Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Nucks Fan Rebuild & Retool Center - Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
A shorter pre-season means fewer chances to prove yourself to an NHL team, as Aatu Räty well knows. Or knew. He's out of chances for this season, with veteran players just getting two games because of the new collective bargaining agreement.
The Canucks still have 31 players hanging around after two days of cuts. That means eight have to go, but there are two remaining pre-season games on the schedule before the crunch comes. Edmonton comes to town on Thursday, and the Kraken arrive on Saturday to round it out. Odds are good that only a couple decisions will remain by Saturday's Last Chance Saloon.
Those who have gone are either back to junior, released to their AHL contracts, or sent to Abbotsford. Most of the Abby returnees are waiver-exempt, including the players released to their AHL contracts. Those players don't have a deal with Vancouver, but with Abbotsford, and had professional tryout contracts for the pre-season.
It's unlikely that the three players Vancouver put on waivers will be selected by another team, as the selecting team would then need to put a player of their own on waivers. Actually, that's just Detroit; every other team in the league still needs to put anywhere from one (Seattle) to eleven (Florida, Ottawa) more players on waivers. Which does make things interesting for the Canucks.
I will be disappointed if Trey Fix-Wolansky is lifted from the current list by another team. I'm looking forward to seeing him in action, and I always like it when smaller guys get their break. "Smaller" being relative in this case: if anyone wants to cast a more height-accurate Wolverine, here ya go.
The waiver wire does offer an opportunity for Vancouver, though. Finishing 31st in the league last season does offer a benefit beyond the draft pick. Until November 1st, they get dibs on any player any team tries to send down. That's not just the pre-season, but all of October for them to try out waiver pickups.
No team is getting a star off the waiver wire, but there might be a useful player or two available. There may even be more than that, depending on how other teams' seasons go.
Should, for instance, Thatcher Demko start the season on the injured reserve list, maybe Vancouver would look for a goalie. They have a PTO man in Chris Driedger, but they also haven't played him yet. If the team decides they want to keep the duo of Ty Young and Aku Koskenvuo in Abbotsford and undisturbed, waivers are an option.
Getting a veteran skater makes more sense to me. It's possible the Canucks want a third goaltender to wait in the stands, and then great! Whoever's around can move from there to the bench in a pinch. But if the team wants to rotate in a mix of younger guys with steady vets, taking up a roster slot with a third goalie limits their options.
The objectives here - other than the unstated one - are to see which of the kids can hack it and which vets should guide them. And if those veteran skaters just happen to do well enough that their market value goes up by, say, March 1st? Well, so much the better!
But it's a balancing act. There will be ups and downs throughout the season, and you don't want to teach your kids how to lose. Grabbing someone off the waiver wire isn't replacing a top-six skater, and you probably don't know them very well. Adding someone who just got crushing news to your young squad might not be the best choice. Plus, of course, you want to get your kids enough ice time to make the year worth the losses.
I mentioned that the Canucks will have first bite on any waiver fodder until November 1st. That's true, but frankly, the Canucks will probably have that right through to next Summer. If one of their current vets does start the year hot and is moved out a few months in, then might be the right time to hit the waiver wire.
Adding Zach Aston-Reese now can mean losing a "quad-A" guy you actually want in Abbotsford. Adding him (or someone like him) when you've bumped up a young player means you can leave Abby alone for a bit longer.
Arshdeep Bains and Braeden Cootes look like they're getting along, don't they? With Cootes now allowed to join the AHL, that's about as good news as the prospects can give us. It's a bit disappointing that Bains has yet to find his creative side at the NHL level, but only a bit. Overager free agents rarely do, and he's been great in Abbotsford. Your AHL team needs heroes, too. And if he just happens to run a first line with one of Vancouver's star rookies, well, don't that fit nice!
Cootes shouldn't be in the NHL this year, and that confirms it for me. He's going to have a good welcome in Abbotsford, so let him.
Räty, on the other hand, still seems to be on the bubble. He shouldn't be, but if the team is determined to keep Jonathan Lekkerimaki up with the big squad, it's hard to see who he bumps. Räty is a good profile for a 13th forward in every way but his age. He has AHL scoring chops, but when he's in the lineup, it's been as a defensively focused player.
Word is that Filip Chytil won't play at centre. That's mixed feelings, right there. He carries the puck as well as anyone on the team, but that's where the open-ice hits lie. It's not like the wing is less physical, but those high-impact blowups are a lot rarer along the walls. Fingers crossed he makes it through the season - especially if he goes to a new team for a good price. He can be healthy there, wherever "there" happens to be. I'm fine with that.
Max Sasson does seem to be returning to centre, which should let him use his speed more. On the downside, he's less likely to produce Cy Young numbers there. With 13 goals and six assists last year, he showed what he can create as a finisher. Maybe feed him a little more penalty-kill time, and make him someone the opponent's second unit has to watch out for.
Last note for now: it's disappointing Kirill Kudryavtsev has already been sent to Abbotsford in favour of Victor Mancini. To my mind, Mancini has further to go to be the player he wants to be. Yes, he's right-handed, so that's an advantage, as is his size. And paycheque. But Kudryavtsev is better at the game if your game is defence. Maybe they'll surprise me and the world by sending down Mancini, keeping Guillaume Brisebois as their extra blueliner.
Two games to go before they start counting.
Day One of the Vancouver Canucks training camp was all about the defence. And yelling - lots of yelling. Day Two showed more offence, with rush variants and board play. And they play pre-season games on Saturday.
Or not. Everyone's curious about what the team will look like in personnel and coaching strategies, but this is just training camp. Even the two upcoming games against Seattle won't reveal a whole lot. The shortened pre-season isn't helping PTO pick up Chris Driedger, that's for sure.
What will help the goalies this year is the back-to-basics box+1 defensive system they practiced on Day One. Essentially a zone defence with the centre pressuring high; it's used to limit cross-ice passes and chances in the slot. Compared to the telephone book that was Adam Foote's read-and-react setup, this is a leaflet. That's good for a team with new faces, but also a relief for the fans.
The team might not have the skill to stop all the plays, but at least they won't look bewildered while they're being outclassed.
On the offence, it looks like a straightforward 1-3-1 when they set up on entry. Possession, puck recovery, and garbage goals are the rule of the day. Again, that's fine. There's more than enough chaos during actual play to keep things interesting - including counterattack opportunities against them. Come back soon, Thatcher Demko!
Trey Fix-Wolanski is plenty of fun, and I wouldn't mind if he got a few call-ups during the year. Adam Novotný looks like a frikkin' blast out there, and his going back to Peterborough feels just unfair. Bennett Schimek looks VERY interesting for a guy on an AHL contract. I know virtually nothing about him, but he put in a good showing for 13 games in Abby last season. Vancouver has six empty contract slots right now, and it wouldn't surprise for him to one up this season.
Speaking of mights, Vilmer Alriksson could get his first NHL games this year. He spent his first pro year concentrating on his defensive game, to, ah, "mixed" results. If he can stake himself in front of the net, there will be some talent around to take advantage of it. Make that his calling card, and he'll find a spot.
