The Vancouver Canucks may be trading in their hockey sticks for golf clubs, but they're doing so with a positive mind frame.
For the fifth time in the past six years, the Canucks missed out on post-season action. They finished nine points back of the final Wild Card spot in the West – an eight-point improvement on where they ended up last year. That, along with the young talent that has been infused into the team’s locker room, is enough to make the organization feel it’s going in the right direction.
“We took a big step this year,” said Canucks General Manager Jim Benning. “If you look at where we were at the start of the season, I think there is a lot of hope for our team.”
That hope includes a plethora of young talent, like Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat and Quinn Hughes.
“You see our young players, the year Petey had, the year Boes had, Bo I think took another step,” Benning continued. “These are 20-, 21-year-old kids, and you look at when teams get good, when they win, they win with 26 (to) 35-year-old players, and these are our best players. So I’m excited about the future.”
The excitement extends into the club’s locker room. The team was faced with a lot of questions to start the season, like who would take on the leadership role in the Sedin’s absence, as well as where would the points come from. The players feel those questions have been answered, and a new identity has been created.
“I think as a team we surprised a lot of people around the league this year, and started earning a little bit of respect,” defenceman Troy Stecher told the media at the season ending press conference. “But it can’t just be a one-off. You have to show up to camp ready to work all over again, and add a bit more to it too.”
But while it’s like listening to a broken record - youth is the future and we’re all excited – the question now is how far away are the Canucks from being a legitimate playoff contender? When asked in comparison to his former team, the Washington Capitals, who Jay Beagle won a Stanley Cup with, Beagle said, it’s a tough question to answer.
“Throughout the years in Washington, we were one of the top teams in the league for the whole year and would lose in the second round and didn’t even feel close to winning a Stanley Cup,” Beagle said. “The start is getting to the playoffs and that’s obviously the goal, and I think we’re close, I think we could have had it this year.”
Along with the young talent, Jacob Markstrom proved to a true number one in the NHL, earning 28 wins and solidifying the future in net for the club. Markstom has been so impressive, Benning said he’s already reached out to Markstrom’s camp for a contract extension.
“I’d like to stay here, I love Vancouver, I like where the team is going. Being a part of a group that hasn’t been that successful, and you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel and you want to be a part of that,” Markstrom said.
As for the off season, so far both Markstrom and Hughes have confirmed they will play for their respective country (U.S. and Sweden) in this year’s World Hockey Championship, while other, like Boeser and Horvat said they have taken a pass to focus on themselves.
Boeser is looking to take advantage of the full off season, injury free, which will also includes signing his first post-entry level contract.
Alex Edler’s contract is also up, and Benning said signing the Swedish defenceman is a big priority for the club. That’s music to Edler’s ears as he’s eager to stay with the only NHL team he’s played for.
With no playoffs in sight for the club, next up is Tuesday’s NHL Draft Lottery, where the Canucks have a five percent chance of winning the first overall pick – something they’ve never had in the organization’s history. If they get it, it will be in front of a home town crowd, as this year’s NHL Entry Draft takes place at Rogers Arena June 21-22.
