As if you needed the numbers to confirm what your eyes are already telling you: The Vancouver Canucks are two different teams when Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes are, and aren’t, on the ice.

But still, here are the numbers, in stark relief:

So far this season at five-on-five, the Canucks’ best centre and best defenceman have played 116 minutes together. In those minutes, the Canucks have taken 51.3 per cent of the shot attempts. That’s pretty solid.

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But in the 507 minutes the Canucks have played without either of them on the ice, the Canucks have been dominated, taking just 44.6 per cent of the total shot attempts.

The Canucks are simply in a race against themselves, and outside of their best two players, they’re falling be

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