The goaltending in Abby looks solid this year with Ty Young and Aku Koskenvuo. In a perfect world, those two battle it out all year long, with neither getting an emergency call. Same with Braden Cootes, taking advantage of the new "One 19-year-old allowed" exemption rule.
Oh, you meant about players starting the year in Vancouver?
For the NHL squad, the vets look like vets. There were some interesting positional decisions, but all of this can be changed in the next few days. Players will be looking for any edge in the four preseason games, so they won't be easy. Who knows when final decisions will be reached, but players put on the waiver wire early are more likely to get through. So we'll see.
One notable move is Max Sasson starting at centre.* He didn't do that a whole heck of a lot last year, taking the spot when the team felt like SOMEONE had to. This was a team that played David Kämpf as their 2C for a handful of games, so that makes sense. But with his speed, he might be more successful on the wing, with Ilya Safonov or Aatu Räty taking the bottom middle slot.
New arrival Brendan Gallagher is starting off low, too. His competition for a higher slot is either Linus Karlsson or Paul Cotter, and frankly I want to see Karlsson get his chance in the top-six first.
Speaking of old veterans, seeing Luke Schenn beside Zeev Buium is interesting. I mean, we know Buium is essentially taking the Quinn Hughes spot on the team, but that's a bit much! I can see the reasoning behind not pairing the kid with Filip Hronek, as Hronek's going to get the hardest assignments. A veteran pair of Hronek with Jamie Oleksiak makes sense. But is Schenn even going to play every game? He's at a point in his career where a few healthy scratches are likely, however good he is in the room.
It also leaves a third pair of Tom Willander with Elias Pettersson. That's a bold move, there. The "extra" in that case is either Victor Mancini or Kiril Kudreyavtsev, as I don't think Sawyer Mynio has a spot yet. I expect Pettersson will have a long career as a good third-pair guy, but Willander's ceiling is higher than that. Worth watching.
This is the "relaxed" year, right? No pressure to win the season, just to win games, and they won't do a whole lot of that. Enjoy the process! Except...
This is a marker season for Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Unlike upcoming prospects Cootes, Novotný, and Caleb Malhotra, Lekkerimaki needs to be in the top six to be effective. There is no defensive "B" game for him to fall back on. Yes, he needs to stay healthy, and it sucks that this is a year he's trying to come back from injuries. But he also needs a minimum of three shots a game - shooting percentage optional. I'm okay with him scoring just 15 goals this year, IF he also gets 200 shots on net in 60 games.
Then there's Räty. Man, he wants to cement his position in the NHL, and I'd love to see him do it. But you can't have a big-league career as a one-trick pony. On the plus side, maybe a change of coach also ends the ridiculous "win the faceoff and hit the bench" shifts of last season. Maybe he's an AHL scorer and an NHL penalty kill specialist. There are worse things to be.
The third point of tension for me is Filip Chytil. The entire arena is going to be holding its breath with every hit he takes out there. He's got a tonne of skill and is probably the best puck-carrier on the team right now. He's a great skater and can carry the puck into the zone as well as anyone, and boy, I don't want him to. He's getting paid a lot of money, I get it. But he's also just 27 years old, and I have bad thoughts of him adding to his concussion collection. Good luck, and eyes up, mate.
I am utterly unconcerned about Jake DeBrusk this season. Everyone knows what the situation is, including him, and he's been a professional about the whole "not what I signed up for" thing. The best way to get traded to a good team is to make them trade for him. I think he'll be fine.
Okay, the first preseason game is tomorrow, 6:00 PM. DROP THE PUCK!
*Say that into a microphone three times!
Frannie's Guide To Glory*
*Frannie has neither authorized or acknowledged this guide - in fact it's not much of a guide at all.
Welcome back to the season that never ends. The season that ends too soon. Or more likely, the season that doesn't end soon enough.
The Canucks, yes, your Vancouver Canucks are in a REBUILD!
We've been waiting for this since... [checks notes] 2014. Really? Yup. The rebuild Frannie put off for over a decade is now in the starting blocks. The parking lot. In the P/L statement slot.
Personal Note: That battered Canucks mug has been my daily driver since before the rebuild Frannie didn't start in 2014. I like to think or drink about it as a metaphor for Nucking fandom in the current era. Possibly past eras as well.
Doesn't matter.
We're entering a new era. Starting from the bottom of pack, a pack now packed with 32 teams. That's pretty tightly packed. But it wasn't always like this.
Do you remember the Original Six? Me neither. Before the proliferation of narcissistic billionaire owners, hockey lore states they were only six teams in the league which meant only six psychopathic owners. Or half that. No really.
In the 50s, Red Wings owner, James E. Norris, also controlled a syndicate that owned the Black Hawks and was also the largest stockholder in the Rags.To be fair this was in an era where corruption was rampant, but kept out of public view. Unlike our current era where corruption is very, very public. Where is this going?
Somewhere a point is being made. Just not here. Somehow Norris got his Wings a bunch of Cups, totally legit. If you wonder how the trophy for the league's best defenseman is known as the Norris, this is how. The best defense is offensive, concentrated league ownership.
You might be wondering, as am I, if this Guide To Glory is suggesting Frannie wrangle control of 15 other teams. Wonder not. While he may aspire to that lofty monopolistic pursuit, that's not where this Guide is going.
No, where we're going is slightly more insidious. In the 50s and early 60s, your team - if you happened to own one - had a 1 in 6 chance at the Cup. If you owned half of the teams, a 1 in 2 chance of Cuppiness. Today, your team has a 1 in 32 chance. Or if your team is the Canucks, a 0 in 56 chance, so far. It's not fair.
FAIRNESS: "Lord Stanley's Cup: Hardest Trophy to Win in Professional Sport"
We've heard that old rotting cliche trotted out every season since the expansion era included more sociopathic billionaire owners. Why? Because they want you to spend money on something that is worthwhile. Some might debate why it is worthwhile for those of limited means to spend inordinate amounts of money on hockey team tickets and memorabilia. That's a debate I can't afford to engage atm.
Also could be the justification for the inflation of franchises and billionaire egoes. It's tough to win a Cup. That's a feature, not a marketing scam. Other than it's been a marketing scam in Vancouver since 1970.
Sure we can cherish those Cup runs of 1982, 1994 and 2011, but that is pretty sparse pickings to dress up in relish and cherish. You know what would be more cherishable? Winning the freaking Cup. But how?
WE'LL NEVER WIN THE STANLEY CUP
Sorry. The actual Lord Stanley Cup was retired. In 1963. No wonder Vancouver was allowed to join the league almost a decade later. There was no chance the Nucks would ever win THE CUP. The NHL was laughing at us before we even got to be a laughable team.
For over 60 years we've had teams beating their brains out to win a Repli-Cup. Seems pretty stupid to work so hard to win a fake trophy, but here we are.
Not that it matters in this era anymore, but no Canadian team has won the Repli-Cup since Gary took over running the league in a previous century. Merely a coincidence? Perhaps.
Doesn't matter. What matters is the new Nucking rebuilding braintrust builds an honest and fair team culture environment in an unfair league.
WINNING THE RIGHT WAY
Or losing the right way. Either way is fine. We've spent over a decade watching Frannie and his sycophant management minions spin out the yarn of fake 'contender' possibility. No longer. Our Canucks are going to be living in the league's stinky basement, most likely, for years. No mushy middle false hope. Hope is not a plan.
