The Vancouver Canucks are going to open the season at home against a tired Calgary Flames team. Not saying it's a "must win", but other teams' travel is one of the few advantages being coastally-based gives. So they better.
But in among the expectations for the coming season, something is always going to surprise. What is it that will make fans and players alike blink twice at the stats pages by the time all the hardware is handed out? I pestered a couple of my bitter rivals coworkers for answers.
Yeah, I'm gaming it because I'm the one writing it up. I'll put them in what I think is least to most shocking if it happens. We're not going to bother with the impossible - "Fans convince the Aquilinis to sell!" - but any of these would be a surprise.
Did I mention I cheated? Because I asked his opinion last week, well before the mini-clinic Braeden Cootes and Jonathan Lekkerimäki put on against Edmonton. The kids showed they belonged, even if one's 18 years old, and even if it's briefly.
The magic of ten games is that's when his entry level contract burns a year, so is looked on as a hard line for NHL teams. I don't know how important that is anymore, though. A bigger line to me is when he's no longer considered a rookie going into next year, a 25-game limit.
The other barrier to his being sent down is that he can't go to the AHL, but would have to return to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL. That's a huge jump, so even if it's close the Canucks might be reluctant to send him back. It's worth talking about.
Off the deep end quick, then. This season is going to be an interesting watch for a lot of reasons, not least of which is whatever system rookie coach Adam Foote puts in place. He consulted - a LOT - with his players over the Summer, and that had to include asking them what they wanted to see.
It looks like they're pressing for offence, led by the blue line. Not a bad decision, given where the talent lies, but it's risky. Demko and Lankinen are good at breakaways, but there's only so many a team wants to give up. If it doesn't work quickly, Foote might change his mind back to a tight, controlled game.
For the record, Vancouver had no wins with a 5-goal gap last year.
This one's going to be really tough. It means either the second wild card was handed a gimmie at around 90 points compared to Vancouver's 100-ish, or that the Canucks finished the year with 105+. Not impossible, but the weaker teams in the West have stocked up a bit, and we probably won't see the level of underperformance that we did last season.
The obvious choice here is Elias Pettersson returning to form. No one else on the team is really "that kind of guy" to suddenly produce at a triple-digit pace. If Foote's system works as intended, then more players will have a chance at more points, but that'll be spread out.
If Pettersson makes it to 100 points, then everything is going perfectly. Things can still go just fine and he'll finish the year at 80-85 instead, and that's far more likely.
Okay, this is more in the "boy, I hope not" category than the "what a shock" one. It's a condensed schedule with an Olympic break, and we all know what Thatcher Demko's injury history is. If he's playing this much, it means Lankinen has been injured, Nikita Tolopilo tanked, and the race is close in February. Oof.
I'm going way out of the box with this one, but mostly because I want more people to notice Kirill Kudryavtsev. He is... disturbingly stable out there, and not just on his skates.
Have you ever heard of the 2003 movie The Cooler? William H. Macy plays a guy who is employed by a casino because whenever he's at a table, whoever else is there has a streak of bad luck. He doesn't win, but that's not why he gets a salary. He makes sure other people lose.
That's Kudryavtsev. When he's on the ice, nothing happens. Shots for, shots against, chances anywhere just dry up. It's kind of hilarious, but also a really underrated skill, especially for a sub-six-footer.
Now, for him to come to Vancouver, a lot of dominos would have to fall. With Jett Woo and Guillaume Brisebois both out long-term, Abbotsford need a stable top pair. That's probably going to be Tom Willander and recently-recalled Victor Mancini.
For Kudryavtsev to get the call, they have to need a stable player, not the swashbuckling style of those two. I'm anticipating a trade from Vancouver's blue line fairly early in the year, moving him up in the depth chart. And once he's here, I think the coaching staff will want him to stay.
So, what do you think? Too wild? Not wild enough? Let us know!
I hate this. I mistrust productive preseasons and don't care for kids being dropped into the NHL in their draft years. Vancouver's previous first-round draft picks likely won't make the team this year. This year's pick just happened to be exactly what the Canucks need, positionally speaking, which brings the Devil's Candy to mind. Desperation makes it easy to overlook flaws.
So what's going on with Braeden Cootes?
Braeden Cootes has earned his spot; let's not pretend otherwise, here. He's had some protected time on the ice in his three games so far, which is reasonable for an 18-year-old. But you can't protect a player when you're on the road and have few other options. It was a typical pre-season road game with just a few NHL veterans as the home team dressed two of the best in the world.
His line in Edmonton was with Kiefer Sherwood and Drew O'Connor. If you saw that during the season, it would be a fourth line. Here, it was their second most frequent combination. Cootes himself pulled almost 17 minutes in the 3-4 loss, a two-minute increase over his previous two games. The key may be why other players haven't managed to stick: he's not playing scared.
His second goal of the preseason was a lucky bounce off a defender, but his first was a lucky bounce off him. Is that better or worse? Answer: they all count. Cootes is getting wither the puck or himself into the right spots to score, and that's not even his best feature. Seeing him step right up to angle Leon Draisaitl away from the net, or going to the boards to fight for the puck is a delight.
It's not completely fair to use a first-round pick as a comparison to players who were drafted much later, or even not at all. But where Cootes is now is so much farther along than where Danila Klimovich or Nils Åman or Arshdeep Bains were in their first training camps. He isn't bothering to think about not making mistakes because he's doing what he needs to do.
That AHL championship win has helped so many of Vancouver's prospects, no doubt. There is a lot of pressure coming up the ranks right now, and that's fantastic to see. The confidence that Bains, Linus Karlsson, and Max Sasson played with last game is what they needed. Any of them could start with the NHL club this season, with Bains probably having an edge there.
Cootes didn't need that. His Seattle Thunderbirds have not been good, with several veterans graduating in his second year. That's the same year he was named captain of the team as a 17-year-old. That in itself speaks volumes about what he's bringing alongside his skills. His skill set gives him a subtle advantage over, say, Jonathan Lekkerimäki. He's ten pounds heavier, and what he does with it matters.
Braeden Cootes has been put on a simple regimen. Play well enough in this game, get to play in the next one. That's fine for the preseason and all, but when the season starts, the consequences of not being able to keep up are far higher. The pressure that Vancouver has put upon itself to not just make the playoffs this year but to "show promise" for the future is through the roof.
Can they afford to have a player who hasn't played a single professional game on the team? It's a tougher call than you might think.
On one hand, there is a lot of depth in that bottom six right now. The Canucks have loads of players who can fill those spaces, many of whom have NHL experience. It could easily be argued that they are better than Cootes right now - or will be better by season's start. But will they be better in two or three months?
As we've said before, Cootes can start on a fourth line. He has appropriate skills for the position. If the team wants him to ba a "two-way player" then there's little harm in it. He'll not only play against the best in the world, he'll also practice with them and be coached by them. Even if he only plays ten or twelve minutes a night, everything around him being at this level is still there.
Now, the tough part is accepting that if he is used this way, he might only get 20 points or so in his first year. In this season, that just might be how he helps the team the most. If he has low point totals _and_ he's a healthy scratch, they can still send him down to Seattle at any time. This ain't a mysterious yellow wood, here. We can switch trails whenever we want.
