Boeser, Canucks putting tumultuous 2025 behind them

VANCOUVER — On the first morning of the new year, Brock Boeser went to work early.

It’s like he couldn’t wait to put 2025 behind him. Who could blame any of the Vancouver Canucks for feeling that way?

Last year started with the trade of J.T. Miller and ended with the trade of Quinn Hughes. It began with the Canucks believing they were Stanley Cup contenders, and ended with them positioned among the draft-lottery favourites.

A year ago, they could still see the summit of their 2024 playoff run and the best National Hockey League season in Vancouver in more than a decade. But Thursday, as Boeser skated out early with teammates Jake DeBrusk and Aatu Raty for some pre-practice skills work at Rogers Arena, the longest-serving Canuck was again in that dark valley of transition in which he has lived for so many of his nine seasons in Vancouver.

So, yes please, out with the old and in with the new — whatever that is.

“That’s a pretty good recap,” Boeser said of our summary of 2025. “I mean, there’s just been so much. Yeah, it's crazy. You look back to two years ago, if you would have said this would happen and then this would happen, you would have never guessed that.

“It's definitely hard. But, you know, I still believe in our team and the guys we have here. I do believe if we can get all our centres healthy, we can string games together like we did on that road trip before the Christmas break. I still believe in our group.”

But as Boeser told us this after breaking away from the media herd, Canucks coach Adam Foote had just informed reporters that newly-acquired centre Marco Rossi and play-driving winger Conor Garland would both be out “at least a week” after being injured in Tuesday’s 6-3 loss at home against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Garland, whose three brief absences from the lineup earlier this season included at least one head injury, appeared to hit the ice with the back of his helmet when he was clotheslined away from the puck by forechecking Flyer Noah Cates in the third period.

“He got slew foot,” Foote said. “That kind of a play, I’m surprised all four guys (officials) missed it.”

The reason for Rossi’s “lower-body injury” was unclear, although the second-line centre was crosschecked hard on the hip or lower back (again without penalty) by Jamie Drysdale, causing a turnover that led to Bobby Brink’s two-on-one goal that made it 4-2 Philadelphia at 1:34 of the final period.

Based on Thursday’s practice, second-year centre Max Sasson will again be elevated to a top-six role for Friday’s home game against the Seattle Kraken. David Kampf and Raty will play behind him, while struggling Elias Pettersson centres the top line. Long-injured centre Filip Chytil practised in a non-contact jersey and is likely still at least two weeks from playing.

Boeser skated with Sasson and winger Evander Kane.

Whoever he plays with, Boeser knows he has to do better.

The 28-year-old is goalless in his last 14 games (with just one assist) and has scored once in the last 21 — one-quarter of an NHL regular season.

After grinding through an undisclosed injury during the Canucks’ five-game, pre-Christmas road trip, Boeser said he is feeling better and skating better since the four-day holiday layoff. But he had zero shots on net against the Flyers. With a career shooting percentage of 14 per cent, Boeser has one goal in his last 41 shots (2.4 per cent).

“I’ve seen some of the analytics and, like, I’ve had the most chances (on the team) and I just can't score,” he told Sportsnet. “When you go through something like that, yeah, it's hard to stay positive.”

He said he has been putting more pressure on himself to provide offence since his friend Hughes, the Canucks’ leading scorer last season by 26 points, was traded three weeks ago to the Minnesota Wild.

“I think that's maybe played a part in it, putting a lot of pressure on myself,” Boeser explained. “I don't think that's helping. I've really been hard on myself, so I'm trying to just take a deep breath and, you know, go practise the little details. Tomorrow's game, I'm going to focus on the little details of the game, not worry about scoring. I feel like in the past few games, I was just worried about not scoring. Like, ‘you’re not scoring, it's just not coming.’ I’ve been thinking too much.”

Boeser was able to unclutter his mind a little during the break, which he spent here with family, including his mom, Laurie. He said they made it to Whistler for one night.

“So at least I got one day in the snow,” the Minnesotan said.

One thing in which Boeser has clarity is his desire to stay with the Canucks and be part of whatever comes next for the transitioning team. Expecting the Canucks to rebound this season from last year’s turmoil, the winger signed a seven-year, $50-million contract extension after making a U-turn back to Vancouver an hour before free agency opened on July 1.

“Just continue to build something here,” he said. “We have so many good young pieces, and I think that's the kind of my mindset right now — to try and help those guys.

“We have a ton of great young hockey players in this room. All of us (experienced) guys have to teach them the way. We have to be good leaders and teach them the right way to play. Like last game, when Philly started taking over, us older guys had to calm everyone down, like, ‘We’re fine, we’re going to be OK.’ I think we can do a better job of that as leaders.

“I'm not going to give up on this season. We have tremendous goaltending and a really good D-corps. We all believe if we can string four wins in a row together like we did (before Christmas), and get back to .500 and just keep chipping away, you never know.”

Boeser said it’s hard to predict what can happen. Just look at 2025.