Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Nucks Fan Rebuild & Retool Center - Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
A resolution to the biggest question for the Vancouver Canucks' future might not be a big deal after all.
Lemme explain.
On straight talent, Elias Pettersson is the most skilled skater the Canucks have. With Quinn Hughes gone, it's a one-person list. The good news is that he's signed for the next six seasons. The bad news is the previous two seasons.
Two years with just 15 goals in each is atrocious, given who he is supposed to be. He scored 27 in his rookie and sophomore seasons, just by comparison, and those are his third and fourth least productive years. Even Pettersson's much-vaunted defensive game slipped, with his even-strength Corsi dropping below 50% in 2024-25. It plummeted to 46.8% last year, but whose didn't?*
It's been a precipitous drop from the century-mark high of 2022-23. Successful as it was for him, the year felt...odd. The new management had decided to go with J.T. Miller instead of longtime captain Bo Horvat, signing him to a 7 x $8 million extension before the season began. They left Horvat dangling for months before finally trading him away at the end of January. Management announced that coach Bruce Boudreau was a lame duck before the season began, but waited 48 games to fire him, a week before the Horvat trade.
Obviously, a huge "changing of the guard" happened. Rick Tocchet came in, Hughes was named captain for the 2023-24 season, and Pettersson was going into his RFA year. Now, he said in the off-season that he wanted to wait until the season was over before negotiating a new deal. Management seemed to agree. But both management and Pettersson were asked about a potential deal repeatedly throughout the year. That made sense, as the team had obviously improved, and it was going to be the most expensive deal in Canucks history, whenever it happened.
It was still a flat cap world then, and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin wanted to know what they could spend in the coming years. Getting Pettersson's deal done was vital. Meetings carried on between the White Collars and his agent from July 1st in 2023 right until the end of February, a week before the trade deadline. But a month before the deal was done, things got really interesting.
Just after the All-Star break, rumours leaked out of a potential trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. Then of possible short-term contracts instead of an eight-year one. In public, Rutherford and Allvin said how much they wanted Pettersson to stay. Pettersson, for his part, continued to say he wanted to wait until the season was over before he talked contract.
On the ice, clearly, Miller was feeling the pressure of being The Guy early. Regular outbursts, breaking his sticks, and taking bad penalties had him riding pine early in the year. But Tocchet still heaped praise on him, calling him an "emotional leader" for the team.
We know early in the 2024-25 season, Miller and Pettersson had a confrontation at practice. Word got around that the coaching staff - with the approval of management - encouraged players to "toughen up" Pettersson. It's unlikely that it started in the 2024 training camp, but well before then, and we don't know what was said in the dressing room. But we do know there were factions, with Horvat on one side and Miller on the other. Given how each player approaches the game, that's hardly surprising. We also know how much Tocchet loves Miller and who he would back if there were a divide on the team.
It's not hard to add Pettersson's reluctance to sign, the pressure to do so from management, and his treatment at work together.
Gonna talk about myself a little. Skip this bit if you want.
When I was very young - ten-ish - I was a pretty good student. School was fun, and I liked the challenges there and all the new things to discover. Not the best student in the world, but pretty good. Went into Grade Five and had a seat at the front of the class. (Don't worry, this will be over soon.) Teacher assigned some "circle the answer" homework on the first day, and I forgot to do it. Next day, he asked where it was, and I said it wasn't done.
He threw my desk across the room. Leaned into my face and bellowed for me to get out of his class.
So I was crying outside his classroom - two other kids joined me there - when he came out and chuckled at me. "What are you crying for?" He explained that he wasn't going to hurt me, obviously. He just needed to make an example of someone at the start of the year. Now I should go on back to my desk, and we'll carry on with the day. Well, with an explanation like that, what would your average ten-year-old do?
I moved myself to the back of the class and never did homework for him. Always tried to get the work done during the school day, however much was assigned. If I didn't get some done, too bad, it didn't get done. Studied and did great on tests, which helped average out my grades enough to pass. Then I got him again for Grade Six, so that sucked.
What I DIDN'T do was become a better student, because fuck him. I didn't respect him, and he didn't deserve it. I also didn't tell any other students or teachers, or my increasingly frustrated parents, because I was raised to handle stuff by myself. A terrible, self-sabotaging decision, but whaddya want? I was ten.
You can probably see where I'm going with this.
Late in January of 2024, Tocchet gave a rare public rebuke for Pettersson's play. It was deserved for the game, an overtime loss to St. Louis, where he was held pointless. But Tocchet also said he hadn't liked Pettersson's play "for the last three or four games." "We gotta get him going," and "we'll get him going" sound slightly ominous in retrospect. In the next game, the last in January, he scored two goals and three points. After that, well, it changed.
For that one month, Pettersson scored 14 goals and 21 points in 13 games. For the rest of the year, he scored seven goals and 25 points in 33 games. He pulled a few three-point games, but a lot more zero-point ones were showing up. That the best stretch of games he's played since that January was the fifteen points in ten games when Miller took a personal leave in 2024-25 doesn't seem like a coincidence.
Speaking of which, that 2024-25 season was a disastrous, turmoil-filled year for a team that somehow held on to respectability, finishing out of the playoffs with 90 points. But it was pretty clear they were going nowhere fast.
For 2025-26, Tocchet declined a return. Management took a couple high-risk swings at Filip Chytil and Evander Kane. They hoped some stability would emerge by keeping Adam Foote behind the bench. The injury gods were not kind, resulting in Linus Karlsson being the team's second-highest scoring centre. Great for him, but not so great for the team. Hughes was traded, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Petersson's form was slowly returning. In his first 28 games of the year, he scored a reasonably solid eight goals and 22 points. Then, not only was he injured, but his wife of six months suffered a miscarriage. After that terrible personal loss, a team reduced to one and a half centres, and a comically condensed schedule, this season hasn't been the best gauge of his abilities. He managed just 12 points in his first 21 games back after the Christmas break, then another 12 in the 16 after the Olympic break, then just five points in April's nine games to finish the year.
Here's the crux: if you want to trade Elias Pettersson the Forward, then this is possibly the worst possible year to do so.
His offensive numbers are rock-bottom; he's got another six years to go and a No Move Clause for all of it; and he's getting paid less money this season than he did the last or will the next. With the team expecting to lose some casual fans during the rebuild, paying $3.5 million less for one player sounds great!
