Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Nucks Fan Rebuild & Retool Center - Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Hank and Danny will be passing off Franny so RJ can get some work done.
At least we hope so.
Canucks announcing today the Sedins are co-presidents of hockey ops. Ryan Johnson becomes the Canucks GM. The Vancouver Canucks.
Our thoughts...
jimmi:
This is great news! Or could be if the micro-managing owners can get out of the way for a few seasons... it's possible, isn't it?
When this regime change was announced, the 'braintrust' at Canucks HQ put us through extended hell as they searched for a new GM... names like Kevyn Adams and Pierre Dorion were dangled over us on the media guillotine. Then the final four became the final two. Some Bahstoon re-tread became a threat to our post-traumatic Boourn Benning hire.
Fortunately, not only was RJ selected - Thursday's pick all along - JR found his best successor. Two of them. We've rolled in the dirt of this management rodeo before. Former beloved Nuck, Trev, was President and it worked out well. Until he managed up to get fired after advocating a rebuild.
This time it could be different, as the Sedins are inheriting a rebuild that JR/PA managed to create. So... that's good. Although... Vern warns us about performative changes.
Since the Twins are among my fav Canucks players, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. With a long and patient pathway to prove their vision. Until November at least.
Thursday:
What seemed like the obvious choice ended up being the obvious choice. But we got a dog-and-pony show first, which was considerate of them. Ideally, the owners heard enough from other potential hires that they are now aware of just where this team is and how long it will take to correct.
There are a couple standout things from their presser that I liked. An awareness of the situation from Johnson was mandatory, and it seems like he has one. That he was given a three-year contract is worth thinking about, though. I want the owners to know three years from now is a waystation, not a destination. That's going to be on them if they decide otherwise. Frankly, I don't want to hear from the owners again until he's up for renewal.
The Sedins getting the top job this soon is a bit unexpected, but it was inevitable. That, I think, was where hiring them was ending up. As I mentioned last time, they have been very deliberate in their choice to join the team, saying from Day One they wanted to learn everything about the team. They've been spending the past five years doing that. If there's one thing I'm never going to doubt, it's the Sedins working hard at whatever's in front of them.
But it's good to have the negotiating side being handled by the guy who has been a general manager before, even if it was in the AHL. There is a lot to run on a pro team, and I didn't want to see one person - or even two, if it was the Sedins - getting the whole job.
What it isn't is a clean slate. These three have been with the organization for a long time, and have a lot of pride in their work. But you know what was a clean slate? Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin, and Rick Tocchet. I'm willing to see where this goes, including the firing (or not) of head coach Adam Foote.
Right now, we have three guys who are very proud to be part of the team. Theoretically, that will sink in through the rest of the system down to the players. That's going to be essential for what will be some hard years ahead. So long as management is open and honest with their players, that will help build the culture. Johnson saying very clearly that he knows what the future holds.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, however, reality has a way of creating whole new problems the theory didn't consider. We're just going to have to see what they do about it.
The Hockey Gods looked upon Vancouver and said: Meh.
Vancouver had the best chance of falling to third overall in the draft lottery, and the odds didn't disappoint. The Canucks have lost a LOT of draft positions over the past decade.
2013-15: No position change in three drafts
2016: Dropped two spots, picked 5th
2017: Dropped three spots, picked 5th
2018: Dropped one spot, picked 7th
2019: Dropped one spot, picked 10th
2020-21: No first-round pick, so who cares? We're FINE!
2022: No change, picked 15th
2023: No change, picked 11th
2024: First-round picks are for the weak. So are second-round picks.
2025: No change, but Utah, who finished in 14th to Vancouver's 15th, won and moved up to fourth.
2026: Dropped two spots, because it's been a while. Any chance we can get that whole "finishing last in the league by a wide margin" thing back?
So, yeah. We had a 55% chance of watching the team drop, and they did. Which sucks, but is still a third-overall draft position. That ain't a bad thing at all.
First things first, and Jim Rutherford announced after the lottery that he would be stepping away from his position. The President of Hockey Operations is keeping his title until after the draft proper happens in June. That gives the team plenty of time to fill at least one executive position, getting a general manager in place early enough to navigate the entry draft. There is still someone here to answer questions and maintain consistency among the white-collars.
That in itself isn't "good news" exactly, but it does show that they have a direction in mind. That part's good, anyway. And it makes the hiring of two people more likely, which I like. Splitting duties as the game gets more complex isn't a bad thing at all. Though perhaps give Dorion a miss for either spot, thanks.
Without getting into the players themselves, let's talk about why getting third this season is good news. And don't forget, the two teams that jumped ahead of Vancouver may well leave either McKenna or Stenberg available at third. The easiest pick could once again fall into the Canucks' lap through no effort of their own. If not, well, there are a half-dozen players I'd be more than happy to get, for a price. Seattle or Calgary want to toss in a pick in the 20s to get the guy they want? Does Winnipeg feel optimistic about its position next year? Let's talk 2027!