Instead, stark realism and Embrace The Suck stoicism will fan the embers of our disgruntled Nucking fandom for seasons to come. We just have to enjoy - as ever - the little things (no, not that guy), the little winning plays that might happen while losing more and more games.
BUT WHAT IF...
This Guide To Glory wouldn't be complete or as completely useless without a little what-iffing around. What if the US/Canada trade war gets real. In the hockey sense.
What if our elbows extend right into the fugly face of the NHL itself. As Canada disentangles itself from the Lakes and Lackeys of America, we could see the NHL dissolve, disperse into smaller pro hockey leagues. Would that be so bad? No, it wouldn't.
If that happens, the Canucks will have much better odds of winning THE CUP in an all Canadian league. A One in Seven chance is pretty good. Especially since the actual Lord Stanley Cup is safely stored away in HHOF in the CoTU. Which is very close to Canada.
Also... it's not inconceivable that Frannie could perform some sleazy billionaire maneuvers to get control of a couple more teams to increase the odds of Cup glory. Sure, we'd need a new league name, since the weaselly NHL hold the rights to the National Hockey League. And they can keep them. It's a storied tale of corruption anyhow.
I propose the new all-Canadian pro hockey league be called the: Canucks Hockey League. Perhaps it foreshadows the Nucking inevitability with only a hint of corruption (if Frannie plays his part).
EMBRACE THE SUCK
Until we can get the Nucks out of the sicko NHL, we can and must enjoy this CANUCKS REBUILD: Season One. Whatever sucky form it takes, how ever long the suckiness lasts, this is what we've wanted to suck for over a decade.
ENJOY A NEW IMPROVED SEASON OF SUCKY NUCKY HOCKEY!
Zeev Buium got himself a lot of attention this last weekend, perhaps as much as $75 million worth. And along with it came plenty of stories about his behaviour, on and off the ice. Sound and fury signifying...what?
The Canucks have had a lively history with players wearing the C in Vancouver.
It kicked off with the 34-year-old Orland Kurtenbach, taken from the New York Rangers in the 1970 expansion draft. That was back when each team was more than happy to screw over expansion clubs, not realizing that a new team with a chance of winning can get fans. It took a while for the NHL to realize it could also be a business, but until then, talent was scarce for expansion clubs.
The captaincy changed hands frequently early on, eventually landing on "Steamer" Stan Smyl's chest. He "won" it from Kevin McCarthy when McCarthy couldn't play in the 1981-82 playoffs. Smyl took over the role and scored nine goals and 18 points in 17 playoff games, making the Final for the first time in team history.
Smyl eventually handed it over to a three-headed monster in 1990-91, but one that included 20-year-old Trevor Linden. Linden eventually took the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final himself in his seven years as captain. Nobody knows what happened after that, but in 1997-98, he was briefly an alternate captain before getting traded to the Islanders for a great haul. While he was never captain with Vancouver again, he did come back in 2001-02, being an alternate until he retired in 2008.
After the strange, blank void for three years, the C was taken up by Markus Naslund. While it took him a couple years to grow into the role as captain, he was the most talented player to play the role until then. He was another long-tenured leader, keeping the job for seven years before he was traded after the 2007-08 season.
Then came the Roberto Luongo Experiment, two years of awkwardness and strange arguments in bars.
Going back to an extremely skilled Swede, Henrik Sedin got one more thing to hold over younger brother Daniel Sedin. He led the Canucks to their third and most recent run to the Stanley Cup Final, and kept the captaincy for eight years, retiring in 2018. He was so difficult to follow that the Canucks went with four alternates for a year before going with the obvious choice in Bo Horvat.
A change of management eventually led to a change of captains, with the reliable Horvat being shipped away during the 2022-23 season. The next year started with the shockingly skilled Quinn Hughes, who dragged the Canucks to just their third 50-win regular season. The success didn't last, and neither did Hughes, who asked for a trade out of town shortly after.
Last season was such a tire fire that management has said they don't want to name a captain just yet. Joan of Arc wasn't fond of the end result when she stepped forward, either. Three alternate captains have been named, and they're who you'd expect: Brock Boeser, Filip Hronek, and Elias Pettersson the Forward, all of whom wore an A last year.
General Manager Ryan Johnson has said he wants to wait before naming a captain, and it's not like that hasn't happened before. For a team starting at essentially zero, it might not be a bad idea to see who emerges as a leader. The catch there is that the team will want a young player to do that, but it's more likely going to be a veteran who actually does.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing, either. There aren't any illusions here anymore, I don't think. A Stanley Cup isn't being fought for in the near future, and anyone over the age of 25 might get traded. Heck, if the offer is good enough, several players under 25 are at risk, too. But even a guy who's only captain for a year can be worth following.
Names present themselves. It's probably easiest to start with the ones who are already alternates.
Whooo, doggie. No. Clearly no. This doesn't mean he can't become the captain a few years down the road, but there's a whole lot of water to cram under one bridge before that happens. I can't imagine Pettersson would volunteer for the job just now, either. He knows how the past five years have gone. He's got more than enough to focus on, thanks.
Look, I like Brock Boeser a lot. He works far harder than most fans give him credit for while maintaining a great, relaxed attitude. He's the Golden Retriever of hockey players; there's nobody who doesn't like him. Which isn't what's needed in a captain. While I prefer my captains to lead by example, sometimes a bit of belligerence is needed if a teammate needs to hear the news.
The assistant coaches are a great buffer between players and the head coach, letting the H.C. be an utter bastard when needed. That seems like a completely natural role for Boeser.
A strange thing happened after the captain got traded away last year. Filip Hronek, a player who gets forced into media scrums at gunpoint, started enjoying(?) it. Hronek famously hates the entirety of the media side of this sport, only interested in doing his job with his team. He specialized in two- and three-word answers, and those reluctantly given.
But with Hughes and the gregarious Tyler Myers (A) gone, post-game scrums fell to the other alternate captains. Hronek, much to his own surprise, got positive responses to his considered words. No one thought he was a fool, but reporters here are veterans of some hard rooms in hard times. His "grouchiness" threw exactly no one, and even got some laughs. By the end of the year, while he wasn't exactly having a fireside chat, he did get more comfortable with the chore.
Is that enough to make him captain material? No, obviously not. What does is that, and how often he talks to players on the ice and on the bench. He already does that part of the job out there, guiding veterans and advising younger players. He has many years as a top player in the league, with all the respect that's due. Sure, he could well be traded, but until then? There are worse choices.
See Filip Hronek, above.
Luke Schenn has all the respect in the world for the career he's built for himself. He's had to change his game on the fly to keep an NHL job, and he's managed to do that for 20 years. But the caveat is that Schenn might not play every game this season, even when healthy. He's here to provide stability to a young team, and may well get traded away at the deadline. Everyone understands that.
Should he have a letter? Sure. Amazingly, he's only ever had one for a single season in the NHL, an A with Toronto in 2010-11. Whether he wears one or not, he's kinda already wearing one.