There is simply no way to recoup the level of talent he has in a trade because no one knows if he can get back to that level again. You're not trading a 100-point player; you're trading a former 100-point player. And in this, of all years, there certainly isn't a free agent worth pursuing to fill the gap.
Can Pettersson come back to what he was? My opinion hasn't changed since last season's preview: I think at his best, he'll be close to a point-per-game, very good defensive centre. But before he gets to being his best, there's a very important question to ask: Does he respect who he's playing for?
*Of the players who played more than 45 games? Linus Karlsson's. That's it.
Of the many, many pressing demands on general manager Ryan Johnson's time, one stands out: what to do with all these veterans.
The Plan, as we all know, was to play well enough that the best defenceman in team history would stick around. Keep his friends here, hire the coach he liked, take wild swings at improbable targets. Ends up that wasn't the best possible tactic for sustainable improvement. Who knew?
He's long gone, of course. But what's left behind are some awkward contracts, both in length and offered trade protection. The push is clearly to continue collecting young talent, either as players or draft picks, and use that to build a contender. Those players are going to need time, on the ice and just chronologically, for this to happen.
That means folks have got to go.
An optimistic timeline for a full rebuild of the sort Vancouver needs can be broken into chunks. Both Johnson and new coach Manny Malhotra have signed three-year deals, and that's a decent length for a first chapter.
What's the goal for that time frame? It's not challenging for a Stanley Cup, obviously. So what fits in there? At least three years of high draft picks - and corresponding pain on the ice - is a minimum. The cap is rising substantially for the first time in years, so teams won't feel that crunch of talent getting more expensive and forcing their hands. Bad deals become relatively more affordable and excuses to keep players get easier.
In the next three years, the Canucks should be trying to get good prices on their veterans, ice time for their kids, and instilling pride of the work put in - even if results aren't there just yet. Ideally, the kids will take this time to develop enough that they replace the current veterans.
The trick is wanting Zeev Buium to grow into a number one defenceman and Marco Rossi to have a healthy, productive season while not contributing so much it ruins the draft slot. They want to work hard at getting a bottom-five finish. Signing the right veterans to do that with is a juggling act.
Getting paid to take bad contracts is a bit trickier now. For all the talk of taking Brendan Gallagher from the Montreal Canadiens, there may actually be some demand for his services. He's well respected around the league, but in a practical sense, he's the sort of player who is a luxury. A $6.5 million cap hit for a bottom-six, 30-ish point player is a lot, however hard he works.
If Vancouver did get him, or a player like him, the objective would be for a contender to pick him up for a playoff run, where that luxury can get full value. Then again, the complete lack of interest in Teddy Blueger at last season's deadline shows that the tactic doesn't always work. So that sort of veteran player needs to provide something else.
The best part of a veteran like Gallagher or Blueger is to provide a benchmark. Any young player coming up can be shown the veteran in practice and get told: "Want to play? Outwork him." And almost any veteran can briefly play up the lineup if needed, with little pressure to score. That versatility can be very useful when one of the young guys needs to take a step back, but should still be on the ice.
It's an important lesson. To have veterans is to maintain an even keel in a losing season. Young teams can run hot or cold, and having voices around that have been there before can temper the expectations. No losing streak lasts forever; it just feels like it. Encouragement from the coaching staff is good then, but so is it coming from the teammate who's got ten+ years in the league.
Right now, it's a two-way street. No player wants to move, even if they want a better situation. Can't blame them, really: moving's a pain. Five of Vancouver's most expensive skaters and both goalies have full no-move clauses right now. That puts a lot of the power in their hands, should the team want to deal them. And Drew O'Connor has a modified no-trade clause.
However, both Conor Garland and Tyler Myers have trade protection, and they weren't impossible to move. And all of these deals were signed under very different circumstances (see Win For Quinn, above). They might not be hard to convince that the grass is greener on the other side of the mountains.
The most obvious name is Jake DeBrusk. His cap hit is a perfectly reasonable number for a 25-goal scorer you pull your hair out over. We know he wants to stay in the West, but he also doesn't want to be part of a rebuilding team. Utah wants to reach the playoffs ASAP, maybe a deal can be reached involving RFA centre Barrett Hayton. He had a solid season in 2024-25, but regressed last year. Maybe the team can be convinced to finally cut bait on him. He's 26 years old, so not exactly the young guy the Canucks want, but getting some centre depth behind perpetually-injured Filip Chyil wouldn't hurt.
Beyond that, Vancouver needs to make some decisions. Filip Hronek is the best way the team can get the classic 3-P return: a first-round draft pick, a current player, and a good prospect. But Hronek also has value as a mentor, and that carries weight. He's expressly said he doesn't want to go anywhere, which is great. But it's a double-edged blade: he's an excellent player in a high-value position, so any return will be very good. But the Canucks defence is going to be so dang young around him that his voice can be a huge difference for them as they mature. He will also likely be worth just as much a year from now or the 2028 trade deadline - unless he gets injured. What does management consider the riskiest move?
Whether the team wants to move Hronek immediately or not, they could certainly ask Marcus Pettersson the DeBrusk question: Is this what you signed on for? Another five years at $5.5 million is a steep price for a rebuilding team, but maybe not one that's a playoff regular looking for more.
Drew O'Connor had a phenomenal year, and Linus Karlsson finally broke into the league in a big way, but those two players' values might never be higher. They may bring in disproportionately large returns right now for teams that are looking to get some skill in the bottom ranks. And as much as I like Nils Höglander, if another team makes an offer, well...
I'm mentioning the price with each of these players because the Canucks ownership needs to be convinced to hold the line when things get a bit sparse. Interest IS going to go down with a losing team, future potential or no. Convincing them that the former cap masters can cruise very comfortably below that level can help gird their loins after two years of declining jersey sales. This doesn't mean they should yard sale the place, but picking and choosing who stays and who goes is a big deal.
Saving money on a higher cap hit than cash pay - like with Gallagher - can still appeal. It's better if they have some talent and want to be here, but beggars and choosers and all. Vancouver currently sits nearly $22 million below the salary cap with 21 players signed, about $5 million above the floor. The team has room to maneuver, if they wish. They'll probably have to carry three goaltenders, for all practical purposes, until Thatcher Demko shows he can play a year uninjured.
