VANCOUVER -- While things aren't exactly going back to normal for the rest of the NHL season, the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks is encouraging the team to embrace the experience and get enthusiastic about playing again.
"It's OK that things aren't going to be perfect. It's not going to be the norm, and that's OK," Travis Green told CTV Morning Live Friday. "Embrace it. Be excited about playing again and excited about winning."
The Canucks are getting ready for training camp as they prepare to face the Minnesota Wild in their best-of-five series.
Coaches have spent the last week going over video of the Wild and planning their camp with a "lot of things" on the to-do list, Green said.
"They've been skating extremely hard," he said. "But to be honest, I would guess that they might even be better prepared right now than they normally would for at training camp, just with the intensity that they're skating with."
While there are some years when, heading into the playoffs, you can see which teams are on a roll, things are clearly quite different this year, Green said.
"But the prize is still the same, and that's going to bring out everyone's best," he said.
Green said it will be a challenge for everyone to get teams playing their best hockey right away, which will take a lot of hard work and preparation.
"I think that having a group that's having fun and wanting to win is going to be really important because there's going to be some different challenges," he said.
Vancouver is no longer in the running to be a hub city for the NHL, but Toronto and Edmonton are still contenders.
To watch the full interview, click on the video at the top of this story.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Jason Pires