On the other hand, Cootes is looked upon as the leader of a rebuilding Thunderbirds squad. He could absolutely gain experience as The Man relied on to score every night. In the WHL he'll be relied on to do everything for his team, including being a physical presence. He could get twice the ice time in Seattle that he would in Vancouver.
But if he did that, it would be against WHL players on a WHL team. His top priority wouldn't be learning how to angle Leon Draisaitl away from the net, that's for sure. It would be to rack up points for a team that's probably going to have difficulty scoring, and let the rest sort itself.
This is why sports is the ultimate Reality TV. Any plan the team comes up with might work, but we're not going to know until it resolves.
"We need to convince Hughes to stay with Vancouver!" Yeah, okay. I'll do this quickly.
As amazing as his vision, his skating, and his passing are, Quinn Hughes' single best feature is his brain. He thinks the game incredibly well, which is what was so disturbing last season. Watching him realize the best play he had was shooting from the point because of his disfunctional forwards was just ugly.
The best way to keep Quinn Hughes in Vancouver is not treating him like an idiot.
Want to make a trade to improve the team this season? He's perfectly aware of what you're giving up to do it. Losing draft picks is one thing; losing players, another. If you're bringing in a UFA at the expense of a potential future scorer, you better be ready to re-sign him. And they had better contribute. Don't rush a bad deal and think he'll be happy about it.
The Vancouver Canucks have a lot riding on this season, but when haven't they? There is a unique aspect to a yo-yo team, expected to get good results but stumbling instead. Improving by 26 points, then falling by 19 the next season, is one hell of an impact. It leaves psychic damage. That kind of thing makes a fan want to curl up with a book and a bottle and stare at the fireplace instead of cheer.
Screw that! The season's kicking off October 9th, pre-season literally next Sunday. Find a feed, subscribe to a network, switch on the radio and LET'S GO!
After a year of compounding disasters, things just have to get better, right? Sure. Probably. A disturbing amount of this game is luck-dependent, and teams mitigate against it as best they can. Using the resources you have in the best way possible, preparing but not over-preparing, and managing workloads and workouts. All that's part of it, split between the players, coaches, and management.
That all being said, for all we know, fans clutching their lucky charms and lighting incense at their Trevor Linden shrine might make all the difference. But what should they ask for? We're here to help! In descending order of likelihood, five distinct wishes for the 2025-26 season.
Vancouver's (Eleven-point-)Six Million Dollar Man* is back in town. There is a lot of concern about how his scoring didn't just drop, but plummet. Sure, injuries played their part, but his goal scoring and his point production were half his career average. And they weren't all that great through the last quarter of 2023-24, either.
It's not like he abandoned the team, though. He was still defensively responsible, with him, Brock Boeser, and Jake DeBrusk putting up a modest expected goals against per 60 minutes. But that isn't really what Elias Pettersson is on the team for, is it? He was on the ice, and his numbers were fine for a second-line centre - touch of irony there. But Vancouver needs more.
They'll get it, too. Yes, there are plenty of jokes about him putting on 6 kg because he got married. I did much the same, with a far less modest 15 kg in one year. Did you know that when you get married, sometimes your spouse likes having food around? Like, ALL THE TIME and not just once a week? Weird.
Anyway, the odds of Pettersson suddenly turning fat are zero. Zip. None. He's going to be 27 years old this season, and he was embarrassed by last year's results. He has something to prove, and I, for one, would be uninterested in standing in his way. I think his drop in play was mental. Again, some injury bumps and bruises are part of the game, but that doesn't explain the lack of aggression that killed his numbers.
I think his mind is in the right place now, and it will show early and often. The trick is finding who will work best with him.
Odds: 9/10
The last time Evander Kane was in his contract season, he scored 22 goals and 49 points in 56 games. The time before, he impressed San Jose with nine goals and 14 points in just 17 games, to go with 25 minutes in penalties. Before that? His second contract was signed on the back of a 30-goal, 57-point season. The other years are a bit of a mixed bag.
He is well-known for antics not only on the ice but in the dressing room. That's not great. Bringing in a player famous for discipline problems is an odd choice for a high-stakes season. But his lack of headlines in recent years has eased some of those fears. Troubles off the ice include assault accusations from sexual partners, a very complicated relationship with his former wife, and a gambling addiction while with the Sharks.
These all seem to be in the past now, as his time in Edmonton was relatively calm. Clearly, Canucks management is hoping that streak continues with his hometown team. And, of course, he has another end-of-contract season. He doesn't need to hit 50 goals or anything, but 25 with his usual truculence on the ice and a lack of drama off it would be a win.
Uh, no one tell him I said this, okay?
Odds: 8/10
The odds of this one coming true are improved just because there are so dang many of them. There aren't a huge number of spaces available to the promotable rank-and-file, but there are some. There still may be a trade or a free agent signing between now and training camp, but if not? It's not unreasonable to say there are two or three spaces among the forwards and one regular spot on the defence.
Since we last looked at the offence, Dakota Joshua was moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That opened up a space on the wing, where Vancouver has a decent amount of talent. They want talent down the centre, but right now we'll take what we can get. I don't think we're too far off in pencilling in Aatu Räty at 3C and leaving Teddy Blueger behind him to anchor the fourth.
If Räty is one young gun, Nils Åman, Linus Karlsson, Arshdeep Bains, and Max Sasson are looking to make their mark, too. Each of these guys has advantages, but they're young-ish, not young. For a young guy up front, it's Jonathan Lekkerimaki. However, he's not a player to start on the fourth line to work his way up. If he's not in the top six, then let him cook in the minors a bit longer.
The defence, on the other hand, has options. We can confidently pencil Elias Pettersson in to start the year. Beyond him, Tom Willander has made it clear he wants to be in the NHL now, not later. That's going to be a tough call, and if he makes it, it'll more likely be as a mid-season replacement. He's had a good showing in Boston and internationally, but didn't really build on the previous year.
But there's also (more than one young prospect! Amazing!) Victor Mancini. Mancini showed well in his NHL tryout last year, split between the Rangers and Vancouver. He's got very good size, though he's not much of a hitter. He skates well enough to get his mass into position and get the puck up when he has it. Like Willander, he will probably start in the AHL with expectations of dominance, possibly lining up with Jett Woo in the top pair.
If two of these guys can break through as solid, contributing regulars on the squad, then the team gets all that much deeper.
Odds: 7/10
Okay, yes, we're going to mention injuries a few times in this list. For good reason, too: the team's most important players each missed a dozen games or more. Thatcher Demko has played more than 50 games in a season twice and was brilliant in both of them. The rest of the time? He didn't play 50 games because he couldn't play 50 games.
In an ideal world, one in which GM Patrik Allvin has signed the team on to, Demko splits his time with Kevin Lankinen. Lankinen doesn't get overworked and let any sloppiness get into his game; Demko doesn't overstress any of his, well, anything. Lankinen is a perfectly good 1B, though a better heavy-use backup.
There are a couple guys in Abbotsford who should be able to step in if needed between Nikita Tolopilo and Jiri Patera. Ty Young might get a look or two, but if so, it better be because he's blowing people's doors off in Abby.
Bottom line is that when Demko is on his game, he's a top-five goaltender. That would be real nice to have available come the playoffs.
Odds: 6/10
Okay, hear me out. I know the team was second last in the entire league last year for shots on net. Their 24.5 per game was still one full shot more than the Chicago Blackhawks managed, and they finished... Ah, right. Let's not use them as an example.
