VANCOUVER – This time a year ago, veteran centre Jay Beagle was preparing for the Washington Capitals’ long march to the Stanley Cup. Now, he’s getting ready for another one with the Vancouver Canucks.
Insert punchline here.
No, the 33-year-old has not lost his mind over the Canucks’ surprising 4-0-1 winning streak that has made making next month’s Stanley Cup playoffs only slightly less impossible for the NHL team.
Beagle knew what he was getting into when he left the champion Capitals to sign a free-agent contract last July with the rebuilding Canucks. Through the jarring ups and downs of his first season in Vancouver, amid the blowtorch scrutiny of a desperate Canadian market that can be equally angry and adoring, Beagle hasn’t lost sight of the big picture and why he came.
"Just making the playoffs should never be the goal, never be the mindset," Beagle told Sportsnet. "This is about winning a Stanley Cup. And whether it’s two, three, four, six years down the road with this team, that’s the goal. That’s what you have to stay focussed on.
"You never want to look too far in the future, but that’s what you’re building towards – this team winning a Stanley Cup. Down the stretch here, that’s what has to continue to be the message: build our game as a group and as individuals for the future."
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There’s an old joke on the West Coast that the only Stanley Cup the Canucks will ever see is the athletic supporter worn by former player Stan Smyl, now a senior advisor to general manager Jim Benning.
Until last week, the Canucks were as near to last place in the Western Conference as the final wild-card playoff spot and had one regulation win in 17 games. Stanley Cup? How about they play .500 hockey first?
But you can sort of understand Beagle’s optimism.
With Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser, the Canucks have three foundational forwards who are driving the attack now and should continue to get better. Another potential cornerstone, dynamic defenceman Quinn Hughes, has been medically cleared to start skating after arriving last week from the University of Michigan with a bone bruise in his foot.
Goalie Jacob Markstrom has been one of the NHL’s best the last 3 ½ months and looks capable of one day taking the Canucks on a playoff run. But there are still missing pieces, especially on defence and the wings.
"It’s not like I was coming into this unprepared," Beagle said of joining the Canucks, who have soldiered through slumps of 1-10-2 and 4-10-3. "I knew that. Management and coaching staff were very honest with me when I was meeting with them (last summer) about where this team is at. To tell you the truth, I’ve had a lot of fun. It’s been a great year with the guys and the way we compete every game.
"The results of this year were nothing I was really looking at. Obviously, I want to win every game I can. We’re all competitors, all want to win every single game. It’s hard to fall asleep after a loss. It’s not easy, but what I’ve learned throughout my career is that it’s in those difficult moments when you can go either one way or the other. You let it get you down and your game deteriorates, or you grow from it and continue to build your game from that adversity."
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Based on the last five games, the Canucks are still growing. If they can extend their points streak this weekend, through difficult back-to-back home games against the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets, there can be a more serious discussion about the playoffs.
As of Friday’s practice at the University of B.C., the Canucks were four points out with eight games remaining and four teams to pass for the final playoff spot. And they don’t hold the tie-breaker on anyone.
But what Beagle loves, what he said he saw from the first month of the season, is how his team competes.
"I love that we have a real will to win," he said. "We’re still learning how to win and what it takes to win, especially in hard moments and at hard times. But the will is there. That’s a hard thing to have. It is. I’ve been on great teams that were still learning about that. But with this team, we have that will to win. So it’s a matter of finding out how to win. That comes with experience."
The Canucks are getting that, too.
"Jay’s been really good for us," Benning said. "He’s done a lot of stuff nobody sees, working with our young players and setting an example in the dressing room. Our team hasn’t quit all year. We went through a couple of bad stretches. But there weren’t many games where I could say our players didn’t work hard and compete."