Bringing in a couple of guys of the type who can probably move at the deadline is the best choice, but they also need to make sure they have enough room for their kids to earn their place. And if the veterans get bumped, will that depress their value for future trades? It's a fine line, but also a selling point to potential free agents come mid-July. Come to Vancouver! Get a chance to play for a contract with someone else!
Fans of the team, rather than the players, should like what they see next year, even if it isn't often wins. Who knows? The prices may even come down enough to see the young guys live before they threaten glory.
I'm not all that interested in the physical results of the NHL draft combine. Sure, kids that age are going to grow a little bit between the end of their seasons and June 5th, but not THAT much. It's fun to compare, and maybe catch a name you aren't already familiar with, but otherwise? There might be the occasional story ("Sam Bennett couldn't do a single pull-up!"), but there's rarely any actual news.
I'm a little annoyed that Oscar Hemming has rocketed up the draft rankings when I was hoping the Canucks could grab him in the second round. I'm a little more annoyed that my favourite at three, Keaton Verhoff, is getting disrespected lately on those same lists. But again, I don't put a lot of stock in the NHL combine. Though did you hear that Vancouver was the only team Gavin McKenna had a dinner date with...? And Alexander Command is looking pretty great, huh? It would be so cool if they could land Mathis Preston!
Anyway.
It was interesting reading Thomas Drance's report, though. He talked to the potential picks who interviewed with the Canucks to see how they felt it went. I hadn't considered Jaxon Cover's history, but it is intriguing. Shades of Ed Jovanovski, joining organized hockey very late but being something of a prodigy. If he's good enough to be a potential first-round pick after just five years of league hockey, how good will he be with a few more under his belt?
More than that, though, was the universal description of the interview process. Not everyone they talked to has a chance of being anywhere the team will be picking - dreaming of Ryan Lin at 24, here - but there's always the chance of movement. I don't think they should bundle picks to move up, but there are other ways to change the order. They might drop down, or move veterans to build their prospect arsenal. In the teens is generally where you find teams wanting to improve sooner rather than later, so maybe an opportunity is there.
It's probably a better idea to see if they can bulk up their 2027 draft selections, if they manage to get another first-rounder. By all reports, it's going to be a very good year, but also not having all the best options being the exact same age wouldn't hurt. Players that reach the NHL can stay there a while; where they need room is breaking in. The fans have indicated they'll give the team time, no need to rush anyone.
But back to the interesting bit about the Canucks at the combine. Of the nine players Drance highlighted, all of them had some variant on the theme of chill. They were calm, easygoing interviews. You'll hear the players and teams give generic "Yeah, it was great" answers, so that isn't a surprise. The addition of "calm" or "relaxed" or "fun" to the descriptors was good to see.
It looks like AGMs Cammi Granato and Émilie Castonguay took the lead when GM Ryan Johnson flew back to Vancouver for the Manny Malhotra presser. By the sounds of it, and by the general feel around the week, the pressure is way down. They aren't asking these players if they think they can make the team this season. That's good. The fewer illusions management is carrying around with them, the better.
Picture getting interviewed by the manager of Forever 21, and they're talking about the company's bright future. That probably wouldn't impress you much, would it? We expect players to be head down and working hard at improving their game, but they're going to know what last year's standings were. Vancouver's lousy results might get them a few free agent signings, implying there is plenty of spots open. But no one wants to work for the delusional.
Speaking of which:
Allow me to add a personal note that AI continues to suck. How the hell does this thing pronounce "eyes"? Or "nicks" for that matter? Yeesh.
(It's NYZE. Lunatic frikkin' machine.)
Well, the inevitable happened: the Vancouver Canucks made a major announcement at an awkward time for media and fans. A bit surprising it wasn't another "Friday night after five" call, but the middle of Monday is bad enough. Don't tell me that's when you're at YOUR best, bucko.
The 2011 Reunion Tour continued apace, with the expected hiring of Manny Malhotra to work the Canucks bench. This comes a year after he was one of two finalists to take over for Rick Tocchet, losing the job to Adam Foote. That they've come back to Malhotra now tells you how well that went.
Malhotra joins Canucks alumni GM Ryan Johnson, Presidents of Hockey Operations Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin, and player development coach Mikael Samuelsson. Former Canucks defenceman Alexander Edler has been asked to join the team in player development at this year's training camp, so will likely be working with/for Samuelsson.
For an added kick, the team needs a new coaching staff for Abbotsford with Malhotra's promotion. Alexandre Burrows just happens to be quite well thought of as a future head coach. He worked the bench as an assistant with Laval and Montreal, recently moving into player development. Know a team that might be interested in player development? And in former 2011 Canucks Alums?
At a glance, it looks like a mediocre Happy Gilmore-produced Netflix special, where Adam Sandler has hires his buddies to vacation somewhere and they'll work out the plot as they go. Fortunately, the new management has more than a paycheque as motivation. They also have anger.
While Malhotra didn't leave the team on good terms, he came back because he wanted to. His eye injury left the Canucks with a hard decision to make, and then-GM Mike Gillis put him on injured reserve a month into his final contract year in 2012-13. Malhotra continued his playing career through sheer force of will before finally retiring in 2016. The Canucks hired him as a development coach almost immediately upon his announcement.
He's worked his way up the coaching ranks since then, being an assistant coach with Vancouver and Toronto before succeeding Jeremy Colliton as head coach in Abbotsford. We all know what happened then, winning the Calder Cup in his first year coaching the AHL team. And now, here he is as the big club's bench boss.
So when we say the new management is angry, we don't mean at the team itself. For the past decade, Johnson, Malhotra, and the Sedins have watched their former team fail, repeatedly and spectacularly. They've stumbled from panic to crisis to tire fire, with apparently little care for what made the team worth cheering for. PR disasters, personnel disasters, and management disasters bounced off each other like diseases in a hot tub.
They weren't pleased with what they saw. It was, frankly, embarrassing. And they decided to do something about it. The Sedins volunteered to return to the club in a typically low-key way. And now that they're in charge, they're bringing in others who not only remember the team they played for, but want to get that feeling back.
There is no one here who will brook fools lightly. Malhotra dragged his career back because he wasn't finished with it yet. Johnson played through 15 pro seasons and a ludicrous number of injuries, and despite peaking at 21 points in a full season, he kept finding work for a reason. And as for the Sedins, well, anyone who wants to pretend they were ever "soft" can keep thinking that right up until they break the 1300 NHL game mark.