Personally, I don't want ANY of the players Vancouver takes this year to appear in the NHL. Training camp, sure, but not in the league. The Canucks are going to be a difficult team to win with, make no mistake. The fans have a long year ahead of them, and so do the players.
There are two possible results if they push their pick into the league this season, and neither one is what you want. The player could have a great year, helping them enough to worsen their draft position. Lovely, but that's not really what Vancouver needs. Or, of course, he doesn't, and you have an 18-year-old getting dragged by his hair through another bottom-ranked season. I can wait a year.
No one wants to work. I don't mean that as an indictment of The Youth Today, though I am the correct demographic. I mean that, literally, no one wants to work. That's why we call it work. You can enjoy what you do, that's fine, but it would be an ideal world where you could choose how much you did and when you did it. Right? Right. Hockey managers are no different.
When a bad team gets the first overall choice, and if they play really, really well, there is temptation. Say Vancouver gets McKenna, well, then what? Even if he blows the doors off, massively outperforming expectations, he might get 60 points for the season. Given the weakness of the division, that might even put them within striking distance of a playoff spot a week before the trade deadline. Hey, imagine if this kid had just a little more help...
That impulse needs to be snuffed out immediately. That little spark of hope can't be allowed to grow, not yet. Vancouver needs to be in this for the long haul, and that doesn't mean one or two bad seasons. We, the fans, will have plenty of young players to watch out there. Adding this year's pick is a bit of overkill.
Finishing third, there's no pretending that "We can do it quickly!" or "Go for it!" Put the chip-clip on the lips and grow some patience.
One top-three pick is great, don't get me wrong. But another would be even better, especially if a couple top-ten picks follow soon after.
Vancouver is going to get better. Probably. It's going to be tough to avoid, though talent alone isn't enough to win the Stanley Cup. Besides, the Canucks have finished in the mid-twenties often enough that it feels like home. Getting picks in the teens and watching those guys pass or fail is part of the fun of a rebuilding team. But it's so much better when you draft in the teens and don't put the weight of the world on them.
Fans are talking about Braeden Cootes and his potential to be a first-line centre, and that's lunatic. If he gets there, that's awesome! But to expect him to get there, or even to hope that he does, is ridiculous. He looks like a solid, middle-six player at centre or wing, and that's great. Teams need those. It'll be better when we draft a kid in that mid-teens position and add him to a pool that has three top-ten picks already working their way through the system.
Okay, call me greedy, but there's a lot more to talk about with the Canucks picking third than if they finished in the top two. If they won either lottery, then the choice is obvious. Pick McKenna or Stenberg, whichever is available. Finishing with the third, though? Now it gets interesting!
They could pick any of a few defencemen in a draft that's very good for them. There are a couple centres in the mix, and the team might stretch to grab one of them. Or - least likely but most fun to consider - they might successfully trade down and still get a solid prospect while adding another pick.
Hey, there are 50 days to go before the actual draft. We'll take what we can get!
NHL Entry Draft - May 5, 2026
Are you ready for #3?
Join our almost live coverage of another draft where the Nucks almost pick first!
Your or their Vancouver Canucks pick:
Leave your snarky comments below...
As designed, Canucks pick 3rd. NHL lotto luck goes to CoTU and SJ. Because... reasons.
Tuesday, May 5th, is the Day of Reckoning.
Or a day of reckoning, anyway. Possibly a day that could lead to reckoning somewhere down the line in another 8-10 years, maybe. Should be an interesting one, anyway.
It seems unlikely that the Vancouver Canucks will announce a shiny new general manager hours before Tuesday's draft lottery. It seems like they want to make two hires: the GM and an "assistant to the president" or some similar title. It wouldn't be a surprise if both ot those are announced at the same time, at which point we can probably start a timer on Adam Foote's remaining time with the team.
By the sounds of it, the team has narrowed their search, culling a half-dozen names from their list. By the end of the week, they may have their choices, but there's no need for a full programme to watch lotto balls drop. They've got the Sedins for that. Everything they do immediately after the main event, however, needs a proper management team.
Let's make something completely clear, first: I am not a scout. Yes, I look at some videos, but I'm not looking at thirty videos of one CHL player. I'm not in the rinks live, I'm not paid to interview scouts. I don't have a scouting channel or website or a file folder with proprietary statistics painfully collected. All I'm doing here is reading, watching, and listening to actual specialists in the public domain and compiling it for myself.
I'm also forming opinions. THOSE I have.
While some depend on where the lottery balls land, that only involves the first few picks. It's pretty easy to form a blanket statement to cover the results, whichever direction luck takes us. And most likely, that's to the third overall pick.
Officially, Vancouver has an 18.5% chance of winning the lottery for first overall. But if you add in all of the teams that might win but can't move into first, that jumps to 25.5%. Far and away the best chance in the league, but still only happening a quarter of the time, give or take a groat or two.