I mean, you have to think this is in management's dreams, right? Zeev Buium is with the team for another nine years, after all. He is outgoing, intelligent, and doesn't mind speaking to the media at all. He's also just 20 years old and has all of one NHL season under his belt. The next few years are going to be rough ones for the Canucks, and adding the burden of captaincy to a kid who shouldn't have to answer for it seems like a terrible idea.
Buium might end up being the captain of the Canucks at some point, it could happen. A couple young guys are coming up who may fill the role better in Caleb Malhotra and Braeden Cootes, and that could be a bit awkward in three or four seasons. But this year? Nah. No sophomore should be told to lead a rebuilding team.
Hronek it is, then? Sure, he's pretty clearly the most obvious choice - IF the team needs a captain right now. Technically, wearing a letter means you're the team's representative on the ice when an issue comes up. Those are the guys who can talk to the zebras - in theory, without getting penalties for it. There are sometimes other duties associated with the role, depending on the team and how the coach likes to operate. In some places, they're the player's advocate; in others, almost an assistant coach.
The other best option is probably just waiting for a year. If the team wants to wait for one of their draft picks with "leadership" in their list of superlatives, then they will need someone else for a bit first. Again, the obvious choice is Hronek, but he's also the obvious choice for improving the team in a trade.
Just another job on Ryan Johnson's and Manny Malhotra's list.
The Vancouver Canucks have a plan. Part of that plan is Zeev Buium leading the way on the blue line for another eight years. This better work.
While there wasn't a rush to sign the 20-year-old, there was a little bit of pressure from the NHL itself. After the 15th, players won't be able to sign an eight-year contract, and with that contract comes stability. Plus the ability to spread big numbers over a lot of years, which is nice for everyone.
Cap Hit: $9.38 million/year
Duration: Eight years
Buium didn't exactly light the world on fire with his scoring last season as a rookie. He had had three goals and 12 points in his 45 Vancouver games, and three goals and 14 points in 31 games with Minnesota before that. That hardly sounds like a $9 million man, but between the chaos of his new team and the skill he clearly has, he's a pretty safe bet.
If worst comes to worst, he's still going to be a good second-pair defenceman, if a bit light for one. At best? We'll see in a few years, but the money is literally on his becoming the unquestioned Number One on a contending team. So no pressure.
There are some curious details in this contract. Notably, the money is almost entirely in base salary, with bonuses being paid in the first two years alone. The bonuses are $6 million in the first year, $5 million in the second, then the base jumps to $10 million in the third.
That sort of structure is an agent's version of trade protection. Buium might not reach the numbers the team wants in those first few years, and if they aren't successful, it's a modest barrier against an easy trade/salary dump.
Buium doesn't get any protection until his free agent eligibility years, so not until 2032-33. After that, he has the expected no-move clauses. However, if the team does want to move him, his salary is a stable $8.4 million from 2030-31 on. Any team looking to buy will know what they're paying - and, at 25 years old, what they're paying for.
So what we have here is a deal that locks the player in for the next eight years, which the team wants, and gives the player trade protection, which he wants. It also gives him a truckload of money - if not a dump truck, at least an F-350's worth. But was it the right amount?
Is Buium half of a Cale Makar? Right now, somewhat less of one, if we're being honest. But Cale Makar is also seven years older and has obliterated the point-per-game mark since he was 23 years old. He's going to carry his $20+ million cap hit well into his 30s. One might better ask if Zeev Buium will be half a Makar in another three years. And that, at least, is the plan.
Now obviously, as any professional moves up in their field, the talent is rarefied and the paycheques get appropriately higher. It's the difference between the Hall of Fame and the Hallway of Very Good. Players at the very top can, and should, get paid a LOT more than folks in the next tier. But a team full of the Very Good is awfully dang hard to beat.
It's going to be hard for Buium to reach anything close to Makar's numbers anytime soon. Since the year before Makar joined the team in 2018-19, the Avalanche have had a .644 points percentage and have never missed the playoffs. Zeev is not joining such a team. If he did suddenly hit point-per-game numbers, you kinda gotta hope it's because he got injured after two games. Vancouver needs losses right now.
Which is the safety valve in the deal. We can wait for Buium to improve, along with the Canucks, because the plan isn't to win this year. Or next, or the one after that.
THIS year, he's going to keep learning the NHL game, with a skilled, longtime NHL veteran beside him. Ideally, he'll gain special-teams experience, eventually taking Filip Hronek's spot on the first power-play unit. If all goes according to plan, Hronek could be tradable the following year for a generous return in the offseason or at the deadline.
What, you're worried about a piddling $75 million?
Okay, yes, that's a good chunk for a player who's still waiver-eligible. But with it starting in 2027-28, his cut will be just 8.3% of the cap's projected $113.5 million. And it will only go down from there. By the time the Canucks are looking to actually compete - maybe in his final year of this deal - how little will this be?
None of this means the contract is without risk for Vancouver. Buium hasn't produced big numbers yet, obviously. And at six feet, 185 pounds, he's considered undersized for a team's top defender. Buium's play is built around deception and quick decisions. To get the most out of him, he'll need players who can take advantage of that, and frankly, that might be a while yet.
He thinks the game better than he skates it, which can lead to overthinking, which can get a player caught thinking. Assuming he stays paired with Hronek - which he should - neither has much of an intimidation factor. Another part of the game to watch coach Malhotra manage is Buium's minutes late in clearly lost games. Garbage time is when players further down the lineup look to make themselves memorable. Manny will have to make sure that doesn't come at Buium's expense.
The Canucks will want a player like the one Buium can be in a few years. He just has to survive until the team around him catches up.
Anyone who pays any attention at all to the Canucks knows last year didn't exactly go as planned. Off the ice, things didn't go much better, with Sportsnet 650 closing radio stations, leaving a city of 2 million+ without a sports station. That ended a lot of Canucks-centred podcasts as well, damaging a lot of careers on the way out.
The deal that Sportsnet had with the CBC has also expired, ending free access to any televised Canucks games. Which sucks, because this season is gonna be rough, but would be easier to tolerate if we could get at least a few free games.
There will be some games on Prime Video on Wednesdays, though we don't know which ones yet. It might be all eight games, which means if you don't add Amazon Prime to your cable plan, you don't get to see 9.3% of Canucks games this year. Pay Jeff Bezos, or lose one of the things that makes life a bit more bearable. Joy.
On the plus side, the radio play-by-play will continue, apparently on Kiss Throwback 104.9. There will be audio streaming on whatever your particular player is, such as iHeartRadio or RadioPlayer. Even with video, I like the radio cast more and usually have it running when I can. Nothing against John Shorthouse, who's very good at his job, but I'm an old. Radio's how I caught all Caucks games way back when. I imprinted on it like a baby bird.
But let's move on.
Last season, I actually gave someone advice to stop watching games. He was so, SO angry at anything and everything Vancouver did on and off the ice that every game was rage-inducing. Any mistake a player made - and hockey is a game of mistakes - was proof the player was the worst to ever skate. Any announcement the team made was doomed idiocy, no matter what it was or who made it.
Why'd he still watch? Couldn't tell you. But I could tell him that he needed to back off for his own health, 'cause that just ain't good for you. This season, allow me to suggest we flip the script.