Unlike the Blackhawks, the Canucks were also very good at limiting shots against last season, finishing seventh in the league. That level of discipline isn't likely to vanish, especially with the transition from Rick Tocchet to Adam Foote behind the bench. Foote played his entire NHL career as a defensive specialist and was responsible for the defence under Tocchet.
That being said...
He has the talent here to push the game up. No offence to Derek Forbort or Pierre-Olivier Joseph, but there's no offence to Derek Forbort or Pierre-Olivier Joseph. But the top two pairs on this club are more than capable of trying for mid-ice stops, catching opponents in the neutral zone. All four are strong skaters, and it could be worth the defensive risk for more offensive chances.
Heck, if either Mancini or Willander do play well enough to make the team, that can give the Canucks a pleasant surprise in the third pair. Getting the puck out of your end is one thing. Stopping it from getting there in the first place is another. But that's also asking a rookie coach to take a chance in a very high-pressure season.
Odds: 3/10
Right, now let's drop the dang puck! But let me grab my bottle first, just in case I need to celebrate.
*Whose bionic abilities include being able to run in boot heels. Man, the '70s were weird.
Last season, the Pacific Division only sent three teams into the playoffs, with five going to the Central. It was a close, with the Calgary Flames tying the St. Louis Blues. The Blues went on their wildly improbable run and beat the Flames by the narrowest of margins. The Minnesota Wild finished only one point higher.
It's not just that the Vancouver Canucks ended the season six points back. Three teams were all ahead by that six or seven - and the Utah Mammoths were only one back of Vancouver themselves. It seems unlikely that the Canucks will make any major moves between now and the start of the year. If they want to make the playoffs, the only guarantee is getting into the top three of the Pacific. Can they?
Starting at the top:
Mitch Marner brings a lot of firepower with him. The sign-and-trade gave Vegas the opportunity to lock him up for eight years, but cost them a very good centre in Nicholas Roy. "Very good" is a relative term, of course. Roy is a bottom-six centre, and moving him to Toronto means Alex Pietrangelo's $8.8 million can go onto the long-term injured reserve list and make the team salary cap compliant.
Roy wasn't the only player the Golden Knights lost, moving out long-time defender Nicolas Hague in exchange for Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon. Hague had dropped to the third pair last year, and replacing him with the $3 million cheaper Lauzon doesn't hurt much. Hague is better offensively, but that's not what they're missing. Sissons replacing Roy is a much steeper drop.
Adin Hill being backed up by Akira Schmid is a perfectly decent pairing. And that's the weak point. The forwards are extremely dangerous, and their play style gives their goaltenders plenty of support. This is not going to be an easy team to catch.
The Kings have apparently decided that if they reached 105 points last year, they don't need to change anything this year. Someone should have introduced them to the 2023-24 Canucks.
Not entirely true, perhaps, but signing Corey Perry and Joel Armia isn't scaring anyone. For the most part, it looks like they are hoping for continued growth from Quinten Byfield and Alex Laferriere. It's not an outrageous gamble, but sooner or later Anže Kopitar is going to actually age. We just don't know when, but I suspect someone will find a painting in his attic one day.
The Kings spread their ice time pretty evenly among their top three lines, which limits their top-end talent. On the other hand, the opposing coach needs to decide who to try to stop. There are rumours of some players not liking the team's playing style, especially after their third straight first-round exit. But if they win, those complaints will vanish.
That style - pulling the forwards back to support their defence - is used for a reason. How bad is their defence? They lost Vladimir Gavrikov, their top defenceman, and traded away Jordan Spence. They filled those spots with... Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin? Oof.
If Drew Doughty is healthy all year, 22-year-old Brandt Clarke leaps forward, and Michael Anderson and Joel Edmundson tighten up their games, and Dumoulin and Cecei aren't forced into second-pair roles, they can be decent. Putting question marks on all six of your starting defencemen isn't a great sign.
Darcy Kuemper was excellent last season, though again behind Jim Hiller's defence-first style. Veteran Anton Forsberg is a new face backing him up, and having Pheonix Copely and Erik Portillo in reserve is good enough to work.
Very good forwards, good goaltending, and a lot of hope in between.
Not a lot changed here, either. And why should it? The Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final two years running. That's worth a lot. The biggest issue with a team like Edmonton is that it is very top-heavy. Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are not going to be underpaid, which means a limited amount of money left over for everyone else.
That shows in their ice time. Four forwards averaged 19 minutes or more, and no others passed the 15-minute mark. Victor Arvidsson left, and Andrew Mangiapane is coming in. Mangiapane is fine, but is he the solution for a reliable finisher to go with Draisaitl? Because it sure ain't Curtis Lazar.
The forwards are pretty much a known factor. McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman are going to do their thing. Beyond them, the most important player on the ice might be Mattias Ekholm. Evan Bouchard needs the stable Ekholm beside him as a safeguard. Bouchard is a very good offensive defenceman, but boy howdy, does he forget his job on defence.
That leaves very little for the goaltending. And it shows.
Now, I'm not going to jump on Stuart Skinner, here. He isn't as bad as his reputation suggests, but the Oilers' play style does him zero favours. He and Calvin Pickard are the likely pair going into the season, because they cost the team less than $4 million combined. There isn't much cap room to improve, so they did the next best thing and changed the goaltending coach.
If we're going to talk cheap goaltenders, Calgary has no goaltender making a million dollars. Dustin Wolf proved himself last season, coming second in Calder Trophy voting. Hard to tell how much of a risk it is to rely on him this season, but they certainly want a veteran. The Flames are sitting on $15 million in cap space right now, and they won't need that much to sign Connor Zary.
They could use some of that space on the defence. It's open speculation that Rasmus Andersson is getting moved at some point this year, and that's going to hurt. Frankly, the 19-year-old Zayne Parekh should probably be a coin flip to get 20 games this season.
Up front, getting Morgan Frost re-signed was needed, because there just isn't much else there. Jonathan Huberdeau getting some of his mojo back is nice, but Nazem Kadri as your top centre speaks volumes. They need Zary to step up to finish anywhere close to a playoff spot this season.
If anything, this is a team to watch out for. Perhaps their least surprising move was changing Greg Cronin for Joel Quinneville behind the bench. The team improved by 21 points between his first and second years, but there was also a rebellion in the ranks. Anaheim's been out of the playoffs for a long time now, and they need a push before fan interest vanishes.
They made some big moves, too. Stalwart John Gibson is gone from between the pipes, leaving the net to Lukáš Dostál. Behind him is probably Ville Husso, though Petr Mrázek will make his case. Who knows - maybe Edmonton will offer to take one of the two in some expressed wishful thinking.
Centre of the Future(tm) Trevor Zegras was also shipped out, bringing draft picks and Ryan Poeling back from Philadelphia. He was saying some of the right things under Cronin, but is an excellent example of a team not quite knowing how to treat a young star. Let him be free and feed his creativity? Put clamps on so he learns defence and structure to go with it? Neither team more player seemed to be having much fun.
Poeling has been finding some scoring touch with the Flyers, but he's not the player Zegras is. But maybe him, Chris Kreider, and Mikael Granlund can fill in the blanks. Sure, Kreider and Granlund are older, but they have plenty of youth coming around, too. Leo Carlson proved he's already at an NHL level, and if they can get Mason McTavish's name on paper, then their centre depth looks solid.