So here's the thing: the team they're managing isn't looking to make the playoffs next year. That, paradoxically enough, means they don't need to tolerate someone who is disruptive, however they choose to interpret it.
Highest scorer on the team? Big deal! You didn't hurry back to the bench, so you're missing a couple shifts. Being a dick to teammates? Take the next game off, you won't be missed. Don't want to be part of the community service the team does? Maybe this isn't the place for you.
But they can also be more patient with players who are working hard, but don't have the experience to go with it yet. A defender who's missed his check might get a reminder, but shouldn't miss a shift if it's not a regular thing. A kid taking a bad penalty because he got emotional, well, it sucks, but that happens.
There's a saying that the NHL isn't a development league, and that's mostly true. Players shouldn't be in it without a basic toolkit they can fill elsewhere. But the Canucks are also starting from the bottom up. They can afford to be patient with young guys learning the league, especially when the entire team is pretty dang young.
Malhotra has coached a team that was frequently stripped for parts last year. A constant influx of new players rotating in only to have them bumped out of place by returning vets is a juggling act. Trying to find a place for prospects while encouraging veterans just added to the puzzle. One message he and Johnson gave their players was this: our job is to get you out of here.
That goal going to be different now, with longer-term players and no help coming from the parent club. You won't find guys who are "too good for the league" joining the team for a injury rehab. This is as good as it gets.
But the method is the same: it's guessing who has another gear and how to find it. Using the parts provided in the place they're most appropriate. Convincing someone who's always played one way that they'll last longer playing another. It's going to take patience, honesty, and clarity of vision at every level, from White Collars and Blue ones alike.
So, sure, the NHL isn't a development league. But for the next couple seasons, the Canucks - and Manny - are probably best served by pretending it is.
[Editing note: There HAS to be a better way to say that. Think of one later.]
Still no sign of Manny Malhotra reaching an agreement to coach the Vancouver Canucks, but Elliotte Friedman isn't worried. So, for now, we won't be either. There's a lot of other stuff to do before Draft Day, so it's not like the Sedins of Johnson are bored. I'll be generous and guess that the holdup is about who else Manny will be bringing onto his staff.
We're going to run down the folks on the ice - even if it was just part-time - and have a quick look-see at the free agents here. Some sort of decision needs to be made on them before the 2026-27 season starts, and we thought we'd help. By definition, these aren't in-depth looks, here. We have almost a month to go before the first deadline (trading for this year's picks), so expect a bit of filler between now and then, yeah? Let's go.
Trying to categorize free agents is always a bit odd. Different players have different applications, so blanket terms rarely apply comfortably. Fortunately, the NHL has done that for us, and it's too warm to take anything but the laziest of options.
I don't really expect Vancouver's unrestricted free agents to return. Curtis Douglas is a Group 6* free agent, and the players are pushing for him to get re-signed. He was an instant fan favourite as fighters tend to be, and Canucks fans are going to have little to cheer this season. He probably has the best odds of a new deal of any UFA NHL player from last season.
Guillaume Brisebois may get another one-year deal, but given his miserable luck with this squad, maybe he'll feel a little snakebit. Wouldn't blame him for looking elsewhere by now.
Outside of those two, it's tough to see where the advantage lies with either the team or the player trying again. Jiří Patera, far from re-establishing his prospect potential, has cemented himself as a capable AHL netminder. Vancouver's already got a log jam in goal at every level, and they'll need to decide what to do with Aleksei Medvedev soon.
Joseph Labate has provided some shelter for the prospects coming up through Abbotsford, which is great, but he's not someone who can keep up an NHL pace. Nice story for a draft pick coming home, but he's found his ceiling.
Defenceman Derek Forbort - remember him? - played two games for Vancouver before injuries kept him out for the year. Thanks for the effort, but we filled that spot. Evender Kane was tired and bored on the ice, whatever his behaviour off it was like. The universal embarrassment of his hitting 1,000 NHL games in a Canucks jersey says it all.
Teddy Blueger, as much as he's said he wants to return, probably can't find a proper fit in Vancouver. He earned his two-year, $1.8-million-per contract and was good value for it. But it's now a very different team with a very different goal. They need the space for younger players to fill in low in the lineup, and he's just not a top-six guy.
There's only one restricted free agent at the NHL level, and that's spare defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph. If Victor Mancini sticks around, I expect he'll take that role instead. Neither Jack Thompson nor Cole Clayton seems destined for a breakthrough, but they can both play on the right side. Having a few who can be called up in an emergency won't hurt the contract limit, but the NHL team probably hopes never to need them.
Moving to forward, there are some curious cases here. Chase Stillman is a very interesting guy, willing to engage with whoever is in his way. He's a "drag your team into the fight" type. He'll never be a scorer, but if your team needs a bulldog, he brings it.
Jaden Grubbe is almost the opposite of Stillman, thinking the game through and looking where he can make the most impact in the next five seconds. He looks to kill opponents' plays as much as make his own.
A great story for a sixth-round pick, Nils Åman is probably at the end of the line with Vancouver. He was a great free agent pickup, but he's also gone from 68 games with the Canucks in 2022-23 to 43 games to 19 to 2 last year.
As for Danila Klimovich, what can you say? He's fun to watch, as long as you don't care who scores next. After five seasons in the AHL, it's hard to see much in the way of progress. He still has his NHL-level shot, but that's not enough. Maybe another team thinks they can bring him out and believe in him enough to make an offer. But walking away is also an option.
*Group 6 free agent: over 24 years old; three or more years in a professional league with an NHL contract; fewer than 80 NHL games as a skater, fewer than 28 games over 30 minutes for goalies.
It’s only been two weeks since the Sedin twins and Ryan Johnson took the helm of the Canucks, and something’s changed - you just haven't heard about it, which is the point.
Ponder this: was anyone surprised at the announcement where Francesco Aquilini installed Henrik and Daniel as co-presidents and Johnson as GM? Heck no. The first gurglings of that move came a week and a half earlier, with professional hockey rumourmonger Eliotte Friedman being one of the first to state what eventually became fact.
