VANCOUVER – The drama never disappoints, even with the team often does.
Now in its 52nd year, the saga that is the Vancouver Canucks’ struggle for a Stanley Cup – sometimes less than noble mission for mediocrity – was a carnival ride for viewers watching their 2021-22 season.
The team missed the National Hockey League playoffs by five points, finishing last week with 40 wins and 92 points which, honestly, is about where most of us projected them when the season began in October. But the journey to this destination was spectacularly unconventional as the Canucks transformed from one of the worst teams through the first quarter of the season to a top-10 NHL performer (more or less) the rest of the way.
Whether times were good or bad, it was often difficult to believe what we were seeing.
Here is our look back at the Canucks’ wild 2021-22 campaign, observations about what occurred and what will happen next.
THE DEFINING MOMENT
On Dec. 5, the Canucks began the most sweeping mid-season changes in franchise history as over the course of a couple of hours on a Sunday evening, owner Francesco Aquilini fired general manager Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green, along with their top assistants, and hired Bruce Boudreau to coach.
A few days later, Aquilini hired Hall-of-Famer Jim Rutherford as president of hockey operations, and over the next two months the 72-year-old built a management version of Camelot, assembling a staff of diverse voices and experiences that included the trail-blazing hirings of Swedish general manager Patrik Allvin and assistant general managers Emilie Castonguay and Cammi Granato.
Rarely, has any franchise had such a stark “before” and “after,” as the same players who had staggered to an 8-15-2 start under Green went 32-15-10 the rest of the way under Boudreau. Vancouver scoring spiked a full goal per game, goals-against were reduced by a half-goal and the special teams exploded up NHL rankings.
“With a couple little tweaks here and there,” Boudreau said, “I think this team can be very, very dangerous next year.”
YES, BUT WHO WILL BE COACHING?
The drama didn’t end with the regular-season finale in Edmonton, where a shootout loss to the Oilers deprived Boudreau of his 600th coaching win in the NHL.
On Monday, Boudreau said he wanted to return for his option year next season and expected to be coaching the Canucks. And on Tuesday, in the same press conference room at Rogers Arena, Rutherford pointed out flaws in the Canucks’ “structure” under Boudreau and said the coach would be welcomed back for his option-year but wouldn’t be getting any kind of extension this summer.
What happens with Boudreau will be a May cliffhanger for the Canucks. Management had better be careful here. It wasn’t just players who responded to Boudreau. But fans – the top-tier of fans who actually pay money to watch games at Rogers Arena – began chanting “Bruce, there it is!” in his first game against the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 6 and clearly adore the amiable, honest coach. Almost as much as they adore the most successful regular-season run by the team since Alain Vigneault was fired in 2013. Losing Boudreau, especially if he lands a multi-year contract with another team, would be nightmare optics.
THE BEST OF THE SEASON
Winger-turned-center J.T. Miller had a 99-point season, the best by any Canuck since Daniel Sedin won the NHL scoring title in 2011. He finished 31 points ahead of his nearest teammates, which means Miller should get at least a few votes in Hart Trophy balloting.
Elias Pettersson, whose “before” and “after” mirrored the team’s, had 26 goals and 51 points in his final 43 games after a disastrous start compounded by a serious wrist injury the previous spring and contract talks that forced him to miss the first half of training camp. He finished with 32 goals, tying Miller for the team lead and looked again like a young superstar.
Captain Bo Horvat also topped 30 goals, finishing with 31 after he missed the last two weeks with a broken shin, and defenceman Quinn Hughes wrote himself into Canucks history at age 22 by erasing decades’ old blue-line records set by Doug Lidster (63 points in 1987) and Dennis Kearns (55 assists in 1977). Hughes had eight goals and 60 assists in 76 games.
And none of these guys were as vital to Vancouver as goalie Thatcher Demko, who in his first attempt as a starter during an 82-game season, was the Canucks MVP with 33 wins in 64 games and a save rate of .915 that bely fancier stats suggesting he was a top-five netminder in the NHL this season.
AND THE WORST. . .
Even with all this brilliant individual achievement, the Canucks still missed the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons. The team’s dreadful start doomed the season, and the Canucks could be a playoff team next year if it plays as well in November as it did in April. But they’ll need more Grade-A seasons from their best players.
NEEDS TO BE BETTER
The defining moment of Brock Boeser’s season came after it was over, when he broke down in tears amid the obvious anguish of trying to explain to reporters how ill his father has been and, had he been able to compose himself, how much that may have affected him this season.
Some of us who cover the team closely and have written about Duke Boeser were aware of Brock’s distress during the season and how his father’s deteriorating health after many years of challenges that included Parkinson’s Disease, cancer and a brain injury, was an unpublicized subplot to Boeser’s year.