On defence, the name on everyone's lips was "Who?" As in "Who the hell is Jason LaCombe?" They brought in Jacob Trouba in case Radko Gudas got injured, and they need someone to buy the beer. That's going to be interesting to watch.
We want the day when both Seattle and Vancouver are good teams. We really do. But they aren't going to be the reason the Canucks miss the playoffs just yet.
Andre Burakovsky is out for cap space, which they still have. Frédérick Gaudreau is a nice pickup for cheap as a bottom-six centre. Ryan Lindgren is fine as a middle-pair defenceman. But most of this year isn't going to be about anyone brought in. Though getting Matt Murray in case Phillip Grubauer has another disastrous year isn't a bad net.
They want - need - their young forwards to all take another step. Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, and Kaapo Kakko are talented guys, as befits their relative draft positions. But one of them needs a real breakout year, and not just for now, but for the future. Otherwise, this is a team loaded with middle-six guys, middle-pair defence, and a 1B netminder in Joey Daccord.
Here's to hoping we can get a good hate on with our neighbours!
Last, but not... Well, probably not least. The San Jose Sharks finished nine points back of Chicago and sixteen back of Nashville. There is a strange juxtaposition here, though, highlighted by those cities. San Jose had fun. Yes, it was a terrible end result, but the fans were warned well beforehand, and the future was visible on the ice.
Two of their star kids led the team in scoring, but you could make an argument that their MVP was Tyler Toffoli. The Sharks did everything a "tanking" team should: lots of one-year deals, signing veterans to trade them, testing a LOT of their AHL players, and playing their youth. And in the middle of it all, Toffoli was out there with Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund and Will Smith, keeping the kids on an even keel.
They had a massive amount of turnover and are clearly aiming for at least one more year of entertaining, if not completely successful, hockey. I don't know if anyone in the league likes scoring more than Adam Gaudette. Jeff Skinner's career is on life support after FINALLY getting a taste of playoff hockey and deciding it was overrated. Ryan Reaves is, well, Ryan Reaves. Will Philip Kurashev help? Hey, why not?
The defence looks more interesting, too. Grabbing Nick Leddy off waivers is an easy decision when you can afford it - and these guys can afford a LOT. Dmitry Orlov is a serious pick-up, even at 34 years old. John Klingberg is looking to rebuild his value so he isn't best known as an agent's horror story for recalcitrant signings.
In net, five goaltenders got into eight or more games, and I don't blame them one bit. This year, stability should be the rule. Yaroslav Askarov is an excellent prospect, and getting backed up by/splitting time with Alex Nedeljkovic will give the Sharks a chance most nights.
Vancouver has more top-end talent than enough of these teams to make the playoffs. But the game requires more than talent. The Canucks can have one or two things go wrong and still make it, so long as those things going wrong aren't one of three players. So we're ending up with Schrödinger's Playoffs, either making it or not, and we won't know which until we look.
I suspect the team will add a player, specifically at centre, before the season is done, but probably not before it starts. They have a nice chunk of cap space right now, and they'll let that accrue until the trade deadline looms. Not at the deadline, of course, because this is still Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin. But maybe in late January.
As for the rest, Anaheim can take Calgary's spot, and Edmonton can take LA's. Heck, if it is a good year for the Canucks, they could well bump the Kings to fourth. But the top stays at the top and the bottom stays there. It's gonna be interesting.
Thomas Drance got a brief interview with Calder Cup-winning coach Manny Malhotra recently, published in The Athletic.* Malhotra was on the (very) short list of replacement head coaches when Tocchet left, but remains the top dog in Abbotsford for now.
The interview brought to mind the huge differences between the NHL and their closest league, the AHL. As static as the Vancouver Canucks have been, their affiliate must change. That's simply the nature of the feeder league, and it's true in every sport. They, like Vancouver, aren't quite in their final form. But general manager Ryan Johnson needs to wait for Vancouver's final decisions before he can make his own.
The Abbotsford Canucks won the franchise's first-ever championship since the Dallas Black Hawks won the Central Hockey League's Adams Cup in 1979. Their head coach was John Muckler, and more than a few Canucks appeared. Stan Smyl played the only three games of his minor-league career there.
Can Vancouver get a new Stan Smyl out of last year's batch in Abby? It's not as unlikely as you might think. Maybe not a 13-year career guy, but a long-term, rock-steady player? There are a surprising number of options.
Linus Karlsson and Max Sasson are name-dropped specifically by Malhotra as guys who got their call-up and came back with the same energy that earned it. That attitude of knowing what they can do and knowing it gets rewarded is essential for AHL players. These are two very different guys: Sasson carries the puck with speed, and Karlsson gets his points in front of the net. How they play is the similarity.
Sasson's skating made him stand out among the AHL sampler set last year. He's a lot more productive in the AHL, sure, but he's also getting first-line ice there. The same can be said of Karlsson's more, ah, "methodical" skating and play. But they play the same game in Abbotsford as they did in Vancouver, even if it's for fewer minutes.
When Malhotra talks about what success means in Abbotsford, it's exactly what you want to hear. Winning games is important, especially in the playoffs, when players aren't collecting a paycheque. A winning atmosphere is something players can carry with them the rest of their careers. But that isn't all.
The goal, which they make very clear to the players, is for them to graduate to the NHL. That ambition can best be realized with their parent club, sure, but if it's with another team, so be it. Play well enough to have your value recognized, and someone else will come calling. That's what happened with Artūrs Šilovs. Sammy Blais is getting another NHL shot in Montreal. Heck, John Stevens is extending his career in Finland.
And it's all because each individual has bought in. That means mostly playing like the team in Vancouver does, but with some flexibility for the different talent available. It's why you might see a top goal scorer like Danila Klimovich stay down, but low-scoring defenceman Elias Pettersson move up. It's not just blindly taking the most talented player, but who fits best for what Vancouver needs.
Aatu Räty has likely graduated already. If he's not pencilled in for a bottom-six centre spot, it's because they used ink. If anyone is getting the "next Steamer" vibe, at least Räry has the provenance. He knows how to put points on the board, worked hard to get where he is, and is only 22.
The most interesting player in Abbotsford, as far as I'm concerned, is Arshdeep Bains. He is a furiously hard worker, and he's reached the AHL through sheer determination. Overagers in the CHL don't often translate into NHL regulars, but he's doing everything he can to get there. The problem is, while he's a creative and adventurous player in Abbotsford, in Vancouver, he plays scared.
Not physically, of course. He wouldn't have lasted three minutes for Tocchet if he avoided contact, never mind 13 games. His first NHL goal - and only point - came from him charging the net for a rebound. While Vancouver doesn't expect brilliance from a call-up, they do need more results than that. And Bains has the talent to provide them, but is second-guessing himself on the regular.
Watching him in the AHL is fun. He works the boards, goes in on the forecheck, and is a very good passer. He'll send linemates in with spin-o-rama passes or go between the legs of opponents when they're mucking in the corner. Those kinda vanish with Vancouver, where he focuses more on not making mistakes.
The bad news is that we probably won't see Malhotra ever coach in Vancouver again. Ideally, anyway. Adam Foote has the job, and presumably, he's safe for the year unless we're all thinking Gavin McKenna thoughts in December.