If they don't win first overall, their odds of finishing with the second pick depend on who won first. Their number combinations are struck from the roll, and another draw is performed. If the team that won was over 11th overall and left Vancouver in first, or below it and bumped them to second, it makes a difference, but all told, their odds are around 19%. Don't think about it too hard.
Take Gavin McKenna. It's not complicated. Yes, there is a good argument for Ivar Stenberg, but I think the higher upside is McKenna's, and upside is what the Canucks should be aiming for. Stenberg likely has the higher floor, and that's great, but Vancouver needs a star, and McKenna has the best chance of that.
Source: Gavin McKenna @ Elite Prospects
Take the other one. Whichever of McKenna or Steinberg didn't get drafted first, take the other. If both are available, see the previous section.
Source: Ivar Stenberg @ Elite Prospects
Now things get interesting! There has been a big push for Caleb Malhotra as a semi-local favourite. Hey, if we couldn't get Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard, let's go for Matty's kid! That makes for a great story, but I don't think it's their best choice, because I don't think he's the best player.
Look, I have nothing against Malhotra. He sounds like an amazing guy: fantastic work ethic on the ice, polite and considerate off it. Good with kids, loves puppies, etc. But his projections are for a middle-six centre. A good one, certainly, but a middle-six centre. Is that the guy to spend a third overall pick on? He has rocketed up the rankings lately, and his reputation has only improved in the CHL playoffs. I'm a little paranoid of late surges, but these are 17-year-old kids, and sudden improvement over the course of a year isn't impossible.
Judging from opinions around the (publicly available) scouting world, though, there are likely at least two top-pair defencemen waiting. Both Chase Reid and Keaton Verhoff are thought of very highly this season. Reid for his offence and skill, Verhoff for his size and intelligence. I like Verhoff a bit more of the two, given his handedness and his league. The NCAA is not an easy league, and he's playing in it at 17.
But if the Canucks are determined to take a centre, Malhotra's fine. Or they could drop down in the draft, assuming a willing partner.
It's one of those things that never happens, but we love to play with it. Heck, the last time Vancouver made a move in the first round, they got Bo Horvat, and that worked out pretty well. It cost them the excellent Cory Schneider to get that pick, but still worth it. Maybe dropping down a few - NOT trading it away - can produce a similar result?
Thing is, the centres in this draft frankly aren't great. Good players and good prospects, but if a star emerges, it will be a surprise. NEXT year's pool looks kind of incredible from this far out, with maybe a dozen primed to go in the first round. This year, the defencemen are just better (though I'm still going for one of the Big Two wingers first). If they want a centre, pick up the phone and see if one of the teams with a second first-round pick has their sights set on some Can't-Miss Charlie.
The Seattle Kraken are feeling the pressure, so maybe they want to climb from 6th (or 7th, or 8th) to third. Or Boston, after Toronto has some bad luck and gives up their fifth, really, REALLY wants Oscar Hemming and doesn't want to risk losing him. Well, then the surrendered pick doesn't need to be this season. I don't even mind a protected one from 2027 if they're willing to pay.
Even if crowd favourite Malhotra is snatched up before the Canucks can get him in their new spot, that's okay. There are a LOT of players who seem to be in a 5th-through-8th mix. That sounds contradictory, but after the top four, it gets a bit wild out there. Heck, if Malhotra's gone, they might go for a brother play with Viggo Björk. Put him in the system that already has Wilson. Speaking of which...
Things always get blurry after the first consensus picks. If Vancouver doesn't add - or lose - any more picks, then there is still plenty to talk about. Their pick from Minnesota would be a fine place to get a(nother?) centre, with a pile of them likely available. Brooks Rogowski might be gone just by virtue of his size, but the slightly older Ryan Roobroeck or Maddox Dagenais could be available. Heck, draft Alexander Command for his name alone and see if he's actually captain material.
In the second round, I would have no qualms about using both picks on the Ruck twins. I think that would be fun, and they have piled on the points this year in Medicine Hat. But there are some warning flags, and if another team wants to take one or the other earlier, let them. They are not the stockiest dudes, and their scoring is coming in a year when several of the best CHL players went to the NCAA.
Still, Vancouver's had good luck with twins, and getting a couple guys from Osoyoos? How doesn't that sell tickets, even when they're in Abbotsford, a mere four-hour drive away?
Beyond that, it becomes a case of "who caught your eye this week" for us amateurs. Filip Ruzicka - the goaltender with Brandon - looks interesting. And gigantic. And frankly, I'm looking forward to seeing what else comes up between now and June 26th. It sounds like the teams really miss having everyone in the same room together instead of the goofy Zoom calls, and so do I. It's weirdly exciting to see a middle-aged guy stand up from a table and totter his way across the floor while a clock ticks down.
But until they restore the drama of 200 teenaged athletes and their families herded together like it's a cattle auction, our drama will have to come from four ping pong balls and fluorescent lighting. Can't wait!
The most Canuckian Canuck ever to speak in colourful words has died, suddenly.
