When I joined CP in 2011, I would've put Canucks on my most hated list--most of us might have then. Now, they seem a bit less awful, and they don't have two guys so heinous their contracts were voided plus Nurse and the Wonder Twins. Additionally, there's been so much cross pollination with Markie, Tanev, Zadorov, Lindholm plus even Toffoli for a bit that I've noticed my Nuck friends and I seem to loathe each other's teams a little less.
After this series though--right back to the hate. I don't think they've quite got what it takes right now to beat the greasers and the zebras--Pettersson is looking like their next Louis Eriksson contract (we can only hope) and Demko won't likely be back this series. Plus I think Vancouver's got a bit of that "just happy to get this far" vibe after last year.
I do think the longer layoff maybe helps them more. I do know who this hurts the most though: the Kings. Every extra day it takes the league to get to the very last game of the playoffs may cost L.A. millions in cap space and real money:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article...rre-luc-dubois
So that's another hilarious thing to watch.