It's difficult to shake off the "professional assistant coach" label when it's applied, and that was one reason why Malhotra took the job with Abbotsford. Being an assistant coach as your first job? Of course, that just makes sense. The third time you're an assistant coach in the NHL? That label gets sticky. The only promotion he wants now is to a head coaching job in the NHL.
Has he earned it? Working in Vancouver's favour is that last season was Malhotra's first as a head coach anywhere. Exciting as that is, there's not much of a track record there. Hitting a bullseye on your first throw could be skill. Or not. Teams are going to see a lot more throws before they take a chance with the flagship of their $2 billion franchise.
Malhotra has one more year plus an option right now. If he gets an offer from another team, the Canucks can block his move if they want. But if they do that, Foote should be looking over his shoulder.
*Apologies for the New York Times subscription. I only read it for the sports articles, I swear!
The Vancouver Canucks play their first game of the preseason on September 21st, one month away. What the team will look like is a bit uncertain, but only because some free agents and AHL regulars will get their shot. What's going to happen between now and Penicton?
Lo, these many years ago, training camp was used for players to wrap up their Summer jobs. They'd leave the garage/farm/grocery store, sharpen their skates, and head back to the rink to prepare for the season. There was some extra beer to work off and a whole lot of cardio to catch up on. A few might have jogged every couple of days or lifted weights now and then, but work started in camp.
Yeah, there was a reason why the Russians did so well against Canada in the Summit Series. Fifty years ago, most NHLers didn't even start training until they showed up for camp in mid-September. Some of the young and eager kids were there to fight for jobs, but the established veterans? They got a lot of leeway about when they started the season.
Things are a little different now. Players from 18 different nations played in the NHL last season, compared to 95% being from one. So, for the folks who think it's somehow easier now compared to 50 years ago? No. Just no. There may be twice as many teams, but there are tens of millions more people in population bases trying to reach the big money.
Speaking of which, some of them will be arriving in town soon. They're not quite in game shape, but they're close. Some added mass, some speed, and some* are just trying to fight off Father Time and earn a paycheque into their 40s.
But that all is the players' objectives. They can control themselves, but most things involving the team are beyond their ability to control. The other half of the equation has been working all Summer long, too, and hopefully to greater effect.
There was a plan. We're sure that there was a plan, and that plan got tossed out the window when J.T. Miller finally agreed that he should be traded. And no, a rebuild was never an option. You don't hire Jim Rutherford and tell him to start your team over. That does make this team a bit hard to predict, though we'll take a crack.
The first thing to do with predictions is to try to see what the goals of the management are. Obviously, the ultimate goal is a Stanley Cup win, but losing Miller changed the timeline they had been working toward. Which leaves... what? Let's pack some unseemly speculation in here!
There is some chatter about keeping Quinn Hughes happy so he'll stay in town. That's odd, but it's what happens when you have a lot of time to kill in a hockey-mad town with far too many interested people. Hughes, of course, has never mentioned any interest in moving out of town. He keeps saying how much he wants to bring the Stanley Cup to Vancouver. But boredom prevails, so here we are.
Whichever direction Vancouver's management decides to go, they will want Hughes to be happy. Fortunately, he's not an idiot, so he knows there is more than one way to win in this league. And if you think it's whatever last year's winner did, stop it. That's already outdated, and they have the best team doing it. Competing against them is a lost cause, so find something else.
It boils down to two choices: winning sooner or winning later.
In this case, "later" means when Hughes will be 28, and the bulk of the scoring will come from guys in their 30s. If they're lucky, Nils Höglander is a reliable secondary scorer, if he's still in town. Now, that's not deadly, exactly, but it is a bit hopeful. The veterans will be backed up by a few up-and-comers and new additions, but none of them will be expected to carry the team.
"Sooner," on the other hand, is going to be much harder to pull off. Going from being a possible playoff team to a certainty doesn't just mean increasing their points this season. They will need to look like a team that's ready to challenge by the end of the season. Good luck there, mate.
Okay, everyone, relax. They aren't going to tank and hope to recover in three seasons. This plan means improving gradually between now and the start of 2028-29. We can't predict how trades are going to happen, but some are undoubtedly going to appear. There will be a decent amount of turnover from year to year, probably including from the top of the lineup.
That being said, the team would let some of the younger, cheaper guys coming up from Abbotsford fill in spaces. Maybe three forwards and a couple defencemen will be on the team as regulars, if not stars. Tom Willander and Johnathan Lekkerimaki should be in their second(-ish) seasons, Aatu Räty could be established in the middle six. One of the other guys in their mid-20s in the mix, too. Josh Bloom, Max Sasson, or Arshdeep Bains finding consistency.
Beyond the skaters, there has to be hope that the goaltending sticks. It would be quite a surprise for Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen to continue in tandem three years from now. One will have taken the reins by then - or the worst will have happened with Demko losing his spot to injury.
There will be trades galore, and probably one with some major talent moving. There are a lot of no-move clauses to negotiate, but mostly those exist to ensure players can choose their destinations. (See Also: J.T. Miller) If something comes along and knocks them off their feet, sure, they'll go for it. And we all know Rutherford loves his phone calls.
But for the most part, a plan with this kind of time range means the team is confident in their prospects and likes the age range of their most skilled players. Ironically, not pushing for immediate success shows confidence.
This is a lot more fun, so long as you don't actually care about the team. Otherwise, it's frikkin nerve-wracking.
This is where BIG swings happen. Expect one of their favourite prospects to get moved out and high draft picks to vanish into the mist. The Minnesota Wild weren't impressed with getting the 15th overall pick in return for a player they didn't trust in the playoffs. The prices don't go down from there.
The team seems to have cooled on bringing in Jack Roslovic, and beyond him, the free agent centre pool is limited. That's being polite about it. So trades are the order of the day, and that means waiting for the right day. Don't expect a big deal to happen before camp, or even this calendar year.
Rutherford and Patrik Allvin don't like to wait for deadlines, and with the Olympic break coming in February, that seems like as good a time as any to make deals. The season resumes on the 24th with the trade deadline about two weeks later. The league should have some idea where they stand, if any team wants to fail further or take a veteran off Vancouver's hands.
Even if Filip Chytil is completely healthy and Räty steps up, the Canucks will still want security at centre. Very little can happen to convince them otherwise. A trade will happen, and it will hurt. We're talking the first and second round picks, Willander, Elias Pettersson (the defenceman), and even new arrival Braeden Cootes will be options.
Probably not until more than half the season is over. If the team is getting surprising results - in either direction - that could change things. Getting off to a hot start could buy them time, where dragging means a body swap by December first.
Any moves before the season starts would be a bit of a surprise. Unless a team suddenly reverses course, the offers have already been made and rejected. No one is likely to emerge as a hero in training camp, either, but that's not what it's for.
The team wants to succeed. Whichever direction they choose, they're going to say they want success now. They'll tell their intent by their actions.
*Wily veterans. All veterans are wily.
Blame Gavin McKenna.
We were just minding our own business, thinking about the upcoming Winter Olympics and the old "Allow the NHL players and Canada could send three teams and sweep the medals" jokes. That hasn't been the case for a while now - probably decades - but it was fun to build teams.
Some went with best by position, making clear gold-silver-bronze teams. Me, I went for regions. The West with British Columbia and Alberta; Ontario and Quebec each on their own; then the Prairies and Maritimes with the Territories. The sole contribution the Territories made was Geoff Sanderson, but he was too good not to include.