He was the most beloved Nucks broadcaster - in this century. While the Canucks have been mediocre to terrible the past couple decades, we could take comfort that each miserable game would be covered by the best tandem in TV broadcasting, John Shorthouse and John Garrett.
Our NM contributors try to pay tribute to Cheech - we don't have enough ketchup.
jimmi:
Cheech brought so much fun to every Nucks game. Funny, thoughtful and above all, a kind and humble Canucks fan. It was a blow when he stopped regular season Canucks coverage. This is worse.
How can we pay tribute to the man who made watching the Canucks lose on TV, better than watching the Canucks live and losing in the rink? What a career - other than the goalie part. A wonderful person. A Canucks legend! Even the goalie part. Thanks, Cheech!
Thursday:
The radio is my favourite medium for Canucks games, and we've been blessed with some of the best to ever do it. John Shorthouse had a hard act to follow when Jim Robson retired from broadcasting the Canucks in 1999. Robson carried the position with dignity and warmth, and his voice was beloved through good times and bad. Shorty's articulate descriptions are different, but have carried the day well ever since.
Tom Larscheid, on the other hand, was a straight-up force of chaos. A colour man who was just as wildly hued as anyone on the ice - or field, when he broadcast the BC Lions. He was a great counter to Robson, but to my ears, despite their decade together, he never worked as well with Shorthouse as he did with Robson.
By the time John Garrett took the colour role, first with Jim Hughson, then Shorthouse, he was a veteran broadcaster. He had a dozen years pro experience on the ice with the WHA and NHL, but it felt like he had a century's worth of stories.
"Cheech" - yes, he got the nickname because someone thought he looked like one of the world's most famous stoners - would add the weirdest tales to any pauses in the game. At any moment, you could hear about the value of ketchup, eating hot dogs on the bench during a game, and dinners in every city across the league.
He was comfortable with fans, outraged with bad refereeing, and an unrepentant homer in the worst seasons. He was always one of us, and so clearly loved the team, loved his job, and loved needling Shorty with wild digressions between plays. He is missed.
Westy:
I moved out of Canada back in 2001 and for the first few years in Latin America I forgot all about hockey. It was probably due to the fact that you couldn't get a game on the t.v. anywhere and the internet was not as available. It wasn't until 2009 that I was able to stream NHL.com and could finally watch the Canucks again. What a time to rejoin the fandom. the Canucks-Hawks rivalry was at a fever pitch and the Sedins had hit their stride. I knew John Shorthouse from his babyface days on Sportspage (Ch 13) in Vancouver and John Garrett was already spinning yarns on the broadcast. People like to talk about how hometown broadcasters are homers and since I had the ability to watch any NHL online, I got to see a lot of different broadcasters in different cities, and I can say that Shorty and Cheech are definitely homers for the Canucks. But Cheech was honest when it came to players screwing the pooch. He called plays like he saw it and while he never put a player down, he would question "What the heck was he thinking?" at least once a game. I always enjoyed when Cheech would talk about food on the road and his love of ketchup and Kraft Mac and Cheese. I never meet Cheech in person, but every story I hear reinforces the idea of him in my head. A kind, funny, hard-working man, who loved his family and his job and had time for anyone that asked. We need more John Garretts in this world.
Kent:
What, you didn't think I would come back for this?
In a season that felt like watching this team was akin to getting hit repeatedly in the face with a shovel, we've had to deal with a lot as a collective fan base. Having to come to terms, in a rather short period of time, that Quinn Hughes was not actually going to be part of the future, was not easy. The loss of the original voice of the Canucks, the one and only Jim Robson, was a cruel blow to fans who were already struggling with all this. And now, the sudden loss of someone who was universally loved and admired, who was the quintessential Canuck. Cruel doesn't even begin to describe it. Talk about kicking us when we're down.
John Garrett was a damn good goaltender in an era where genuinely good goalies were rare. His transition from player to broadcaster should be studied by those who follow in his footsteps, though so much of it was simply his massive personality. Along with John Shorthouse, they made it feel like you were watching a game with friends. Their personal interactions, glimpses into their personas away from the rink, and willingness to take fun pokes at each other helped us through some rough nights watching the Canucks, and they were even more entertaining when the team was playing well. While it's been awesome having Ray Ferraro part time, and Dave Tomlinson continues to get better, the absence of Cheech from Canucks broadcasts was felt immediately. And knowing we'll never get one more night of the best play by play duo in the biz is a genuinely sad thing. We were absolutely blessed to have him as part of this organization. I hope he knew how much we loved him.
"Say, do you know what the secret of good comedy is?"
"No. What is the se-"
"Timing."
-Very old joke I still do when I'm drunk enough
When last we left our intrepid heroes, they were on a Holy Quest for We're Not Quite Sure What. Lists of names have emerged, rumours have abounded (if that's a word), and the Merry Band of Misfit Toys has packed up and gone home. Or off to the World Championships, as the case may be. And the fans are left to speculate.