For years, the Canucks have leaked what should be guarded secrets and internal-only communications at a colander-porous rate. Everybody and their pooch knew about the feud between Elias Pettersson (the forward who falls down a lot) and ever-toxic J. T. Miller, despite how many denials there were. The first media whisperings of the breakdown came to the forefront four-plus months, if not more, before Miller was shuffled out of town. Remember the utterly contemptuous mistreatment of Bruce Boudreau? The media reports suggesting the Canucks were talking to Rick Tocchet surfaced weeks before management finally made the switch. The whole thing stunk like a Granville Street back alley in mid-summer, and reflected poorly (but accurately) on the franchise.
In my former career as a media geek, I had sources and contacts. Good journalists foster those contacts. I basically got my start in the media business because hockey officials I knew well told me they were going to withdraw from games in protest over the fact nothing had been done after parents at an Atom hockey game locked a teenage referee in a dressing room. They didn't tell anyone else, so I published what became a national story before it actually happened. (Thirty-odd years later, not much has changed as far as official abuse goes.) Some of my best work came after people within an organization told me something I wasn't otherwise going to know. In that, I recognize a fundamental reality about rumours that later turn out to be factual: the information almost always comes from within the organization.
The relationship between a source and a journalist is usually symbiotic: both source and journalist benefit from the information becoming public. An example might be a municipal councillor whose constituents have been clamouring for a derelict house to be torn down quietly saying, “you normally take Thursdays off, but maybe you want to work Thursday morning…. By the way, when you come into work, do you take Main Street? Maybe you should.” Said journalist now can capture images of the demolition, and conduct at-the-moment-interviews of delighted neighbours watching as the excavators do their thing, and when all that is done, doesn't it make sense to call the councillor for Ward 3 for a few quotes?
But there’s a massive difference between the councillor for Ward 3 tipping a journalist to show up for the demolition of a derelict eyesore and someone feeding media the news that Rick Tocchet is in line for Bruce Boudreau’s job. How did the bungled Boudreau firing benefit anyone in the organization? If anything, that mess should have warned us the Jim Rutherford/Patrick Allvin duo were not going to be good for the franchise.
It’s important to strike a contrast between leaks. For example, trade rumours that eventually turn out to be true can, in some cases, have a benefit to the team doing the leaking. Consider the night Tyler Myers showed up for pre-game skate but didn’t play. It didn’t take long for news to hit the circuit that Myers might be traded, as turned out to be the fact. It was in some ways beneficial for either Myers, his agent, or the Canucks to have that accidentally-but-not information become public. Maybe it helped Myers find a more desired destination. Maybe the Canucks found a better trade deal.
Other leaks are more difficult to evaluate. It is known now the Vegas Golden Knights refused to give the Edmonton Oilers permission to speak to former Knights coach Bruce Cassidy. Nobody is going to believe that Edmonton was the source of the leak: it had to have been Vegas. But what did Vegas gain from it? Simple: they sowed chaos in Edmonton, forcing a rival hockey team in the same division to fire Kris Knoblauch, assume the remainder of a lengthy contract, and all the while look utterly stupid and unprofessional. There is a cost-benefit calculus here, because there is a risk that other teams will now consider Vegas to be untrustworthy, incapable of the kind of suitable secrecy that should take place when teams are engaged in discussions with each other. (Hold onto that thought, says the retired journalist, who will return to this point shortly.)
So not all leaks are bad: it depends on who benefits, and how. But if there’s no benefit …. there should be no leak. And that lands us splat-dab back at the Canucks.
With all of the above laid out, I can’t figure out any advantage or benefit gained to most of the leaks that have sprung from the Canucks the last five-odd years. Oh, sure, the “insiders” received lots of content, but tell me how the Vancouver Canucks as an organization benefited from having the sports media know that Miller and Pettersson were squabbling like two kids in elementary school?
I really respect Kevin Woodley as a media figure. The former webmaster for the Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League and frequent talk-show guest has said for a long time there are problems with the Canucks culture, and in so doing showed more courage than most. He has more recently stated the fire-hose of unfettered rumours and garbage coming from the team was a key part of the degrading culture. It was likely a key factor in the team being so poorly graded by NHL agents (as per an anonymous poll published by the Athletic last month.)
Asked to address this topic on one of the talk shows recently, Woodley used a phrase on one of the talk shows that struck me as insightful: “the call is coming from inside the house.” Does it not seem the rumour river stopped the moment former president Jim Rutherford was no longer part of the team?
In that Athletic story, agents said the Vancouver Canucks were a difficult management to deal with, and that communications were problematic. It's easy to see why, and it goes beyond the "do I speak to Allvin or Rutherford, because we all know who is in charge" conundrum of the previous regime. Ponder this – if you’re the general manager of another team interested in trading a key player, will you start conversations with Detroit, which is known as a black hole for communications because they’re essentially so damn tight that not a whisper squeaks through, or risk a discussion with Vancouver knowing that doing so will result in your player learning he's on the trade block from a sports pundit who was given an inside secret and is now blathering said secret to the masses? I can't help but think the piss-poor information control exhibited by Vancouver has been a key part of the difficulties in trading for meaningful assets or securing free agents. It is certain that players and agents are well aware Vancouver has for a long time been a broken organization with a constant churning river of rumours and toxic sludge.
You can’t be respected unless you act like you should be, and the Canucks have not acted like they want to be respected. I’ll relate it to my current job as a building official: if I show up unannounced on a construction site and see everyone in safety gear, with floors swept, plans readily available in a defined location, and a site supervisor who can answer all my questions, I’m likely going to have far more confidence than if I arrive for a scheduled inspection to find the place in total shambles, with nobody in charge, and the drywall crew hotboxing the plans room.
I'll let the dear reader (if there are any) figure out which of the above two situations the Canucks most resembled the last five years, and I suspect the answer carries a certain Pepe Le Pew odour.
Five days after the change in leadership, the new trio in charge of the Vancouver Canucks surprised the hockey world by axing woefully incompetent coach Adam Foote, as well as all of the support staff (except for, interestingly, goaltender coach Marko Torenius). It's not that announcement was unexpected in and of itself, the collective hockey media just had no clue it would happen when it did. This is one of those instances where a subtle shift in the English language carries a world of meaning.
The difference here is not the negation, but the preposition. As a consumer of way too many hockey podcasts while I drive from construction site to construction site on the taxpayer dime, I can assure you the hockey pundits were caught off guard by the announcement Foote had been relieved of duties. Not a one had a clue.