So I was pondering a BC-exclusive team. And for some reason, I thought McKenna was from the province, and odds were good that three of the past four top draft picks would be from here. But NO. Still, an undrafted player isn't going to happen at the Olympics. He's good, but he's not the second coming of Wayne Gretzky. On the other hand, Dylan Cozens is sitting right there...
BC has two famous centres in Steve Yzerman and Burnaby Joe Sakic. There are some other good ones, but when the Hall of Famers retired, centres got thin on the ground. That trend hit reverse pretty dang hard with Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard. Now, the centre spot is filled to overflowing - enough to maybe kick one of the kids to the wing.
With the Olympics happening this year, we should only use players who were in the NHL last year. No retirees, no one who skipped the season but kept their hope of a call-up. Maybe there will be a surprise addition during the year, but probably not. Unless Laurent Brossoit suddenly starts pitching regular shutouts for the Chicago Blackhawks, we know who BC's goalies are. Let's start there.
Apologies to Andy Moog, but Carey Price was the best goaltender born in BC since Tiny Thompson. With his retirement, we're down to two active goalies, and we'll use both.
Hill has fewer games, but is in a stronger position than Jarry. He has the only Stanley Cup between the two, and was the Vegas Golden Knights starter last season. Both currently have a career record .909 save percentage, but one is with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the other is probably going to improve their numbers.
Shea Theodore - Bowen Byram
Devon Toews - Morgan Rielly
Dante Fabbro - Kevin Bahl
Theodore and Byram? Yes and yes, for as long as they can. We're ignoring injury history in this short tournament, but it's worth noting Theodore has had, ah, issues. Byram hasn't been the most durable, right until last season. He finally had an 82-game year, something Theodore has yet to manage. Both are left-hand shots, but the only right-hand shot in the list is Fabbro, and he's fine on the third pair.
So why Brenden Dillon as the extra instead of Troy Stecher, AKA "Troy from Richmond"? There's an argument to be made for Stecher as a bit of an all-around defender, but Dillon's size and experience are a better fallback. He can be moved into the lineup if that net-clearing presence is needed more than Fabbro's skill.
Kent Johnson - Connor Bedard - Macklin Celebrini
Zach Benson - Mathew Barzal - Logan Stankoven
Jamie Benn - Sam Reinhart - Michael Rasmussen
Dylan Cozens - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Alexander Kerfoot
And here we have our stacked centres. Almost anyone can step into the faceoff when one of the regulars gets waved out. But that's not the most surprising thing looking this team over. It's that the top six has one player in it not born this century. Sure, we could drop the kids down a little, but why?
Benson and Stankoven are both young and inexperienced, but the veteran Barzal can bring the best out of his linemates. Especially if they are a second-wave set of attackers behind that slightly terrifying top three. None of them might be considered a true top-line player just yet, but they will be. And who do you target? Maybe you attack the second line physically, intimidating the small wingers.
That should work fine until the third line shows up. When the "small" one is Sam frikkin' Reinhart, you know there's trouble ahead. Survive that, and there's the joy of BC's weakest link in 600-NHL game veteran Kerfoot. With him is RNH, who broke 100 points two seasons ago, and honorary British Columbian Dylan Cozens.
Cozens hasn't had the breakthrough expected of a seventh-overall pick, but that can easily happen now in his sixth season. His move from Buffalo to Ottawa could be the change of scenery he needed. And he certainly deserves the spot over Heinen or Sissons.
Youth will be served with that forward corps. But those players can mix and match as needs dictate. Heck, swap the entire second and third lines if size is an issue. Swap Nugent-Hopkins for Reinhart and put the third line out to protect a lead. Or ignore everything else and let the top line pull two-minute shifts until the opponents melt or someone scores.
The defence has a nice mix of veterans and youth, too. Each pair has a skilled offensive player to go with a more responsible counter. The handedness isn't great, but that's just how it is unless you want to bring Tyson Barrie in. I don't think forcing balance is worth that. Would I hate Barrie being an NHL team's number seven? Nah. But for short tournaments, mistakes are amplified, and I just don't trust him.
In goal, it's not bad. Not great, but Hill can go on a streak, and Jarry will be relieved to be behind someone other than Pittsburgh. Finding a third won't be easy, and if it gets that far put in the trainer and be done with it. Clay Stevenson probably isn't going to save the day.
You can be excused if you forgot Vitali Kravtsov's previous Vancouver Canucks incarnation. It lasted all of 16 NHL games and wasn't exactly a blockbusting deal when he arrived. With one goal and one assist in that time, why did general manager Patrik Allvin decide to bring him back?
Kravstov was drafted ninth overall back in 2018, mostly because of his skating. He was moving between the MHL and VHL (the junior and minor KHL feeder leagues), so had played some time against adults by the time he was picked.
His time in the KHL came late and was heavily protected, as you would expect with a 17-year-old. There were few points, but that he got into 35 games was impressive. Even better, he showed up for the playoffs, boosting his draft value considerably.
But that wasn't what got scouts' attention. Well before the playoffs began, it was his skating. He was over six feet tall and not just fast, but quick. He didn't just charge into the zone and hope for the best, but could out-maneuver defencemen on the way.
That didn't translate well to North America. The Rangers started him in Hartford, much to his dismay, and he sulked his way back to Russia. He didn't do a whole lot there, either, and returned to the Wolf Pack after a month. Then COVID hit, and a whole lot of young players had their development thrown into a blender.
Back to Russia to kick off the 2020-21 year, where he leaned in to building a shoot-first mentality. He rejoined the Rangers when the KHL season wrapped up and didn't convince them to offer much of an extension.
The feeling was mutual, but contracts being what they are, Kravtsov started 2022-23 with the Rangers on a one-year deal. Any ideas of showcasing him for a trade were for naught, as he scored just three goals and six points in 28 games.
Good news for the Rangers, though, as they found a team desperate for size, skating, and maybe a hint of offence: the Vancouver Canucks. A trade for William Lockwood and a seventh-round pick later, and Kravtsov switched coasts.
Alas, that didn't restart his lost scoring touch. The team qualified him, but wasn't exactly shedding tears as he returned once more to his old KHL team, Traktor Chelyabinsk.
He seems to have found his feet this time around. Perhaps it's because he's more comfortable with his environment, and perhaps he's just maturing into his ability. Whatever the reason, he's scored 45 goals and 92 points in 121 KHL games and was a presence in the playoffs.
With a caveat, that is. He had more KHL playoff points in his draft year (6 goals, 11 points in 16 games) than he did this year (6 goals, 7 points in 19 games). On the other hand, he played further down the lineup when he was young and took advantage. That's a different role than being expected to lead your team.
These recent results have inspired him to try his hand at the NHL once more. So he found a team that was desperate for size, skating, and some offence that just happened to have his rights: the Vancouver Canucks.
Kravtsov has a league-minimum, two-way deal and will be hard-pressed to find a spot with Vancouver. As they are currently configured, in any case. There are plenty of players in Vancouver's system who have earned a shot at the bigs, especially on the wing.
All of them are more reliable defensively than Kravtsov right now, and that matters. If you aren't scoring, then the other team shouldn't be, either, is a mantra for any team's bottom six. And we don't know if Kravtsov can score in the NHL.