Some very interesting names have cropped up, most of which we riffled through last week. But we're still not clear on what positions are being hired for. Could be that only one hire is made in this round, that being a general manager to go through their rolodex and think of the future. But maybe not.
On a guess, Adam Foote isn't long for the world of bench-bossing, at least not here. That Jim Rutherford has said he'd leave the decision to the general manager is a positive sign for us, the fans. Less so for Foote, the coach. But whether it was because his plans were bad or his communication of them was, his coaching simply didn't work. Sure, the team changed what the objective was halfway through the season, but I'm agreeing with Vern on this one.
But found GM or not, there is more to this white-collar hiring spree than meets the eye.
Rutherford hasn't said, but has certainly implied, that he doesn't really want the job for much longer than he's had it. Fair enough, given his age and years at the job. Heck, when he was first hired, he brought along the one who would have taken over by now if things had gone to plan. But this is Vancouver, and Vancouver feasts on hubris. Patrik Allvine is gone, and the job title of Once and Future Manager remains.
The most interesting name to crop up last week was probably Shane Doan. He has an excellent reputation among hockey folk, even if his Curriculum Vitae is a bit thin. He's mentioned a disinterest in being a general manager, per se, but the Canucks aren't only looking for a GM. They are also looking for who can take over for Rutherford himself, and relatively soon. He has a local-ish interest as part-owner of the Kamloops Blazers, his old WHL team.
Anyone the team gets as an Assistant to the President (or whatever title they go with) will have a year or two with Rutherford to get their feet wet. That seems like a better plan than someone assuming the title of general manager only to get promoted when Rutherford decides to retire. The president has a different role from the general manager, and keeping the two distinct from the start is the best idea. Doubly so if Rutherford plans to leave soon.
The big empty space is still the GM's role. While the draft is still some ways away - June 26th, to be exact - there is plenty to do between now and then. The draft lottery is on May 5th, but that's hardly a vital moment. The team doesn't need a general manager in place to watch lottery balls fall into place. But somewhere soon after would be good.
Unlike most teams, Vancouver has few restricted free agents coming up on July 1st. Pierre-Olivier Joseph is the only one on the playing roster, and his best role is as a veteran 7-8 defenceman. Good to have around, but not the most important signing of the day. Danilla Klimovich is coming due as well, and there's a decision to be made there, but probably not a huge one. You get the point.
On the other hand, the Canucks have several other players they need to make decisions on. The trade deadline may have passed, but trades can be made year-round. Even as teams are eliminated from the playoffs, the opportunity is there to ask them if, hey, maybe if you had one of our guys, you would have made it a wee bit further? Strike while the iron is still crying from a lack of home game revenue, as they always say.
So yes, while the team doesn't strictly need a general manager to be named before the draft lottery, having one in place wouldn't go amiss. At the very least, interested teams should know who to call.
The end of the 2025-26 season has arrived at long, long last. Exit media and player interviews have been had, an evaluation of - Sorry, what's this?
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canucks-fire-general-manager-patrik-allvin-after-five-seasons/
Well, then. Suppose we should hold off until the President of Hockey Operations gets his notes together and -
Ah. Yes. That. Jim Rutherford's bit starts two hours and four minutes in, and I guess that's where we'll start.
So far, just the general manager has been fired. The reason, Rutherford says, is because the next general manager should decide how the team will react to a disastrous season. That means Coach Adam Foote is still most likely fired, but hasn't been yet.
That's good news. No, really! Rutherford is making a clear demarcation of responsibilities with that decision. Whether he will continue that self-imposed limit, well, that remains to be seen. In theory, the PoHO (there's gotta be a better acronym out there...) chooses the direction of the team, and the general manager executes that vision. But we all know Rutherford stepped in at a few vital points, possibly at the behest of ownership, to take power away from Allvin.
That can complicate any new search. The favourite is Ryan Johnson, who has run the Abbotsford Canucks to an AHL championship and signed a lucrative contract with the understanding he would get promotion to the big club before its term ended. Whether that's to general manager or an assistant GM position is unknown to us.
Rutherford has talked about expanding the search as widely as possible, but whoever comes here will want assurances. How much power will they actually have, what timeline is the team looking at, and what about the Sword of Damocles working an hour down the road? Not many qualified, veteran people would be thrilled with those working conditions.
This is a pretty good question, too. According to Rutherford, he had been thinking about the firing for several weeks, but didn't reach a decision until last night. That it was leaked by a Swedish magazine moved up the announcement, but was otherwise coincidental. Not sure I entirely believe that bit, but it doesn't change much in the big picture.
The first problem is that it delaying the hiring means other decisions will have to wait. That includes signing on scouting staff (or not), finding a new coaching staff (or not), and the amateur draft coming up. Given that Allvin came from the scouting world, that last was entirely in his hands, and he has the Air Miles to prove it.
Other coaches and general managers have been hired already, so another reason my be because the team really does want to have as many options as possible. The longer they wait, the more names are made unavailable. Or it may just be for show before they bring Johnson in and he calls up Manny Malhotra.
