal 2-7-1 record over that span, Canucks fans are losing faith - and head coach Travis Green doesn't blame them.

"I can understand that," Green said following his team's 5-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Quite frankly, with the moves that GM Jim Benning made this offseason, it's an inexcusable start for a team that struggled mightily last season.

While J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes and Conor Garland have performed well through the team's first 16 games, much of the roster outside of those 3 has been lackluster at best.

One thing is for certain; the team needs more from captain Bo Horvat, superstar Elias Pettersson, sniper Brock Boeser and newcomer Oliver Ekman-Larsson for the ice time they are given.

Each of the aforementioned plays near or above the 20-minute mark per game and logs considerable time on the power play - yet Horvat has managed just 10 points in 16 games. Pettersson has managed just 9 points over that span, while Boeser has notched 8 points through 13 games.

The real enigma here is Ekman-Larsson, who despite being one of the Arizona Coyotes' better offensive weapons for the majority of his career, has tallied just 3 points through 16 contests this season while sitting second on the team in average ice time. The term unacceptable comes to mind.

There are several areas of the Canucks' game that has to improve, but perhaps no two are more important than the power play (15.3%) and the penalty kill (62.3%). The team ranks 25th with the man-advantage and dead last at 32nd on the PK.

Just how much rope remains for several key members of the organization and some of the team's top players is certainly questionable. The Canucks are going to have to figure this out - and fast - before heads begin to roll.

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