Likewise, there hasn’t been a single whisper – not one – about the search for a replacement coach. Sure, everybody and their pooch is speculating that Manny Malhotra will be promoted from the baby ‘nucks to the big club. But even the professional rumourmongers are speculating. In absence of any real intelligence, the poor sports jocks at Sportsnet 650 are left regurgitating the concerns they don't know what's going on. The angst is palpable. (Are there interviews? Are they negotiating? Why haven't they scheduled a press conference? Who will the assistants be? Will they wait for the draft to ensure there aren't two Malhotras on the team? Next up, a special segment with special guest Don Taylor, who will spend 20 minutes telling us he has also heard nothing. Then we'll discuss if the nothing means something, and if so, what that something is.)
Well, wait a second here. Why should we know about the deliberations on the next hiring? Is it not better – for the franchise, not the sports jocks – if we don’t know a damn thing?
The Sedins and Johnson will ultimately be judged on a far greater body of work, but as the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Two weeks into their new gig, the Sedin/Johnson triumvirate seem to have stopped leaks that crippled this organization’s reputation. It almost makes me believe the new management might be running the hockey team in a manner one would expect of a professionally run, multimillion-dollar business.
Vern Faulkner is a former journalist, photographer and editor, whose works appeared eons ago in various things the oldsters call "newspapers" and "magazines." (He also assumed responsibility for the Peninsula Panthers website after Woodley got a gig with Associated Press.) While he now resides in New Brunswick, Faulkner retains sufficient connections to the Wet Coast to correctly use the term "hotbox" in context, while intentionally mis-spelling West Coast in a tagline for humour.
The Vancouver Canucks didn't win first overall, as you may have heard. They didn't even finish second, with two teams taking their place on the board ahead of them. But what they have is still very, very interesting. We have a month to go, and a lot of screen space to fill between now and then. Fortunately, this is the Canucks we're talking about. We never know when this team will set its own hair on fire.
Here's our best guess at what they're thinking, and how they should be thinking, about this year's draft class.
Marshmallows at the ready.
The talk around this season's draft has been how weak it is. Gavin McKenna has been a runaway favourite for the past five years, but otherwise, 2026 lacked star power. No one's projected to be a regular 40-goal scorer or an All-Star defender. Goaltending is pretty much its own category, teams knowing they should draft one without knowing when. As the saying goes, Once Bitten, Once More Bitten.
If there's a single maxim that teams, scouts, and fans repeat to themselves and each other, it's this: Best Player Available. Nothing else matters. If the best player available happens to be in the position your team is strongest, well, that's irritating, but not fatal. Even teams built through the draft usually have just a handful of their own picks on them. The rest have been acquired through free agent signings or trades, and you can only make trades if you have something worth trading.
But it's not a maxim that sticks through every round. By the time the picks reach triple digits, anyone making it is an extreme long shot anyhow. Why not take three left-side defencemen, just to see who gets through? Look for the kids with a single NHL-possible trait, and see if the rest comes along with time and training.
The risk in a modest draft year is that some positions suddenly look better than they are. Rarity brings value, earned or not. You can probably see where we're going with this.
Caleb Malhotra looks like a solid, NHL-bound player. Every report about his character is exemplary. The work he's put in has shown on the ice, and his draft position has skyrocketed this season. And if either Ivar Stenberg or Gavin McKenna is available, the Canucks shouldn't draft him.
I want to be absolutely clear on this: scouts love Malhotra, and he justifies the affection. If he does get drafted by Vancouver, there's going to be a lot of thinkpieces referencing Bo Horvat. Horvat is an excellent second-line centre and a low-end first-line one. Is that what you spend the third overall pick on? If a team is picking Malhotra because he is the best centre available - a debated argument - then you're picking for position, not best player available.
In a draft year very strong in centres, Horvat was the fifth one chosen. Picking a different position because you are chock-full of centres is how you get Seth Jones, Rasmus Ristolainen, or Darnell Nurse instead. Perfectly good defencemen, but I'd rather have the fifth-highest rated centre that year.
Similarly, Malhotra could very well be the best centre from 2026. And there could be a half-dozen defencemen you'd rather have instead.
Here's the thing: if the team is absolutely set on getting Malhotra, I won't cry too much about it. It looks like he's going to be a fine player, and I look forward to him being in the league. That goes double if he's in a Canucks jersey. But if they pass over Stenberg to draft him, we're going to have words.
Now, the odds are against that possibility, as it looks like there is a definite tier separating the two. But, as we've all seen, drafts don't always go as scripted. San Jose doesn't strictly need another forward, and maybe they're happy to drift back a little to take their chances while picking up some extra talent. But a team moving up to second overall isn't likely doing it for Malhotra. They should be going after Stenberg, leaving Vancouver in the same position if San Jose doesn't move.
Maybe whoever's in that second slot is convinced Chase Reid is their guy. Beautiful! Stenberg, it is, thanks for coming, we'll see you in another twenty picks or so. And if there's a team that is certain Reid (or whomever) is their One and Only, then pick up the phone. I'm perfectly happy to drop a half-dozen spots for a first-rounder next year, even if it's top-10 protected. There are a lot of defenders I like this year, and I'd be perfectly happy to get any of a half-dozen of them. If all of them happen to get taken, well, okay, I guess we'll have to make do with Malhotra after all. Plus the extra draft capital in 2027.
Yes, I like Liam Ruck and his twin, Markus Ruck. They're a fine story, and twins obviously have resonance in Vancouver. I also think 24th is probably too high to draft either of them, especially with nine spots to go between picks. Unless someone pulls off the Brian Burke back-to-back picks, can you imagine how many teams are going to call after the first brother goes?
Yes, any other team that drafts Markus will be the Villain of the Day, and the media will talk of little else but potential trades for the rest of their careers. But why would you expect them not to draft someone on their board? Kindness? It hurts to say, but if any team manages to pull off getting them together, it'll be Calgary. They have two first-round picks and four in the second, so if they really want to move up, they have the ammo to do so.
Awesome though it would be to start the Sedin's presidential tenure by drafting twins, they can't afford to spend future assets to do so. Unless they're really, REALLY sure about them being NHL players. Then yeah, give us the storyline, baby!