Rutherford reiterated that the team is undergoing a rebuild, and any new general manager will need to agree with that. Not a bad thing, but if anyone said differently that would be reason to end the interview early.
The Canucks need to have a rebuild, obviously. Step One is getting over the fear of saying that out loud. The fans in Vancouver aren't idiots. But they're also not made of money. The number of people willing to piss it away on the hobbled creature that appeared early in the season is diminishing. Losing isn't necessarily the thing that turns off fans: losing expensively can.
Whoever's hired as the next general manager is going to have to gain the trust of the fans. That includes having a plan that lasts longer than a few months. Hearing word of a ten-year plan is a bit silly, given the duration of most sports careers. But having a three-year plan to reach one point, then another from there, and another from there, can work for me.
As the team discovered just this season, times change, and so should goals. Vancouver wanted to be competing for a playoff spot as an eventual step to the Stanley Cup. That plan ended in December, and the stated goals soon followed.
Vern's talked about what they want to see from the team ASAP. The team got one thing off the list so far. The rest could take a bit longer.
The draft lottery is coming up in May. Until then? Smile, smile, smile!
After a Kings game that was the visual equivalent of a slightly squeaky desk fan, the rest of California paid off. Back-to-back wins against San Jose and Anaheim were a shining moment in a gloomy season. Do they mean anything, though?
At the tail end of arguably the worst season in Canucks history, fans can be excused for tuning out the team. After finishing last in the league was assured, what other reason was there to watch? Improvement from the special teams? Yeah, that's happened, but it's not exactly what sells tickets.
One shootout win and one overtime win later, and actually, there's a lot that's fun here! It's just that we need an opposition that is also slightly disastrous in their own end. The Ducks are going to be an interesting watch in the offseason, with three of their veteran, right-side defencemen all becoming unrestricted free agents. The Sharks, on the other hand, seem to regard having right-side defencemen as optional rather than mandatory.
Sure, I mock the defence of teams well ahead of Vancouver in the standings - and in their rebuilds - but it's with love. Those two games were a blast to watch, relative to the dreck we've been fed recently. And it's not really the fault of individual players when the systems are either not applied well (Vancouver's case) or geared toward scoring (also Vancouver's case, but include the other two as well).
But let's focus on the Canucks. Because what happened on the defence is actually pretty interesting.
The top four went unchanged for this road swing. Zeev Buium was with Filip Hronek, and Tom Willander stuck to Marcus Pettersson. As a third pair, Elias Pettersson the Defenceman was matched with Victor Mancini one night, Pierre-Olivier Joseph another, and Kirill Kudreyavtsev on the third.
In theory, Kudreyavstev is the one who shouldn't be here. My "2025-26 season longshot" was him reaching 40 NHL games, so it's not like he's a bad player. He doesn't really stand out, though. He's not particularly fast, certainly not big, and isn't much of a threat to score. Mancini beats him on all three counts, if we want to compare. But he is sharp.
Kudreyavtsev can read plays extremely well. He gets to the right spot at the right time, often stopping plays before they become dangerous. He could easily be Vancouver's 6/7 defender next season, taking Joseph's place. Pretty amazing, given his seventh-round draft lineage.
Getting 14 minutes in a tight game - even lis late in the season - is a show of confidence. For pretty good reason.
Possibly the best moment of the weekend came when the 26-year-old rookie Curtis Douglas scored his first NHL goal. That was genuine excitement, not just from him but from his teammates. His emotion after the game was marvellous to hear, too. That is, not to put too fine a point on it, the sort of thing we need to see around the team. We can forgive a bad team. We can't forgive one that doesn't care.
Seeing Kudreyavtsev celebrating with Douglas gives a nostalgic Tyler Myers - Conor Garland feel, too. And that's nice.
Speaking of our local behemoth, guess who challenged notorious brawler Radko Gudas? That's right, Teddy Blueger! If he had just gotten an assist in Los Angeles before his goal in San Jose, he could have picked up the single-state Gordie Howe hat trick. In a league that is low on free agent centres - and centres in general - whatever decision the team makes on Blueger will have good arguments on both sides. We'll get into that in another week or so.
The quartet out on the ice for an overtime power play was an interesting look, too. The "Minnesota Trio" of Marco Rossi, Liam Öhgren, and Zeev Buium were joined by actual Minnesotan Brock Boeser to finish the 4-on-3, and it worked. Granted, a 4-on-3 usually does, but if you wanted a quick look into Vancouver's future, there are worse moments.
The worst part about watching late games in a failed season is that "but what does this mean for next season" is a constant, intrusive thought. But sometimes, that can be optimistic, too.
Online writing is an interesting thing. The writing remains the same, while the medium - or at least the format - continually changes. Some of us have gone from Notepad cut and paste through Write or Die freeform gibberish over the decades. I have writing that ended up lost and gone forever because I don't have a program that can read it. No great loss, frankly, but it does make comparisons difficult.
