Vancouver Canucks: A New Season Approaches

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As we get through the first month of school and lead into the fall only one thing is for sure, the NHL is near its return. After a disastrous 2020-21 season, some would call one of the worst in franchise history. The Vancouver Canucks are nearing their return to the ice. Revamped, refreshed, and ready to make a return to the post season.

 

Last season saw the Canucks, along with the rest of the Canadian NHL teams play in the North Division. The Canucks had good stretches, but the bad outweighed the good. Vancouver ended up finishing dead last in the division, one point behind the Ottawa Senators. This was shocking to see considering the Canucks were one of the hottest teams in the playoff bubble the season prior, and almost eliminated Vegas in a hard fought seven game series in round two. Their last place finish meant a spot in the draft lottery, and a chance to end up with the 1st overall pick. Vancouver ended up with the 9th selection, and the off season was on.

 

As the off season began, General Manager Jim Benning stated that the team was going to be aggressive, they were going to do what they needed to get rid of their awful contracts, he was going to make the team better. Canucks faithful laughed it off as Benning had spoken such words in seasons past, but to no avail. With the Expansion draft nearing, Benning took advantage of Dallas’ roster issues, acquiring center Jason Dickinson for a third-round pick. The trade was virtually liked around the hockey world, with Benning being applauded for acquiring a very solid player of Dickinson’s caliber for cheap.

 

Then, the unthinkable happened. Hours prior to the start of round one of the NHL Draft, it was announced that the Canucks had acquired defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Conor Garland from the Arizona Coyotes for Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, their 9th overall selection, a 2022 2nd round pick, and a 2021 7th round pick. The unthinkable happened, Benning ridded the Canucks of their awful contracts that could not produce for the team, and yes, he brought in the same amount of cap, the only difference is the players coming to Vancouver can produce, and instantly made the team better.

 

In Conor Garland, the Canucks receive a 25-year-old legit top six forward, who can be apart of the core for many years to come. Being a restricted free agent, he was re-signed to a 5-year $24.75 million dollar contract. In Ekman-Larsson, the Canucks are getting at worst a top four, and at best a top pairing defenseman who can take some of the load from star D-man Quinn Hughes. His play has declined the past couple of seasons, yet with a fresh start, there is reason to be hopeful that he can regain some of his game that made him one of the best defensemen in the NHL for many seasons.

 

Jim Benning proceeded to buy out the contracts of goalie Braden Holtby, and highly publicized local boy Jake Virtanen to give the team a little more cap room. Now there was some roster spots to fill. Goalie Jaroslav Halak was brought in to be Thatcher Demko’s back-up. Brandon Sutter was brought back on a team friendly one year deal. On the backend, Tucker Poolman was signed to a four year 10-million-dollar deal. Travis Hamonic returned on a two-year deal, and fan favourite in his brief first time around, Luke Schenn was brought back on a 2-year deal.

 

Adding to the high-profile offseason, the Canucks organization announced that they were bringing their AHL team to Abbotsford. To help fill out that roster, Benning signed BC born players such as Brad Hunt, Nic Petan, Kyle Burroughs. and Devante Stephens. To finish off adding to the farm team, Phil Di Giuseppe and six others were brought in to cap off Benning’s monstrous number of signings.

(Twitter/@abbycanucks)

2021 draft pick Danila Klimovich was signed to an entry level deal and has made his way to North America, looking to compete for a roster spot. Although as stated by Jim Benning, the most likely destination is the QMJHL playing for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

 

Earlier this offseason, top prospect Vasily Podkolzin was signed to a three-year entry-level deal, and has just touched down in Vancouver, now looking to make an impact with the big club. He will likely start on the third line, with the likes of Jason Dickinson and Tanner Pearson. Although, there is the high chance that Podkolzin moves into the top six many times throughout the season.

(Twitter/@RobTheHockeyGuy)

Two final pieces of business need to be wrapped up as we get closer to training camp. New contracts for star players Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes. This offseason has seen communication between the Canucks and the two stars agent Pat Brisson go back and forth, with talks going silent multiple times. Deals will get done, it’s a long process that in some cases takes longer than we want. It remains to be seen if deals can get done before training camp begins, if not, the hope is before the regular season kicks off. Canucks fans can only hope that the deals come sooner rather than later.

 

Jim Benning did what he said he was going to do, he was aggressive. The work Benning and staff has done has given the team a fresh look. A revamped, well balanced, strong forward group. A backup goalie that is more than capable of carrying his share of the workload, and a more solid top four group of defensemen. The biggest worry Canucks fans have, will be the defense group and it’s depth as a whole.

 

 

If everything works out, we could see an opening night lineup that looks like so.

 

Line 1: The Lotto Line: Pettersson, Miller, and Boeser

Line 2: Hoglander, Horvat, and Garland

Line 3: Pearson, Dickinson, and Podkolzin

Line 4: Highmore, Sutter, and Motte

Extra: MacEwen

 

D Pairing 1: Hughes and Hamonic

D Pairing 2: Myers and Ekman-Larsson

D Paring 3: Poolman and Rathbone

Extra: Hunt

 

Starter: Demko

Back-up: Halak

 

This lineup is just a prediction and could look extremely different once opening night roles around.

(Twitter/@Canucks)

 

The Vancouver Canucks have a new look, the returning players hate how the team performed last season and are hungry to return to the playoffs. With teams now returning to their normal divisions, the Canucks have a good chance to have a top three finish in their division and make the playoffs. The California teams are weak, the only team that could cause some issues are the Kings. Calgary did not do much to improve their roster this off-season. So, the two teams I feel that will give the Canucks the most problems are Edmonton, and Vegas. Even so, I feel like the Canucks will get their fair share of victories over the two teams this year, and I do not see how a top three finish in the Pacific division is too hard to believe.

 

Hockey fans, Canucks fans, we must be patient for a little while longer. Hockey is almost here; I cannot wait for the season to begin.

 

Go Canucks Go

 

-Kosta Pappas

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