VANCOUVER – For a 32nd-place team whose prospects of winning anything but another draft-lottery spot this season are dim, the Vancouver Canucks have emerged from summer with a remarkable amount of apparent positivity.
The entire roster has reported to Vancouver before Labour Day and participated this week in lively “captain’s skates”, even though the National Hockey League team is without an actual captain. And although the quick turnaround between a late Labour Day and the start of training camp in Penticton, B.C. on Sept. 17 spurred the early arrivals, players also encouraged each other to re-assemble this week.
The energy and single-minded connectedness in management that was obvious last spring with the hiring of new general manager Ryan Johnson and co-presidents Henrik and Daniel Sedin has grown with a handful of key staff additions that include assistant GM Rich Seeley, player development director Daren Hermiston, director of hockey strategy Ryan Stewart and minor-league coach Ryan Papaioannou.
Obviously, that uniform energy and harmony also apply to new head coach Manny Malhotra and the NHL staff he has hired, headlined by top assistant Ryan Mougenel.
After two dark, miserable seasons, which led to all these changes and tilted the Canucks into a full rebuild, they aren’t behaving like the worst team in hockey.
Of course, they’re still undefeated.
“Exactly,” Henrik Sedin chuckled Friday in an interview. “For now.
“I think we're most excited about how the team is coming together. With this group, we can already kind of sense that there's a different feeling. It's a different group, and they want to do something together, so that's been nice to watch. They've been back as a team only a couple days, so it's early. But so far, everything has been better than expected.
“We're not going to discuss wins and losses but I think our fans and people that watch games, they're going to see a tight group that plays for each other. You can't hide those things. Everyone sees what teams are close and what teams are not, and that (will be) the biggest win for us -- to see our team coming together.”
In his interview with Sportsnet, Sedin didn’t name names about last season, but everybody understood the dysfunction within the Canucks that former president Jim Rutherford, now a special adviser, declared the worst he has encountered during a lifetime in the NHL.
Leadership on the young team is reforming and likely will coalesce for now around incoming veterans Luke Schenn, Brendan Gallagher and Jamie Oleksiak.
“We said from the get-go that we're going to do things with a purpose,” Sedin explained, “and that (leadership) is the main purpose. They've been around, they've been on winning teams, Gallagher's been through this kind of rebuild before. We know what kind of people they are. So this was done with a purpose. We didn't go after maybe the most sexy free agents, but they're going to bring what we need.
“It doesn't matter who you are – staff, players – you’ve got to come in to work every day and make a difference. You’ve got to walk in with a positive attitude. If your team is tight and the group is tight, it’s way easier than if you have groups that are not close. I mean, it won't be easy. But I think that's where Ryan and ourselves (Henrik and his brother) being close and showing up every day and bringing that attitude ourselves . . . it's going to help.”
A wild-card in the leadership group could be star goalie Thatcher Demko, who missed much of the last two seasons with injuries and has been working his way back from major hip surgery last winter.
Demko has been on the ice for goalie sessions in Vancouver but hasn’t yet skated with the full group. Sedin, however, said Demko and the organization expect him to be fully ready for training camp and then the start of the Canucks’ regular season in Edmonton on Sept. 29.
“He's doing good,” Sedin said. “He's on the ice most days and has a positive attitude. He's excited, so hopefully he'll be ready to go when training camp hits. That’s his goal. It’s still a couple of weeks away, but the reports so far are everything is going well.”
Apart from the harsh competitive reality facing the Canucks – it may be years before they return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs – a key challenge to all of this newfound positivity will be ongoing rumours and reports about incumbents like Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk potentially being traded as part of the rebuild.
“I come back to just the players feeling that there's an open line (of communication) all the way up here – that we're around and there's communication on a daily basis pretty much,” Sedin explained. “There won't be any secrets. We might get off to a great start, we might get off to a rough start. . . but there's a plan in place. And when things happen, there's going to be discussions and communications with (players). I don't think they are going to be surprised about anything. That's not the way R.J. operates.
“And part of this is that we're in a professional sport. There's going to be rumours about every single player. That's something players have to live with, and we have to live with. I don't think that's anything new. . . compared to other years. That's just the business.”
The biggest off-season transaction in the Sedin household was Henrik’s son, Valter, signing in August with the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer shortly after the 19-year-old midfielder scored for Canada’s U20 national team.
“For us as parents, it's more about having him at the dinner table every night,” Henrik said. “That's been really nice, and he's happy to be back here. So everything's good.”
Most Canuck players are expected to take Labour Day weekend off before reconvening at Rogers Arena for another series of unofficial skates next week. Canuck prospects will play two games against Seattle Kraken prospects next weekend in Abbotsford, B.C.
