A playoff team has shockingly spent more time losing than the Vancouver Canucks

This one is hard to believe.

The Vancouver Canucks have been the NHL’s last-place team ever since Jan. 9. They’ve entrenched their spot in the NHL’s basement ever since, and they currently trail the 31st-place New York Rangers by 15 points.

Ever since the end of their four-game win streak following the Quinn Hughes trade, the Canucks have a preposterously bad 6-24-3 record.

Considering all of that, it’s hard to believe that another playoff team has spent more time trailing than the Canucks this season.

But somehow, that’s what the Vegas Golden Knights have managed to do.

So far this season, the Golden Knights have spent 1,845:12 trailing. That’s slightly ahead of the Canucks, who have been behind for 1,842:03.

Oddly enough, two other playoff teams round out the top five for the biggest losers in terms of time spent trailing this season.

3. New York Rangers (1,775:07)
4. Nashville Predators (1,656:43)
5. Anaheim Ducks (1,632:41)

While the New York Rangers were officially eliminated from the playoffs yesterday, the Nashville Predators and Anaheim Ducks are currently slated to play in the postseason. Both teams have negative goal differentials.

But for the once-mighty Golden Knights, their status as one of the league’s perennial Stanley Cup contenders has taken a massive hit this season.

Even though they made a couple of splashy additions over the last 12 months by signing Mitch Marner and trading for Rasmus Andersson, it hasn’t helped them in the standings.

Since NHLers returned from the Olympics, Vegas has been in a tailspin. They’re 5-10-0 since play resumed in late February. Only the Canucks and Seattle Kraken have been worse.

Goaltending has been a major issue for the Golden Knights. At 5-on-5 this season, they have the worst team save percentage in the NHL. Cup-winner Adin Hill has struggled immensely, with his .868 save percentage being the fourth-worst mark among goaltenders who’ve played at least 10 games.

Clearly, Connor McDavid was right about the Pacific Division being a pillow fight.

Despite their struggles, Vegas seems locked into third place in the Pacific. That’s because the teams chasing them (Los Angeles Kings, Seattle Kraken and San Jose Sharks) have won just seven of their last 30 games combined.