It goes without saying that optimism about the Canucks is hard to come by right now in Vancouver.
-Travis Yost
Allow me to disagree.
In a perfect world, the Canucks play reasonably well early, get good offers for their veterans, and they go into Draft Day with another top-three pick. Their kids show signs of improvement; the younger kids do well in Abby/College/CHL/etc; and plans are finalized for a four-sheet facility. HUZZAH!
While that all isn't happening, some of it certainly will. Young NHLers are going to make some mistakes, and not every prospect will pull through. Injuries happen, veterans can stumble, and lord knows what's going on with getting a practice rink. But some good times are going to happen along the way, and those are the moments we're aiming for this year.
Low bar? You bet!
A big part of what made the fan I mentioned so angry was high expectations. There were big changes, and the team decided to walk the Rebuild-on-the-Fly tightrope a little bit longer, just to see if it had an end. Unfortunately, the end they were walking toward was on fire.
This season, no one has any such illusions. Vancouver acted on their belief that this was an actual, honest-to-goodness rebuild, and the team ended the year accordingly. Ownership has finally decided that the fans aren't complete idiots and can recognize the situation they put themselves in. Hearing management say they know the team is going to suck for a little while is a nice change, really.
Bonus of knowing the good times are off in the future? Any we get now are just gravy, baby!
Still, it's gonna be a long year. Here are some ways to protect your mental health during it.
What do the coaches of bad teams do? As often as not, you'll hear them talk about a 10-game block they're focusing on. Every ten games is a new, self-contained season. Or go in 21-game quarters, two-week stretches, however you want to break it up.
Pro: No losing streak is longer than ten games.
Con: "I haven't scored in three seasons!"
Circle specific games on the calendar now, or maybe just come in when the mood strikes. Look at the boxcars the next day if you're curious about games you missed. If something made news, check out the highlights!
Pro: No carrying anger over from one game to the next.
Con: Missing miracle plays and big moments in a year where there may be few of them. Sure, Curtis Douglas only played 14 games for Vancouver, but his first career NHL goal was still a pretty big moment. Not for the season, but you can see how much the team loved it.
Narrow that focus down. You have one guy you're watching this year, and whatever anyone else does is almost irrelevant. Watch Thatcher Demko's movement whenever he gets back in net to see how comfortable he is dropping down. Look for Zeev Buium's decisions and control, and see if he takes on Filip Hronek's role as the year goes on. Spot when Elias Pettersson attacks a defending opponent. Or the first moment Luke Schenn drops 'em.
Pro: You're going to get to know that player's style, and that's pretty fun. Getting granular can help you stretch your knowledge of any subject - hockey included.
Con: Instantly regret not doing this in Physics class years ago, dammit.
Hey, I get it. The most important part of the season is coming once it's over. Moves in the offseason with whatever assets the team has managed to collect matter more for their long-term prospects, and that's what you want to see. Wake me up a month before the draft!
Pro: There's actual optimism when we're talking about prospects and players who aren't actually part of the team yet. They can't fail if they don't exist yet!
Con: Missing everything else. Like, EVERYTHING else. Big plays. Little plays. Player improvement, sure, but also the young guys finding their space. New arrivals, new departures, and what the team is turning into. That's a lot, but if the bad outweighs the good, more power to ya!
Buddy, we're here for you. Let's do this.
*Repeat as necessary
If figuring out the Vancouver Canucks' goaltending was tricky and their defence was obvious, then surely predicting what they'll do with their forwards this year will be a piece of cake! Right?
The wire-walk they've chosen is a mixed blessing. To fans and followers, just the acknowledgement that rebuilds exist is a breath of fresh air. The downside is now having the privilege of experiencing one firsthand.
Then there's the players themselves. From a player's perspective, the 2026-27 season is an interesting one, and it hasn't even started yet.
The fun of being an armchair general manager is building your dream team. Trades are a breeze, prospects all pan out, and all you see of the owners is their signature on your paycheque. It's a bit more frustrating in the real world, where every other team is also trying to win, few of your picks see professional games, and the owners want their money - NOW.
But some things are predictable. For instance, the Canucks defence looks pretty good and pretty set for the start of the year. The goaltending has fewer variables than some years, but a few question marks. And attendance is probably going to drop a bit this season, if everything goes according to plan.
As for the rest, well, here's our best guess.
It can be assumed that no forward is safe from being moved this year. If a good enough offer comes in, that player goes out. That being said, some are more obvious targets than others in the forward corps.
Jake DeBrusk has to lead off the list, despite the five years remaining on his contract. He said outright that a rebuild wasn't what he signed up for, and that's fair enough. But given how little motion there has been this month, it looks like he'll start the year in Vancouver. And that's fine. The Canucks need someone who can score, just so the team is worth watching. They barely broke the 200-goal mark last year, and might not hit it this one.
While it's a bit awkward, at least it's honest. DeBrusk knows the team is shopping him, and also that the better he plays, the more interest there will be. He's going to get plenty of opportunities to showcase his skills early in the year.
Drew O'Connor became a fan favourite in 2024-25, and for good reason. He earned his two-year contract honestly, and backed it up with an excellent 2025-26. His 17 goals were a career high, and he showed his versatility and ability playing both special teams. He also did it by playing with half the team. He had seven different linemates with whom he played between 60 and 85 minutes last year.
That's to be expected of a couple players in an injury-plagued, low-performing year. But O'Connor showed he could play in all sorts of circumstances with relative ease, even if he's not the name you want to see on your first line. His speed and opportunism make him an exciting player to watch, and if he has a decent year, he can get the Canucks a good return. He has a 12-team no-trade clause.
Paul Cotter is a new arrival, and if he shows up well, he can play his way off the team and onto a contender. He's got decent speed and some scoring, but mostly he'll be asked to disrupt opponents. He's a decent faceoff man, and there will be opportunities for it in Vancouver. A solid depth guy with the chance to show he can do more. A team heading to the playoffs will look for players like Cotter.
Brendan Gallagher is here for a reason. First, he wants to be here, which is great. Second, he wants ice time, which he'll get. And third, the team wants to trade him. A loving, harmonious threesome of intent is what that is. More seriously, he puts in the work, and that's a lot of what the Canucks are looking for right now.
Gallagher's a long-time veteran who has never shied away from anything on the ice, and he'll be looked to for leadership. He has a full no-move contract, but that's only to control where he'll go if he plays well enough to get multiple offers. Even with Montreal picking up half his pay, he's still not the cheapest addition, so he needs to earn the interest.
Linus Karlsson spent a lot of last year on the fourth line, but also a bunch with Elias Pettersson the Forward and Jake DeBrusk. This time around, he should get a more clearly defined role in the middle six, though he might start up top. He registered 31 points at even strength in 2025-26, leading the team. Yeah. And that was in 12:30 of average ice time.
Another player ready to take advantage of increased ice time is Max Sasson. I can really see him getting short-handed ice time specifically. His speed is a real threat, even if his hands aren't so much. If he works on breakaway scoring, he can find a niche. He'll get an opportunity, anyway.