What would we get if I got what I wanted? The absolutely perfect first two rounds? I mean, the scenarios listed would be pretty great, but you can't simply assume teams will be fools. I'd love to see either of the top two fall into Vancouver's lap, but that's probably not going to happen.
I'd like to drop down and pick up a 2027 pick and, say, Keaton Verhoff. Then, there has been a fair bit of movement - usually with players coming up with little mention of those falling. In my dream world, Ryan Lin continues to move down the boards (sorry, Ryan!) until the Canucks can take him. If not, there is a small pile of centres around 24th that are worth consideration - Alexander Command, Maddox Dagenais, Yegor Shilov. It gets a bit blurry quickly this year.
Past that? Getting the Ruck twins would be hilarious. But if not, I'm all for getting defenceman Ben Macbeath with the 41st pick. Sure, he has talent, but the real reason is that I'm a total theatre nerd and I'm trying to picture the broadcasters not saying his name in the arena.
"That guy doesn't deserve to wear the crest."
-One of the Sedins, according to Rachel Kryshak, when she appeared on Sekeres & Price earlier today
Now, Ms. Kryshak deliberately didn't say which Sedin it was, but does that distinction matter? It's not just splitting hairs; it's arguing the difference between orange juice and the juice you get from oranges.
If we're talking about coaches, why am I bringing up the twins being annoyed about a current player? Because of some criticism the team has received about hiring them. Specifically, the belief that hiring someone already close to the team doesn't change enough of the management level of the team. It's not a bad criticism, frankly. The team still needs to flesh out the administration and will bring in "outside people" anyway, so it's not as bad as people think.
But the biggest advantage that the trio of Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Ryan Johnson bring is pride. They don't WANT the team to be a comfort zone for aging players. They don't want people with weak character anywhere near their room. And now they are empowered to do something about it. Whatever frustration, irritation, or even anger they've felt about their team, they can now act on.
Just imagine how satisfying that must be. Ask anyone in Vancouver what they would do if they were running the Canucks, and odds are you'll get an answer. Or six, depending on how long they've been a fan.
Can we just cut to the chase and stick Manny Malhotra behind the bench, already? No? Okay, he could say no to the offer and see who else is interested out there. Despite the season Abbotsford had last year, he's still highly thought of around the league. He probably wouldn't be interested in taking an NHL assistant's job again. Doing that twice starts managers thinking of you as a perpetual assistant, not a head coach.
If he doesn't outright refuse the job, he's a solid bet to be there next season. It was hilarious hearing Johnson say they haven't hired Malhotra, but if you want to know what they're looking for in a coach, it's Malhotra. They aren't even calling it a "search" but a "process" to find their next coach.
The coach - whoever it is, wink wink - will need to work well with young players. Development of players, wherever they've been drafted, is arguably the most important factor in returning to relevance. Everyone needs to be coached, the young players the most. So, a coach who has worked with players trying to break into the league, who has given them a chance to find their game, would be best.
They're also going to need the patience of Job. Young players make mistakes, and this team won't have the talent to cover up for them. Yes, there will be some veterans, but that's not the point of having a young team. The coach needs to be ready to put those players back on the ice. Too many mistakes and it could mean a scratch later, but that's a conversation for after the game.
Speaking of mistakes: one of the maxims now-former coach Adam Foote liked was not compounding mistakes. If you make a mistake on a play, fine, those happen. But you'd better do the right thing next. That's the right idea, but too often the players would make a mistake, then not know what the "right thing next" was.
The systems the next coach brings will have to be communicated clearly and cleanly, so those skills are vital. They should be quickly explained to newcomers who are, say, filling in for players who have suddenly left the team.
And finally, it wouldn't hurt if the coach they bring in has experience with the city. They don't need playing experience specifically, but some idea of what happens in a town of two million coach/GMs. Now, if he does just happen to have a thousand NHL games under his belt, building a 16-year career despite a severe injury, and has seen the best and worst in the league? That's probably a mark in his favour, too. And if other players described him as a general on the ice, directing players when he was out there, that's not bad, either.
Folks, it's Manny. Just hire him already. There's a LOT more to do this offseason, even after the draft. Get this easy one out of the way and move on to the rest while you're on a roll.
"Foote gets the boot as the Canucks take a step forward."
- Petrishriekandgo on Bluesky
RJ made his first 'tough call' today by firing Adam Foote. We knew that he knew that it had to happen as there was no point keeping the Traitor Hughes pick for coach behind the bench. Foote wasn't the sole reason Nucks stinky season stank like month-old hockey socks, however he did Footey his way to successful tank commander. We tank him for his excruciating-to-watch 82 games of service. Also the associate tank drivers, Scott Young, Kevin Dean and Brett McLean have been relieved of service.
Foote was tripped up early in the season by the Faeries who kicked the Canucks square in the Nucks. By December with what's-his-name getting traded, there was no way the team could be retreaded in time for a playoff run, despite Foote giving Kane prime minutes all the freaking time. We're not putting our Foote down. That was Ryan's job.
Despite being 'right there' game after game, Foote's overarching strategy was to overplay the vets - especially Kane - at the expense of the youngins. Kane got the most 5v5 minutes - even after the basement rent had been paid. Karlsson, Nucks best 5v5 player, was ranked 17th for TOI. As a rookie NHL coach, Foote heeled it. And the rookies paid for it.
Flat-Footed Defense System
So obtuse and incomprehensible were the Footenotes, no amount of Footesplaining could convey the D-process to fans and worse to pro hockey players. Nucks PK finished last in the NHL at 71.5% — the second-worst penalty killing percentage in franchise history and the tenth-worst in the NHL ever. D-zone got off on the wrong Foote and couldn't step up until late in the season. After the team purged some more toxins from the locker room, Canucks exchanged the fancy Footework for better self-coached defense.
Adam's Footeprint will linger on with us whenever the Nucks pull the goalie late in the 3rd and give up a Footey. Or two.
Here's how secure Nucks coaching position has been since 2021:
Now going for the 5th coach in 5 years. In reality only the 2nd or 3rd. Bruce replaced Green, but JR couldn't abide the guy who scored his 1st NHL goal on him - so hired TraitorToc who went off the rails to Philly, getting a Foote in the door.
For a couple more years, Franny has to Foote the bill for another couch coach. Good thing Franny doesn't know how many unpaid couch coaches NM employs deploys. Doesn't matter.
What matters is...
