Canucks captain Quinn Hughes had a sobering take on the struggles of his teammates after their 5-1 loss to the Kings.

Elias Pettersson skated with Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk, and was more frequently self-matched with Quinn Hughes against the top end of the Toronto lineup. Frankly, Pettersson’s deployment patterns on Saturday more closely matched how the Canucks have utilized J.T. Miller for much of this season.

In and out of Vancouver, the consensus seems to be this can’t continue: great wins, terrible losses and The Miller vs. Pettersson rumours. It’s halfway though the season and no one is quite sure who these Vancouver Canucks are or who will be on the team after the trade deadline.