The Canucks 2026-27 is about to start.

The Canucks rebuild is 13 years too late, but let's put that in the past and focus on what comes next....

That would be frustration.....excitement.....anger....sadness.....hope......and a lot of patience.

Some would say that this year's team has to be better than last year's team, just because they believe there is no way a team could be that bad again. I might be in that camp, but the long term Eeyore in me won't let that hope run rampant. Maybe some others team will actually be worse than the Canucks, which is also a bad thing as it might give some false hope that this team has potential. Let's be clear, this roster is not meant to win a lot of games. It has been created to help develop the young players, who are going to get a lot of ice time. There are mentors on this team, who are past their prrime, but can instill work habits and an attitude that hopefully leads to winning. There are quite a few players who are playing for their next contract. There are long term Canucks who have something to prove to themselves and to the fanbase.

This might be the first year in a long time where I have no expectations for the Canucks. New management, new coaching, new faces.....it's the great experiment many called for over the past decade.

I wonder what success is supposed to look like this year? I wonder if a player like Petey or Brock or Jake get traded along the way, no matter how the team is doing. I hope management can stick to their plan of a rebuild, even if this team is near a playoff position in March. That has been the issue time and time again. "We're so close....so let's trade a draft pick for someone who could, but probably won't make this whole team better."

I like the mix of youth and veteran with the forwards. I do think they have that magical "grit" that can't be measured. They will be hard to play against, but I don't see a lot of scoring in the bottom two lines.

The defense is still a big question mark for me. Are they big enough and fast enough to handle the speed of the other team? We'll see on night one against the Oilers.

The goaltending is below average without Demko and if Demko returns to form in the first four months, i would hope that management really considers training him before the next injury comes along.

I am hoping that my frustration and yours is reduced this year because of reduced expectation. Celebrate the wins that weren't supposed to happen. Move quickly from losses that shouldn't have occured.

I hope this team can reduce the blowouts and win some one goal games. Confidence gets built from overcoming adversity and learning from mistakes. And the mistakes will come this year. I hope to see a team that can get stronger over the year and be consistent in their play.

Looking through this short speech, I do see a word that continuously pops up and therefore should probably be the message for the year.

Hope.

Go Canucks Go!