If you look to the future, some version of it will be there, sitting in front of you to examine at your leisure. But it won't be an accurate version. Yes, this is about the Vancouver Canucks.
Needless to say, this season has not gone without a hitch. Lots of prognostications had Vancouver making the playoffs, and for good reason. Yes, Quinn Hughes was still on the team - and that helped - but mostly it was all about how weak the Pacific Division was. That part of the predictions still holds true, since in no sane world is Anaheim challenging for first. The playoffs, sure, but first place? Nah.
On paper, the team was easily comparable to others in the Pacific. But there is an important feature inherent with predictions: you can't predict injuries. The Canucks are a paper-thin team, talent-wise, but if they stayed reasonably healthy, they would likely be challenging for a spot right now. But that didn't happen. Hoo, doggies, that didn't happen.
They tumbled, plans changed. And no, nobody believes the team has "been in a rebuild for a couple of years already," Jim. No one. On the other hand, a certain amount of resignation coming from the management team is an oddly refreshing change. It's nice when they acknowledge reality along with the rest of us.
Instead, everyone sees that the team isn't going to hit ten wins at home. We all know the remaining games are going to be filled with mistakes and unequal events. We get it, we really do. Some will complain you're doing it wrong, whatever "it" is, but that's going to happen. This is a city of two million general managers, after all. No one here has a wingsuit they're going to magically pull from their backpack. This team is going downhill and is going to take their lumps doing it.
Then it's time to get up and plan the next route up the mountain.
Funny story: the Canucks' power play has been extremely productive since the team returned from the Olympic break. As in "around 30%" good. The penalty kill, on the other hand, remains bad. Not "worst in the league" bad, but a 75% success rate, which isn't great.
The overall goals stat isn't following the same plan. Just 51 for in 19 games is in the bottom third of the league territory, but not as bad as it could be. Scoring is probably the most forgiving stat for a young team, a place where mistakes aren't as visible as they might be otherwise. Young players are encouraged to "go try stuff" when standings aren't on the line. They were drafted for a reason, now go show it.
Their goals against, on the other hand, is brutal. The 85 given up in those same 19 games doesn't really have an equivalent. Even the Maple Leafs gave up seven fewer, and they have played one more game in that time. Not gonna lie, that one hurts. Now, the Canucks have allowed a team-record 24 empty netters this season, but you have to be behind before that's a risk. And they've been behind a LOT.
The Canucks have missed Derek Forbort as much as any other player this year. As much as we appreciate Pierre-Olivier Joseph, he was supposed to be the seventh man, not an option to keep Tom Willander company. There were games when Vancouver had four defencemen with fewer than 100 NHL games in the lineup. Yes, Kevin Lankinen and Nikita Tolopilo could have been better, but come on. There are plenty of games where opponents scored five or more and the goaltending wasn't the problem.
That makes next year's plan all the more interesting.
The newly-signed Victor Mancini is waiver-eligible next season. He hasn't been great, but he's been good enough that losing him is not only a real possibility, but would do damage. At just $1 million, there is plenty of reason to be patient. The team wants him to use his 6'3", 225 lbs frame more than he has, but that's never really been his game. But his offence hasn't been his NHL ticket, either, and he's going to be on a team with not much size. If he wants to stick, spending Summer taking an MMA course wouldn't hurt.
It's the other three that have the questions. Zeev Buium has the highest upside, but is also the youngest, almost a year younger than Tom Willander. Elias Pettersson the Defenceman has the least pressure to produce points, and is the most physically developed of the three. But his inexperience shows when he's trying to sort out his timing, especially in his end of the ice.
And never mind having a defenceman from this season's draft joining the team next year. Just no. Don't do that. Personally, I don't want to see any player from the 2026 draft on the team in the regular season. Let them avoid the pain of a full 84 games of one-win-in-four level hockey. We don't need them to be good next year in Vancouver. Let them be good right where they are.
Which brings us back to the Three Musketeers. There is, I think, a decent argument to be had for playing them in the AHL next year. Maybe one, maybe two, maybe all three. Next season is going to be hard on everyone, and there are going to be plenty of games where the Canucks are simply outmatched. The available free agents aren't great next year, but they will be veterans who can handle the workload physically and mentally.
On paper, this is a more talented team than the standings indicate. Odds are very good that they will improve considerably on this year's result. But in an ideal world, they will stay in that bottom-five position while individual players gain experience and improve their skills.
We don't know what the future looks like, but we can make educated guesses and act on those. Maybe if I had learned how to save things in different formats sooner, I'd have more of my work available. Maybe if the Canucks had anticipated Hughes leaving, they could have chosen not to rely on injury-prone players. But we are here now, and can always make plans for our future tense then.
The kids are going to play out the year, of course. It's a little unfair to Tolopilo and Lankinen, but them's the breaks. What will be more interesting is seeing what happens next.
Source: National Hockey League @ Elite Prospects
Following the Vancouver Canucks is a challenging thing just now. It doesn't help when marginally more successful teams are making changes either behind the bench or in the front office.