I'm a big Liam Öhgren fan and am very curious to see where he settles in this year. Yes, the guy who scored zero points in 18 games with Minnesota before the Quinn Hughes trade. He then came to Vancouver and scored eight goals and 18 points in his 51 Canucks games! Which, okay, still isn't earth-shaking, but he also showed what kind of game he will play: a physical, trustworthy winger who can score some points in the middle six. The most likely guy to take DeBrusk's spot, or at least get first chance at it.
Aatu Räty is probably on his last shot here, and should play like it. While he's a very good faceoff man and solid short-handed centre, every player needs to get into the boxcars if they want to be an NHL regular. He's just 23 years old, so it's not like Räty's washed, but 14 points in 66 games ain't gonna cut it. Coach Malhotra likes him, but he needs to bring some of those Abbotsford numbers to Vancouver.
Marco Rossi didn't have a whole lot of opportunity to show what he can do last year. He came over from Minnesota slightly injured, and returned too soon, eager to join the new team. The spirit's there, but chill, big guy. He managed just two points in eight games before sitting down for twenty-ish. He played out the rest of the year when he returned, scoring seven goals and 20 points in the last 25 games - a perfectly good pace the team would love him to match this year.
Terrifyingly, Filip Chytil should start the year healthy and ready to go. The skilled forward played 12 games with the big club last year, and 15 the year before that when he came over from the Rangers mid-season. He has one year left on his $4.4 million deal, and boy, I hope he can spend that money happy and healthy. He has all the talent to be a 45-50 point player this year, but fans will be holding their breath every time he steps onto the ice.
A different kind of health issue is around Elias Pettersson the Forward, and no one's quite sure what it is. He's had nagging injuries for much of his career and has always been reticent to talk about them, but it shows on the ice. While I suspect most of his decline in scoring stats is mental, he's also skating a bit more gingerly and taking fewer shots to go with it. Can his scoring bounce back? Sure, he's still a very smart and skilled player, but he's not going to get a whole lot of help with this lineup.
One player who might help is also under a huge amount of pressure to perform. It's ludicrous to say a 22-year-old is in a make-or-break season, but it's not about whether Jonathan Lekkerimäki makes the NHL. It's about what kind of player he'll be when he gets there. Billed as a scorer, Lekkerimäki has only produced five goals and nine points in 37 NHL games, and a good chunk of that was with the man advantage.
Then again, his total ice has averaged just over 12 minutes per game. No offence to Sasson, but if he's your centre, you probably aren't getting a lot of scoring opportunities. This season, he may well start in the top six alongside either Pettersson or Rossi. After that, it's up to him.
Now that 19-year-olds can be assigned to the AHL, Braeden Cootes is almost certainly pencilled in there. He could still pick up a few games, but getting 18-20 minutes in a pro league is a better option than 8-10 minutes in the NHL. Other forwards recently signed - Trey Fix-Wolansky and Akil Thomas - are good cover for injuries and will get called up before Cootes.
One guy who might make the team as a defensive specialist is Ilya Safonov. The 25-year-old has never been a big scorer with AK Bars Kazan, but has very good size and is a smart player. If he doesn't make the big club, he has the option to return to Russia. What he'll contribute here, who knows? He's never played in North America, but there's no reason to think he can't learn quickly.
Of course there's Brock Boeser. Brock Boeser is eternal. Rejoice in his name - and his 25-ish goals.
The Vancouver Canucks are walking a tightrope this season. They want improvement from the kids they're going to keep, good results from veterans they want to trade, and bad results overall. But still good enough to sell tickets to 42 home games.
How are they going to pull that off? We have even more thoughts! This time, about how they're going to use their defencemen.
The Canucks defence has changed in the past year, as you probably noticed. Not everyone has left, but enough surgery's happened to make the team update their passport pics.
The team has decided their anchor is Filip Hronek. Anyone from the Detroit region can be forgiven for double-checking the name, but yes, it's legit.
Hronek has been forced into the public eye with post-game interviews after the team's captain was traded away and the big name coming back was injured. Zeev Buium wasn't going to completely satisfy the media scrum, being a new arrival and all, but you have to know Hronek didn't want the mic.
Then a funny thing happened: he started to...well, not like it, exactly, but relax into it. His usual curt replies to questions started getting laughs among the fans - especially the ones who don't particularly like the media. He didn't make any obvious mistakes, and he does know what he's talking about. His answers started getting longer, and on a few occasions he'd even answer a follow-up.
And while that was happening, he got a little more attention for his work both on the ice and on the bench. Clips of him talking over the latest play with young defenders made the between-periods shows. He became more vocal on the ice, directing traffic during play and between whistles. He's even said outright that he wants to help the young players during the rebuild.
Now, there is an obvious argument for trading Hronek away: he's their most valuable chip, and the best way to get another first-round pick. But he also has a full no-move clause for the next two years, and if he wants to stay for both of those years, frikkin' keep him. He's been on an awful team, waiting for the Red Wings to finally get out of their rebuild. It's not like he doesn't know what he's getting into.
Slightly inconvenient is that Hronek is the de facto power-play quarterback after Quinn Hughes left. And that was fine - last year. This season, they need to hand the reins over to Zeev Buium. It could happen early or late, but it needs to happen sometime this season. As good as Hronek is, and as useful as he'll be throughout his contract, Buium is the future of Vancouver's blue line.
We didn't get a good look at Buium last year, unfortunately. He came to the Canucks injured, tried to play through it, and finally took a few games off during the league's Olympic break in February. If any player from the Hughes trade felt pressure to perform, it was Buium.
Make no mistake, Buium has plenty of skill. He's not as good a skater as Hughes is, but that bar is through the roof anyway. Buium's strength is in his planning before he needs to skate. You can see it both before he attacks and when he's reacting to an attacker. He's very much a disrupt-before-the-play-starts kind of defender, and can turn that into a counterstrike very quickly.
That all being said, he also needs to be the quarterback for Vancouver's top power play. That's where he's going to make his money, given the overall lack of scoring the Canucks are probably going to suffer for the next few years. You can't really have a number one defenceman without them playing the bulk of minutes available.
It's going to come down to just how willing coach Manny Malhotra will be to turn away from his reliable veteran. You can say you're willing to sacrifice wins now for future growth, but that's really hard to put into practice. A team five years from now needs him to be strong, which has gotta hurt when you're looking for a tenth win come December.
Tom Willander was the golden boy in Jim Rutherford's plans. Or at least as much of one as was needed when you already have Quinn Hughes on the team. Willander, like Buium, is entering his second NHL season. And, like Buium, couldn't possibly live up to the hype around him. And that's fine, actually. Heck, both players may well have some regression in their second years.
Willander isn't being looked at to replace Hughes, or even to play on a top pair during his career. If he gets there, great! But if not, well, teams need good all-around players in the middle of the lineup, too.
He's not devoid of offence - he just finished a five-goal, 21-point rookie season, after all. But that's not his ticket to the NHL. Mostly what he is, or should be, is a pain. He is a constantly moving disruptor. He's a very good puck retriever when he has a player to pass it to. Ironically, he had something of a lousy year defensively, but it really should get better from here.
One thing Willander could use is some time, and Jamie Oleksiak can buy that for him. Every team needs a giant from time to time, and Oleksiak's 6'7" frame works. He is a good enough skater to cover a LOT of ground in a short amount of time, and has enough skill to justify a middle-pair position.