So why is he here? The Canucks need a centre, not another winger! Saying that, should a winger get moved in a trade, then having a skilled, offence-oriented replacement handy at a rock-bottom price? Very convenient, indeed.
Suddenly, it feels far more important to show up to training camp in game shape.
The KHL and the NHL have very different coaching styles, producing wildly different results. Don't expect leading KHL scorer Josh Leivo (remember him?) to return to the NHL and drop a point-per-game in 2025-26.
Players who can score in Russia are given far more leeway than they are in the NHL. Extra-long shifts, minimal defensive responsibility, and hanging around the opponent's blue line aren't always discouraged. It makes for very entertaining hockey to watch, but doesn't inspire disciplined play.
Kravtsov isn't waiver-exempt, so if he gets sent down to the AHL, there is a chance he'll get snagged by another team. The Canucks likely won't risk that if they've already traded away someone more established to bring in a centre. And to be sure there, they'll want a look at what he can do.
If this works out like hoped, then Kravtsov will be in the Canucks top-six, likely with some power play time. He has multiple weapons with which he can score, from elevating in front of the net to a quick wrist shot beyond the circles. And he's fast enough to get there, with the size to stay.
If he doesn't prove himself quickly, then the team will probably send him down. That's when he'll have the best chance to clear. If he does show why he was a top-ten pick in 2018, then he'll be a good asset to have, either in a deal or as a call-up. If he doesn't, well, Abbotsford lost some veterans and could use more.
In an ideal world, Kravtsov has learned his lesson and returns to the NHL a wiser man. He has scoring talent and speed, and the team will give him his chance. If he's ready to work his way into the lineup with consistency, he can be an unexpected bonus for Vancouver.
But we shouldn't be holding our breath.
It's a new month, but the same two names have continued to circle the Vancouver Canucks. Unrestricted free agent Jack Roslovic and Minnesota's as-yet-unsigned Marco Rossi have the Canucks' attention, and aren't all that subtle about it. Getting either one will be a challenge, but neither option has been shut down yet.
Before the Vancouver Canucks moved Dakota Joshua, the question about either possible acquisition came down to money. Having too many players on the roster is never a problem - the waiver wire exists for a reason - but paying for them is. The increased salary cap allowed teams to retain their own free agents because, ultimately, no manager wants to take risks. Sucks, but there it is.
The Canucks know full well what their weakness is. The centre depth isn't there, even if Elias Pettersson does bounce back and Filip Chytil stays healthy. Frankly, Chytil's health is a bigger concern than Pettersson's skill. But if both of those pull through, then any pressure Vancouver at centre feels is immediately dispelled. But until then? We just don't know.
Roslovic being an unrestricted free agent should make it simpler to sign him, right? Kind of. He only played 59 games in 2023-24, moving between Columbus and the Rangers. It wasn't a great season, even with increased ice time and expectations. He still took a haircut on what was a $4 million per season deal to sign on with Carolina for one year at $2.8 million last season.
He had a minor bounce-back with Manhattan and will undoubtedly want to push his salary back up to its former high. No way the Canucks could fit anything like that into their budget before Joshua's trade. And now they have the money.
Rossi has far more to bring to Vancouver if they can get him. A lot younger, more skilled, and has played in a top-six role without losing the spot, unlike Roslovic. Until the playoffs, that is. Rossi played seven minutes a game less than he did in the regular season. Roslovic kept his ice with Carolina, but that was on the third line anyway.
Rossi is no doubt looking for a lot more money than Roslovic. For good reason, given his skillset. He has already turned down 5 years at $5 million from Minnesota, as well as a shorter deal for less. A four-year deal might do it, but teams aren't big fans of walking players right to free agency. Vancouver only has $3.27 million in cap space, so expect another player moving out if that happens.
The Canucks need to add some skill to the roster, ideally before the season gets going. The preseason isn't exactly an important deadline, but you still want to know who your teammates are, give or take one or two. Rossi's still under the Wild's control, and they will use all the time they have to get his name on a contract. They don't want to lose him, and he won't come cheaply. By all reports, the Canucks offered the 2025 15th overall pick, and that wasn't enough.
Roslovic only has to be talked into coming to Vancouver. No trade needed, no loss of assets, and no negotiations with other teams. Will he play for $3,25 million per season? Maybe. That's not a bad price for a middle-six centre who can fit the role well. If he's pulling 14 minutes a night, and he can add 40 points per, then the Canucks will be happy to pay that.
The tricky thing about that is it may not be what he wants. If he expects to play a second-line role, then he's going to ask for more. And he might not be able to do that. Last season, he didn't get much ice time with Carolina, but they had more depth than Vancouver does now, assuming Chytil is out for any time.
But that doesn't tell what Roslovic is capable of. He has played a large role on both the power play and shorthanded in his career, and that versatility is never a bad thing. If he does find himself unable to break free of the bottom six, he can still get increased ice time on special teams.
Decent size (6'1", 200 lbs) and decent finish (twice hitting 22 goals in a season) combine with good speed to possibly give the Canucks an all-around useful player at a price they can afford. The problem with that is that they have options in the bottom six, and lots of them. Aatu Räty, Teddy Blueger, and Linus Karlsson are all there and waiting.
If the Canucks pick up Roslovic, he'll get his chance in a classic middle-six role. But he won't be adding much to the top of the lineup.
The talk around Vancouver needing a centre usually focuses on one thing: size. Pettersson only scoring 45 points isn't a real fear, but whether Chytil can play behind him is. Chytil has good size and loads of skill, but has yet to break through. He's also only 25 years old, so if he's going to reach his potential, it'll be soon. He's also 6'3" and 210 pounds, and that's always a selling point for coaches.
Pettersson is 6'2", but still a slender 185 pounds. He's improved his strength over the years, but physics still dictates who gets bounced when two players meet. And a mark against Rossi is his 5'9" height. On the other hand, he weighs a solid 195 pounds and has no fear of the front of the net.
Rossi also scored 24 goals and 60 points in 82 games last year. The year before, he made the All-Rookie team with 21 goals and 40 points. With those numbers, there will be a lot that a team can overlook, including being five inches shorter than they might want. Fair to say that he's recovered completely from the COVID attack that saw him fail his physical the first time he tried to enter the NHL.
If the five-year deal didn't convince him to sign with Minnesota, what can the Canucks offer? The cap space they currently have isn't enough, obviously. A player is going to have to go before they can give him an offer he'll agree to. That means Nils Höglander, as he's the only one who doesn't have trade restrictions or a new contract. Maybe a different player moves, but it's hard to see who else fits the bill.
It would be the most convenient deal if Minnesota took a suitable player along with the draft picks or prospects or whatever completes the trade. But they've already turned down that first-round pick, and who knows where Vancouver will finish this season. Will the pick work for the much-hyped 2026 draft, compared to the weaker 2025 one? And do the Canucks want to risk that cost?
If it's an option, Vancouver should bring in Rossi. He's young, talented, and apparently durable, having played every game in the past two seasons. He is a very good skater, has a high hockey IQ, can score, can pass, and works the front of the net. He's a centre as well, though left-handed instead of right.
Vancouver has plenty of talent at the bottom of the lineup. There are players pushing for space coming up from Abbotsford, and the depth there can pay off. But they aren't getting anywhere near the top line, and they won't get many chances at the top six. If they want to meaningfully improve, it will need to be from someone coming in at the top of the lineup, pushing players down.