THE NEXT COACH
Will it be Manny Malhotra or Torts or Berube or Bruce - our Bruce or the other Bruce no one can talk to or Manny Malhotra?
As RJ said to day: “It’s hard to be ignorant of an internal candidate that we obviously have, so I’m not going to deflect that Manny has shown his ability to develop young players, to build a connection, and obviously win a championship with a very young group... I won’t be ignorant to the fact that I am going to speak with him, sit down with him, and talk about the future.”
Canucks new braintrust will cast the coach net wide and then select... Manny.
While we're not hoping Foote feels defeeted, even if we were month after month, he proved to be a terrible coach for young player development and old fan engagement. That game is no longer aFoote.
Not to sound too greedy, but I want more.
Don't get me wrong, now. I liked a whole lot of what was said at last week's presser. The owner said "rebuild" out loud; the general manager talked about growing capable players within the system; the president(s) said the fastest way to build is to take it slow. All of that was stuff I wanted to hear. Add to that the awareness of a growing disconnect between the team and the fans and plans to remedy it, and I can say everyone hit this out of the park.
Just in saying this stuff, they've earned some grace. They're all new at the job, and we know there are going to be mistakes along the way. That happens. But if they can keep their focus, at least those mistakes won't be of the 'shortcut' variety we've been plagued with for 15 seasons.
So, that all was great and congratulations and all that. Now for more.
In more or less chronological order, we present our list of demands.
I think this is going to have to start with the coach. I do think Adam Foote was shafted partway through the season because his job description changed so dramatically. The expectation was that he would get the team to the playoffs, and in such a way that Quinn Hughes would agree to a long-term extension. It was a terrible idea, as Hughes had little intention of returning, according to Jim Rutherford.
Still, Foote put into place a system that relied on defensive breakouts, puck possession in the attacking zone, and risking counterattacks for goals. That got the defence involved - Vancouver's strength, way back when - and made Hughes the centre of the system. It, ah... It didn't work. It's tough to say if the players couldn't execute because there was a lack of communication or comprehension, but it was one of them. The team was awful in their own end, seeming to lack any understanding of who should be where or which player covers whom.
It did improve somewhat after the Hughes trade and after the team accepted their fate, but not by much. Foote tried for a more conservative approach, and all that did was limit scoring chances. The Canucks still ended the year as the worst team in the league by a mile. Maybe he'll do better with another shot, but I'm not all that eager to see it. Thank him for his work and move on.
Everyone wants to know about a practice rink, and the instant the question was asked, Henrik fielded it. If you need to hear about the advantages of having these two as co-presidents, there it is. If Daniel can work on the interior issues while Henrik does external ones, that's a sale to me. No one's going to doubt their ability to communicate with each other, after all.
But we also want to see what shape "being proud to be a Canucks fan" will take. They already have good programs going, though attention to them has faded slightly. More of a push for amateur hockey, perhaps? It'll be interesting to see what comes up.
There's a lot of speculation about who Vancouver should take at three. That's going to depend entirely on who's available, as far as I'm concerned. If either Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg is still there, it's a no-brainer. Grab 'em and run. If not, then there are still plenty of fine choices...and most of them are defencemen.
The calls for Caleb Malhotra haven't diminished with the phenomenal playoff run he's had. But he is still most likely going to peak at a middle-six centre. A very good one, a bit in the Bo Horvat mould, but is that who you spend a third-overall pick on? Grab one of a handful of defencemen who project to be top-pair - I like Keaton Verhoff, but there are plenty of others - and plan your next move. Or if a team makes a big offer, maybe drop a few spots and get one there.
A LOAD of centres are appearing at the top of 2027's draft, and waiting an extra year for one won't hurt. And no, I'm not concerned about Manny Malhotra - if that's the coach they go with - will be coaching his son. I think talk of it being an issue is overblown. These aren't teenagers out there.
Speaking of the next move, I'd be delighted if the team took the Ruck twins with their two second-round picks. That's about the right amount of risk for them, I think. If another team wants to use a first on Liam, let them. There are other players to take bigger swings on.
Oh, and one more thing: NONE OF THIS YEAR'S PICKS IN THE NHL, THANKS!
There's actually a hidden benefit of getting three players in return for Hughes that's going unmentioned. With a team in disarray - and it most certainly was - they weren't in it alone. They all knew each other before getting dropped into the mess, so they didn't get isolated. Every workplace has cliques, and going to a new place can make people a bit tentative, especially if you're as young as these guys.
Obviously, you want players to like each other, or at least respect each other. Part of that will include the work events done outside the rink, but making absolutely clear that the only players staying are the ones who want to is vital. If this is just a paycheque, let us know, and we'll get you somewhere else. Likewise, anyone not interested in being part of a rebuild, with all that entails. Who will stay and who will go has to include that consideration.
About the elephant: I think the team should keep Elias Pettersson the Forward. Yeah, there's an entire article of its own in that, but the long and short of it is that the team will not be able to replace his talent. Losing him for nothing, which is what it will be if there's a trade without retention, is an incredible waste. Cap space isn't all that relevant over the next few years, even if the team can convince someone to sell them a bad contract. The Canucks have approximately $21 million in cap space for next season, and that's with 22 "active players" signed.
I think Brock Boeser is a keeper, too, at least for now. I can't think of a calmer, more laid-back player to have in the room who can also score you 30 goals. Right now, both of those are a pretty big deal. Filip Hronek has been taking a lead role out on the ice as well, and that is valuable. I'd like to see him start splitting time on the first power play point with Zeev Buium as he grows into his game. Hronek's going to have value for years.
If we accept that the team is in a transition period, then players need to be looked at holistically. None of them needs to stay for the entire length of their deals, but this year? Let's ease into this thing. If a team makes an offer for one of these vets that you can't say no to, don't say no. But maybe shop them next year instead of this one.
We'll talk more about it later, because we have a lot of time between now and October. Basically, what I don't want to see is the team become a dumping ground, à la the Chicago Blackhawks. I don't want to see a bunch of 30-point, 30-something forwards out there for the next five seasons. I want to see the young guys getting their shot, being allowed to make mistakes, and sometimes not making it. I want to see coaches interested in developing players into a coherent team. I want to see the players happy to go out in the city and take part in what's here.
I don't want to love this team despite what they give us. I actually want to like them, too. It's been a while. Let's get that back.