Again, not a player the team should look to for a lot of points, but very useful otherwise. If Willander and Oleksiak are used together, it won't be Jamie holding the puck. But it will be him holding up players hunting his partner down.
Oleksiak signed a generous deal with Vancouver in the offseason, and it shows in his modified no-trade clause. Should he serve his purpose well, the team can shop the versatile defender easily enough. But if he doesn't, they can keep him around for another go, possibly sliding him down to the third pair if needed, with little harm done. Big guys retain their value well.
Elias Pettersson the Defenceman had a rougher second season than his first. Part of that could be his enthusiasm met the reality of a long NHL season. Part could be former coach Adam Foote's Defensive Encyclopedia being a bit much to deal with. In either case, he's inked in to start on the third pair come September.
Pettersson's geared to be a classic "shut down defenceman" if such things exist anymore. He has three goals and 13 points in his 93 NHL games, so he can, in theory, get the puck to the net. But getting it to someone else first is probably a better option. He's a good enough skater to carry the puck out of his own zone, but after that he thinks a bit too much.
He's an enthusiastic hitter, but may have overplayed that last year. His 28-game introduction in 2024-25 won wide praise for his physical play, and that might have brought different expectations. If he keeps it simple, he's at his best. It could well be that some offence shows up as he ages, and that would be a nice bonus. If he grows into a second-pair guy, it's all gravy. Keeping his spot om the third is all we need.
I don't really mean to mock Luke Schenn, but he is a beloved figure in these parts somewhat beyond his ability. He is perhaps the Ur-Journeyman Tale when it comes to veteran defenders you sign to teach young blue-liners "how to play the game the right way." He's done pretty much everything, from a top-five pick to a 30-year-old AHLer and back again.
In between, he's won two Stanley Cups and has spent time with ten NHL teams. THAT'S a veteran!
More specifically, that's a veteran who's 36 years old with a LOT of miles on him. But he knows that and understands what's going on with this team. He should, as it's his third go-round with them. The team wants a veteran who is, well, him, and he enjoys the city. His second job is to be the guy younger players have to unseat if they want to reach the NHL.
Schenn is the sort of player teams like to bring in as they head into the playoffs, and he knows that, too. That's why he does have a full no-move clause, and if he decides to waive it, it'll be to the team he chooses. And fair enough, he's earned that level of respect.
About the guys who Schenn is keeping down.
Victor Mancini has good size at 6'3" and 229 lbs. He's got good speed, too, and some decent offensive instincts. Add in that he's a right-shot, and he should be everything you're looking for in an NHL prospect. But somehow, he leaves me wanting more. A touch more offensive recklessness would serve him well, I think, with a little less concern about making mistakes. He's 24 years old, so this is a big year for him. If not now, when?
Kiril Kudreyavtsev is something the opposite. He stands 5'11" and 200 lbs, and he uses all of it. He's taken his time getting to the NHL, and for good reason: seventh-round picks aren't supposed to make it this far. He's done it by being a smart player, if not a particularly quick one. He's learned to protect the puck extremely well while waiting for plays to develop, which helps. He doesn't look like he should be this effective, but he's got surprising numbers in the OHL and AHL.
Either of these players can be the next man up, and if everything goes well, they'll earn spots when veterans ahead of them are traded away. No one wants them to get their spots by default, or even worse, not get them at all.
The plan is pretty clear, as of right now. They just have to execute.
A half-dozen signings, a good-sized trade, and then - no offence to Matthew Steinberg - silence around the talent on the team. And that's fine, because lord knows there was enough to do off the ice as well. After taking some time off, let's look at the team and around the division.
The Vancouver Canucks needed coaches, both in Vancouver proper and for the AHL squad. They've rounded out their NHL roster with three-ish Abbotsford promotions and a former AHL head coach joining Malhotra on the big club.
Jordan Smith spent the past two seasons as an assistant on the bench in Abby, so his move is one of leagues, if not titles. Andrew Shaw (not the NHLer) moves from being Abbotsford's video coach to assisting Vancouver's Ian Beckenstein, so it's a promotion and demotion at the same time. I don't think he'll complain.
Jason Krog has been working with players in Abbotsford and Vancouver as a skills and skating coach, and is moving up to bench duties with Malhotra. He had a long professional career, mostly as an AHL All-Star but including four games with the Canucks. All three of these coaches were with Abbotsford for their Calder Cup win in 2024-25.
Ryan Mougenel is an interesting hire, as he was named AHL Coach of the Year in 2025-26. He's been the head coach of the Providence Bruins for the past five seasons, and an assistant there the previous two. The Bruins finished top-three in their division for every one of those years, but couldn't get past the division semi-finals in any of them. Well, he won't have to worry about the playoffs any time soon with his new job, anyway.
There have certainly been some interesting developments outside the Canucks.
The biggest is undoubtedly the offer sheet signed by Leo Carlsson and subsequently matched by the Anaheim Ducks. 'Sfunny how a player widely known as "The Little Ball of Hate" is a general manager that players and agents agree lives up to his nickname. Pat Verbeek and his staff developed a reputation for absolutely grinding any player who crossed his path come contract time. That engendered some resentment, it seems, and suddenly his star didn't want to go through it.
Daniel Briere is living up to his - or at least Philadelphia's - reputation, too. They are a team that has never been afraid of being hated by the rest of the league, and they'll drop offer sheets on stars if they think they can get away with it. It may not be the most effective approach - step up, St. Louis - but it's certainly fun to watch. And now a 21-year-old is being paid $18 million a season for the next five years, ending with him as an unrestricted free agent. You have to wonder if that's Philly's way of encouraging commissioner Gary Bettman's departure.
Cutter Gautier is still waiting for his contract, but Pavel Mintyukov had his on the table and signed VERY soon after Carlsson was resolved. Gautier had a 41-goal season in his third year, and whatever Anaheim decides to offer will be remembered at their next negotiation. Now, he's not a centre like Carlsson is, and isn't eligible for an offer sheet, but he's still a vital cog for a team that wants to improve this year.
The Ducks have $9 million in cap space, but their defence could use more than Nick Jensen to shore up their ranks. Jackson LaCombe has been a delightful surprise, but he's only on one side of the ice. It's definitely Anaheim's weak point. However, they might choose not to shore it up just yet, especially if the options are looking bad for a simple reason: they're in the Pacific Division.
The Pacific Division last season was a fine argument for eliminating the "pity point". The Los Angeles Kings managed twenty [20] overtime and shootout losses to squeeze into the final wild card spot. That meant the team with five fewer regulation wins than San Jose, six fewer than Nashville, and eleven fewer than St. Louis got in while the rest waited. That actually worked out okay for the Sharks, but still!
That the Sharks finished the season four points away from the playoffs and still won the first overall pick shows how weak the Pacific Division was last year. Anaheim and LA would have both missed the playoffs if the top-16 teams leaguewide played. Philadelphia had the fewest points of the Eastern playoff teams at 98, a mark no team in the Pacific reached.