Yes, we're calling the Vegas Golden Knights a "marginally more successful team" than the Canucks. If you saw them play against Vancouver on Monday, you wouldn't be impressed, either. And they're 32 points up the standings.
There are nine games left before the regular season comes to a merciful end. We've mentioned - A LOT - about how to keep any kind of interest in our favourite team. Look for growth in the kids, see the veterans find their voices, maybe just focus on a player you like.
But, lordy, there is a lot you have to ignore. And that's getting harder.
The Canucks have lost six in a row, but that's not the important part. We all know losses are going to come through the end of the year. There is a talent imbalance, an experience deficit, and little motivation for success outside personal embarrassment. So, sure, losses happen.
The loss against Vegas mostly involved the chances given. Adin Hill stopped more than Kevin Lankinen, as a percentage, but it's hard to point to Lankinen's performance as the reason Vegas won. A recurring refrain from Canucks games has been "The pass to [player] coming in alone on net."
That Vancouver played well enough to possibly win is an indictment of the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights are in the playoffs by default, not through any effort of their own. They changed coaches the day before this game, for crying out loud. They're not doing great.
A losing team can still be fun. In fact, if you have watched two different teams sharing the division, you probably had fun doing it. The San Jose Sharks in the past two seasons have lost plenty of games, but they're also been fun to watch. They haven't always been able to hold it together, but when they did it was cause for celebration.
The last fun game the Canucks played was against the Anaheim Ducks, who also shouldn't be in the playoffs, but are in the Pacific Division, so... They also have a bit of a "defence optional" approach to the game. Fortunately for them, their offence has been catching up, and that's an easy way to sell tickets.
What can sell tickets in Vancouver while we wait? It's tough to tell, since we don't know what they're going to do next.
There have been vague implications of "big changes" from Jim Rutherford, and rumours that Patrik Allvin is going to take the fall. There are plenty of reasons for him to do so, of course. Possibly the biggest is every decision made leading into this season, and then being pushed aside for the biggest moment of this management's brief tenure. Rutherford stepping in for the Quinn Hughes trade was the dagger, and Allvin has been bleeding ever since.
One question is how much of the blame for the current disaster can be laid at Allvin's feet. In theory, the direction of any team is dictated by the general manager. In practice, much of that seems to be coming from Rutherford instead. That goes back to the decision to move Bo Horvat and keep J.T. Miller, a trade handled by Allvin, but likely made necessary by Rutherford's direction.
While that trade wasn't bad for the value returned, it and subsequent ones were guided by the "win now" direction. That core misunderstanding of the team is hard to forgive. Is it a a good thing that the tightrope the team chose to walk is now recognized as leading to a brick wall?
The current coach is here because the best defenceman the team has ever had wanted him to be. Adam Foote got a three-year contract out of that wish, though the "search" for a new coach was limited to two names. As a result, they will likely lose the other choice, Abbotsford bench boss Manny Malhotra. It's that or fire Foote and pay him to not coach. And we don't know how effective Malhotra will be in the NHL with what will be a very weak team.
To say Foote has been ineffective is an understatement. After nearly a full season, the players still look lost in their own end. Their control of the puck in the opposing end is minimal. And they seem unsure of themselves everywhere on the ice. For a team that is going young - they had four rookies on the defence at times this year - that's not a great sign. He can absolutely take his share of the blame.
But more has to be reserved for management. Rutherford said that they have known "for a while" that Quinn Hughes wasn't coming back to the team when his contract expired. Thing is, that "a while" was apparently mid-season in 2024-25. Every decision made from that point should have been pointed at a post-Hughes team. And it wasn't.
Everything from keeping Pius Suter past the deadline to re-signing Brock Boeser to hiring Foote was centered around the assumption that Hughes was staying. If they knew otherwise, none of that should have happened. The signings and trades (or lack of them) were bad enough, and that's on the general manager, but they were made to a purpose.
We all know where this is heading. This ship was less run aground by a storm and more by "get a blindfold and hold my beer". We aren't aboard the SS Minnow but the Exxon Valdes. They are going to lose some fans in a rebuild, but it'll be worse if they don't course-correct, and soon. And fair enough - tickets aren't cheap, and the entertainment value has been minimal lately.
There is something to be salvaged yet. The Canucks have started to rebuild their prospect pool. They have picked up younger, capable players. They seem less likely to trade away high draft picks, though the night is still young. All that is positive, though we're going to need to see that through the draft and into next season to check if it's a blip or a habit.
I'm not too worried about the effect of bad coaching on the young players this season because everyone is going to try to forget it. And yes, being unable to communicate your plan or failing to adjust it to the players available is bad coaching. It's not impossible that Foote can improve in the offseason, but seeing improvement before then would be more reassuring.
Leave the Canucks, though? Nah. They're my team, and I've been here longer than damn near anyone drawing a paycheque from them. I don't know if I've seen a worse season, certainly not one with a greater discrepancy between expectations and results.
But I am a very patient fan.