Boeser needs to spend as much time as he can with his dad this summer. And next season, with a clear head and strong heart, he can do better than 23 goals and 46 points in 71 games. If the Canucks give him the chance to.
UNSUNG HERO
Was there any Canuck who punched farther above his weight class than defenceman Luke Schenn? He was supposed to be seventh-man depth for the blue line but outplayed others to become a team leader and regular partner for Hughes. And, for what it’s worth, Schenn’s 16 points in 62 games were one less than Tyler Myers amassed in 82 games. No wonder GM Allvin told Schenn before the trade deadline that he shouldn’t worry; he’ll be part of the Canucks next season.
TOP PRIORITIES FOR OFF-SEASON
1. Announce the return of Boudreau as head coach or have a helluva candidate lined up to replace him.
2. Work with Boeser to find a solution to the restricted free agent’s $7.5 qualifying offer, perhaps signing another short-term deal at something close to the $5.9-million he made the last three years. Or trade him.
3. Find out what Miller, eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2023 when he will be 30 years old, envisions on his next contract. And if either the money or term is deemed unaffordable by the cap-crunched Canucks, Rutherford and Allvin need to work a blockbuster trade this summer. Bringing Miller back for the final year of his contract, when the plan is to trade him by the deadline, would be a gong show for everyone.
4. Find a right-shot, top-four defenceman.
5. Continue to build back organizational depth.
NOTEABLE QUOTES
J.T. Miller on his team, pre-season
“Fresh, hungry, excited. I think we’re just so ready to play.”
Bo Horvat after a 7-1 loss in Denver, Nov. 11
“We should be embarrassed. We obviously didn’t come to play tonight and it definitely showed. We can’t let that happen again.”
Jim Benning in what turned out to be his final press conference, Nov. 18
“Of course, I feel responsible. The moves we made this summer, I would have never envisioned we got off to this start. But we have. Now we have to deal with it and we’ve got to figure it out. You know, it’s hard. (If ownership) get to a point where, you know, they don’t feel like I’m doing a good job and I need to be replaced, they’ll make that decision.”
Francesco Aquilini after firing Benning and Green, Dec. 6
“We were hoping for a turnaround. I mean, everybody was optimistic. I was optimistic, probably too patient. Maybe we should have done it sooner, I don’t know. It just came to a point where a decision had to be made. Something had to be done.”
Jim Rutherford and his initial thoughts on Canucks potential, Dec. 13
“My answer, based on 3,000 miles away and having my feet on the ground in Vancouver for 24 hours, is that this group is obviously better than the first 20 games. But I’m not so sure that it may be even a little better than people think.”
Bruce Boudreau when asked about Demko and Hughes, Jan. 3
“I’ve been impressed by more than just those two guys. But those two guys have really, really impressed me. They’re great hockey players — as good as I’ve ever had that position.”
Emilie Castonguay, whose sister told her the day before she died that Emilie would be GM of the Canucks one day, Jan. 24
“I had put Vancouver on my vision board because I thought that’s where I want to build my life. I don’t know how I’m going to get there. I had a business in the east. . . but I’d figure it out. It’s just kind of strange how the universe makes things happen sometimes.”
Patrik Allvin on being first Swedish GM in NHL, Jan. 26
“Yes, this is a big day for me and my family and hockey in Sweden. That’s great. (But) I think it would be even bigger for me to win again.”
Conor Garland, Feb. 7
“Sucking sucks.”
Cammi Granato, Feb. 10
“I think it’s important for these young girls to know this is possible.”
Elias Pettersson on his terrible start and extraordinary bounce back, March 2
“You can want something bad and it still doesn’t go the way you wanted or expected. The wrist wasn’t 100 per cent; I was still feeling it. But it wasn’t an excuse. I was just not playing my best. I own up to my mistakes — or not mistakes, but I own up to my play. I was never going to use it as an excuse. It’s not me.”
Luke Schenn on building Canucks culture, April 4
“It’s a lot of guys learning right now in what it takes to win. I think guys are still trying to figure out what it is to play playoff hockey on a consistent basis and how much every little play means. You’ve got to be focused at all times and being mentally ready is a huge part of it. When you have guys who haven’t had that experience, you don’t just snap your fingers and it happens. You do need to go through it.”
J.T. Miller on his future with team, April 27
“It’s amazing when you see the first half of the year, and it’s just so negative. There was nothing much positive going on, and so your mind can start to go other places. But I want to win here. My best friends are here, my teammates are here. We want to win here, and I want to win here. It’s very, very exciting to see how far we’ve come.”
Tyler Myers, April 29
“It really makes you sick thinking about. . . what could have been if we just cleaned some things up at the start of the year.”