Roslovic wouldn't be a bad addition, but getting him keeps the Canucks hopeful that someone can rise to the occasion. If they manage to sign him, it may even work. But it's not exactly the big swing the team and the fans want.
The dog days of Summer are well upon us, and it's Sirius* enough to resort to outright theft. Sure, we could talk about the Best Ever by Number, or Canucks Jersey Roulette (you have to defend the one the bottle stops at), but those have been done to death.
Then Sean McIndoe, AKA Down Goes Brown, over at The Athletic came up with an interesting twist: make a team out of non-repeating letters. He listed a dozen teams, but not Vancouver. Gold! The restriction means we can't use both Sedins, giving us a challenge. We want some positional players, but either side for wing or defence. Let's go live!
Right, then. As mentioned, one of the Sedins is out, so we need to set them aside for now and see who comes up. One of them is in, that's a no-doubt move, so the letter "S" is gone. Stan Smyl was self-defeating - no doubles - as is, say, Ron Sedlbauer or Sergio Momesso. Shouldn't be a problem, really. Either Hank or Dan is gone, and we'll just figure out which letter is more important.
First up, Quinn Hughes. Can't leave him off- Oh. Guess the dilemma is solved, then. Sorry, Henrik Sedin, your "H" is getting used elsewhere. Not as hard as we thought, then. Who's next?
Pavel Bure is right there at the top of the leaderboard, so pencil him in. That takes Elias Pettersson out, which could be rough for our centre choices. Unless we take Thomas Gradin or Trevor Linden. Sure, Linden is listed as a right winger, but he played plenty of centre through his career. So that's not really a tough call, either. Hm.
There are just two choices in net, though some very good goalies have passed our way. If we go with Roberto Luongo, that bumps Linden out. Is he that much better than Kirk McLean? Yes. Yes, he is. So there's another puzzler gone. So we're down to one defenceman and sixteen letters to go.
The 15-year rock that is Alexander Edler is the easy pick here. So, uh... yeah. They were all pretty easy picks.
Daniel Sedin - Thomas Gradin - Pavel Bure
Quinn Hughes - Alexander Edler
Roberto Luongo
That's a really, really good lineup. And a disappointingly effortless one. So let's do it again.
Still no Hank because he's still named Sedin, and that's gone. We're down A B D E G H L P Q R S and T. This will be a LOT tougher as we go. We need twelve out of sixteen distinct letters, so maybe working from them to the names is the better approach.
Kirk McLean is still alive, but selecting him takes out Orland Kurtenbach, but if we take Kurtenbach, we remove Matthias Öhlund from the list. And Öhlund's pretty dang good. Are there better goaltenders without K and centres with one? Hm.
This ain't working. Back to starting from position and going from there. If we start in goal, then McLean is the best choice, but not the only one. The letter "K" isn't all that common, but neither is the letter "J" and Jacob Markström is in the mix. We'll leave them for now and move up to the trouble spot: centre.
No Bo Horvat, no Ryan Kesler, no... J.T. Miller? Wait. Does the "T" actually count as an initial letter in this case? Has anyone called Jonathan Tanner Miller "Jon" after the age of ten? Eh, I'm gonna rule that yes, it counts, so no J.T. Miller. Which hurts, but there it is.
Gotta say, selecting Roberto Luongo has taken out a lot of options, here. So we're digging into our little bag of tricks for this one: Chris Oddleifson will centre our second team. He came over from the Boston Bruins with another potential option, Mike Walton, but the letter "M" is valuable, even if we don't select McLean.
Let's get the defence filled out, quick.
*sound of drums*
I know what you're thinking. "Now," you say, sipping tea and eying the horizon. "Now is the time. Now is when we need him, and he comes. Now is... Nikita Zadorov."
And you know what? You're right. His regular-season term here wasn't anything to write home about, but his playoff run was an absolute blast. So yeah, let's tuck him and his "Z" onto the blue line. And we're up to one defenceman and one forward. Oof. Let's bet back to who's going to be in net, here. And you know what? Sorry, Chris, you're out.
Yeah, okay, that sounds weird. But there's a domino effect going on, and Orland Kurtenbach with Jacob Markström is better than Oddleifson and Kirk McLean, I think. The letters are cruel. Speaking of which, where are we at?
Gone: A B D E G H J K L M N O P Q R S T and Z
Remaining: C F I U V W X Y
One defenceman and two wingers to go. Letters first, then.
Gotta take Yannick Webber and stick him in the back pocket, here. Offensive defenceman played his best hockey in Vancouver, and more importantly, has great initials. If we stumble on someone better, we can swap. Until then, "W" and "Y" are off the board, and we're down to two forwards left to fill out the roster.
"C" and "F" are probably reserved for first names. Not a whole lot out there with the rest, but you never know. The team drafted Xavier Majic back in 1991, but he never made the bigs, alas. Otherwise, he'd be a shoo-in, no matter how many games he played. Tell me you could resist THAT jersey!
...and now I'm embarrassed. Mortified, in fact. How on earth could I possibly forget Curt Fraser? Almost 350 games with the team and over 650 penalty minutes, he easily fits onto the wing beside Kurtenbach. They may not have played in Vancouver at the same time, but the spirit is there!
That just leaves one winger to go, with the letters...Ah. Right, then. Take three, and let's see what we have under the barrel, shall we? I don't want to touch our first team because that defeats the point of this lunatic game.
Team Two has Nikita Zadorov, Yannick Weber, Orland Kurtenback, Jacob Markström, and Curt Fraser. Those are actual NHL players, which is a pleasant surprise, but also one man short. There is just no combination of I U V and X that produces another player. So we're going to have to blow it up.
Remaining letters: C F I J K N O U V W X Y Z
Two of those last four surviving letters are going to have to be used, so starting there. Artūrs Irbe and Brad Isbister are the only two "I" names that have played for Vancouver, so they're out. That's going to be one of the leftovers. Garry Unger never played for the Canucks, and it doesn't look like they had an Ulf despite their Swedish fixation, so that's got that decided.
But there's no "X" either. So... Bugger.
Matthias Öhlund, welcome to Team One! Sorry, Alex, you're out, and so is Kurtenback. Now let's see what happens.
Daniel Sedin - Thomas Gradin - Pavel Bure
Quinn Hughes - Matthias Öhlund
Roberto Luongo
Still a rock-solid team, that. Is there a Team Two, though? The remaining letters are: A C E F I J K N U V W X Y and Z, and we know our leftovers have to be X and U.
Curt Fraser - *MAGIC* - Vladimir Krutov
Nikita Zadorov - Yannick Weber - Ed Jovanovski
Artūrs Irbe
Okay, this is just silly. How am I getting three defencemen and two forwards out of this? Jovonovski was used as a forward on the power play at times, but that's a cheat. We want the five-on-five team. Some combination of NZ, YW, and/or EJ has to turn into a forward. Or some more extreme transformation...
Nope. Ain't happening. Spun this sucker around in circles, and that's all I ended up with.
If you want to try it yourself, go for it! It's quite the way to waste a few hours, and you might have better luck than I managed.
*Get it? Get it? Well, no, not yet, because Sirius doesn't rise for Vancouver until mid-August. But I'm bored and ain't waiting for it.