San Jose certainly wants to get in this year, with their wild overpays on Jacob Trouba and Mason Marchment and trade for Darnell Nurse. They're going to be a very interesting team to watch again this year, at least. They can absolutely push into the top-three conversation.
Anaheim, of course, wants to stay in the playoffs now that they've finally made it back. Edmonton has the room to make a move or two with Nurse off the books. Interesting gambles in net, so maybe their eye turns to a bit more scoring depth up front.
And LA is... Okay, to be frank, I have no frikkin' clue what the Kings are doing this year. They made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, and only because the Pacific was so weak. It wasn't that long ago that they were considered to have one of the best prospect pools in the league. Unfortunately for them, either the players haven't panned out as hoped (Quinton Byfield), or the injury bug hit (Alex Turcotte), or they were moved on (Brock Faber). It's like they looked at their pool in 2020 and said, "Right! We're making a big push in five or six years!" and are determined to fit the timeline, reality be damned.
Seattle, of course, will want to get in there, too. They made big pitches to Jason Robertson and Artemi Panarin, so they're willing to take a swing. They have the money and the will, and there is plenty of time before the season gets underway yet.
Vegas, the supposed Cream of the Crop, didn't even hit 40 wins last year and still won the division. Their big signing so far was Rasmus Andersson, who is a very good player, but...that can't be it, right? That can't be all they're doing? Then again, they did just make the Stanley Cup Final, so maybe that is. A full year with Mitch Marner could do them wonders.
That pretty much leaves Calgary and Vancouver as teams that aren't all that bothered with making the playoffs in the Pacific. And outside Vegas and Edmonton, the rest of the division may be trying, but they don't look all that good yet. Sure, the Flames want to show their fans signs of progress as they gear up for the new arena, but that's probably going to be an incremental improvement. If the Canucks aren't careful, they could risk a wild-card spot by just playing better than last year!
Okay, probably not. But if they find a system that suits the team, they might hit 85 points, getting them well clear of the league basement, which they do NOT want to do just yet. Start the climb next season; let this one be another bottom-five finish.
The rule changes allow teams to send one of their 19-year-olds to the AHL. I have no problem if the Canucks decide to let Braeden Cootes cook for a year in Abbotsford. Heck, if they want Tom Willander to get top-pair minutes, he can go, too. Zeev Buium is probably here to stay, but otherwise, keeping the kids away from what's going to be a hard year? Livable.
Besides, if the kids are suddenly going to find their feet and take off? Let them do it where they can't risk Vancouver's draft position. For one more year, anyway.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and while I was rather skeptical of the Sedin twins/Ryan Johnson hiring from the outset, I’m prepared now to be wrong.
In fact, some of the moves Johnson made in the last few days has put me in the uncomfortable position of feeling vaguely optimistic, which as a long-term Canucks fan invariably means I am failing to insulate myself from the inevitable disappointment that follows.
More than anything, I am heartened that the Vancouver Canucks do, indeed, appear to have fully embraced a rebuild.
Firstly, a wee while back, I listed the eight things I thought the team needed to do in order to move forward. In summary:
So, five out of eight, with bonus points for booting Jim Rutherford to pasture and moving Marcus Pettersson.
On Wednesday, Thursday rendered some opinions on recent moves, so I’m going to go another direction and make the declaration that the best move made July 1 that benefits the Canucks was one the Canucks had nothing to do with.
Hands up if you figured that the Edmonton Oilers would be able to unload the oppressive Darnell Nurse contract onto some other team dumb enough to overpay large bills for a second pair left-shot D-man. Yet the Oilers not only managed to unload Nurse to the Sharks, but a) gathered two prospects in return and more importantly b) didn’t have to retain salary.
To reflect on the Nurse saga for a moment, the Oilers signed a staggering $9.25 million annual deal, for a left-shot D-man who logged solid minutes but never really delivered the kind of numbers one would expect for a $9.25 million-per-year contract. Nurse was supposed to be an offensive threat, first-pair, lead-your-team kinda guy and never really was. Nurse wasn’t bad, but his efforts just could never match the salary, which led to all sorts of discontent with the fan base. Let me know when this sounds familiar, hmm?
The Nurse deal cracks open the window of potentiality to suggest – tantalizingly, perhaps – that at some point in the near future, some team might be willing to eat EP40’s contract and overpay for a defensively capable (when he doesn’t fall down) second-line centre who will probably chip in 70-80 points a year, but comes with baggage courtesy of a he-ain’t-worth-that $11.6 million price tag. The similarities are apparent.
It’s also somewhat refreshing to hear the new brass say, in fairly blunt terms, that Pettersson (the floppy forward) has not put in the summer work that a $11.6-million-per-year player should to meet the potential suggested by said contract.
My read at this moment is that the Canucks are going to give EP 40 one more chance to turn his failing career around, one more year to show something of the 100-point-per-year guy he once was. It is more than obvious that the Canucks had a woeful culture problem, and frankly, it’s also more than obvious that EP 40 is part of that problem. Now, I suspect, he’s going to have one year to change, to show that he hasn’t simply become the Canucks’ Darnell Nurse. But the Nurse deal suggests that if the right calls are mode, Johnson can move Pettersson to someone else without being utterly fleeced in the process.
The Hockey Gods have not been kind to Vancouver in the past, but the Montreal Canadiens gave Vancouver a prime prize in the form of Brendan Gallagher. Frankly, when I first read the details of the deal I had to pause for a moment and confirm with a secondary source because the idea of Montreal trading Gallagher for future considerations and retaining half his salary seemed absurd. Gallagher seems the kind of pepper-pot, never-stop guy that will do everything Conor Garland did on the energy-and-effort side of the equation.
Folks in the media have called the deal “free,” but I’m placing a lot of stock in the “future considerations” part of the piece, because it suggests that Johnson has made a quiet pledge to pick up the phone and call Montreal first if an asset feels like moving. Put a pin in that, because my spidey sense is tingling with a “let’s see if someone in Canuck colours moves to Montreal at or near the deadline if Montreal is in a strong playoff position at that time” kind of vibe. Think “hey, your goaltender is injured/not performing, but we have one we can flog you,” or – dare to dream – “we’ve got an overpaid but really good defensive second-line centre for that playoff run who is waiving his no-trade clause.”
Hands up if you were stunned at Marcus Pettersson being traded, because that came out of the blue. The fact Johnson peddled that for a 2030 first-rounder (which essentially means that Pettersson retained his value despite having a sucky year under Foote’s catastrophe of a “system”) tells me that the management is really thinking about the future. The player that pick will become is barely in puberty at this moment, and unless said pick is of the “can’t miss, plays at 19” class, won’t be in the lineup until the mid 2030s. That’s forward-thinking with vengeance.
Moving Nils Hoglander was good. Signing credible character athletes to short-term contracts that do not have full trade protection is a thankful sign that Johnson will not repeat the mistakes of the previous administrations. They didn’t hold on to Joseph. I trust Evander Kane won’t be involved in any future discussions, other than “good riddance to bad rubbish.”
Is there merit in re-signing Derek Forbort? The Jamie Oleksiak deal makes Forbort expendable, so probably not.
When will the team move Drew O'Connor?
Is Max Sasson a deadline trade chip?
Can EP40 be stripped of his alternate captaincy?
