Adversity blanketed the Vancouver Canucks like a storm cloud last season.
A constant parade of injuries, high-profile personnel issues and underperforming stars dogged the team from training camp through the final game.
Now, with a healthy roster and a new head coach, the Canucks are looking to shake off the disappointment and push for a playoff spot once again.
The mission begins Thursday when Vancouver opens its season at home against the Calgary Flames.
“I think there’s just a fresh breath of air in the room this year,” goalie Thatcher Demko said as the team started training camp in Penticton, B.C.
“Obviously, we weren’t really set up to succeed with some of the things that were going on last year.”
Demko spent much of last season working his way back from a knee injury. Captain Quinn Hughes was repeatedly sidelined by various ailments. The Canucks shipped centre J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers following a prolonged rift with Swedish star Elias Pettersson.
Vancouver finished the campaign with a 38-30-14 record and missed the post-season by six points.
Instead of making big off-season swings for free agents, though, Vancouver’s front office reinforced its faith in the players with a series of new contracts.
Demko and winger Conor Garland each signed multi-year extensions on July 1, and sniper Brock Boeser skirted free agency, returning to Vancouver on a new seven-year, $50.75-million US contract.
The deals show there’s still a lot of optimism within the team, despite last season’s results, Demko said.
“I think that everyone in there believes we can get back to the team that we were two years ago,” he said.
That team finished the 2023-24 season atop the Pacific Division and pushed the Edmonton Oilers to Game 7 of a second-round series before being bounced from the playoffs.
“That’s the most fun that I’ve had as a professional,” Demko said. “Ultimately, that’s what you work for. And unfortunately, we haven’t got to that point as much as we’d like.
“So I think this group is just ready to get there. And I think it’s tough to get there. Everyone in the league knows that. And I do think that if we can put in the work and play like we know we can play and get to that point, then once we get in, it’s anyone’s game.”
One big change for the Canucks this season will come behind the bench.
Head coach Rick Tocchet opted to part ways with the team in April. He was later named head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.
His former assistant coach, Adam Foote, was elevated to bench boss. It’s the former Stanley Cup-winning defenceman’s first job as an NHL head coach and comes after he spent a season and a half on Tocchet’s staff.
Foote will be tasked with getting more out of some of Vancouver’s big stars, including Pettersson.
The 26-year-old centre struggled last year, finishing with 15 goals and 45 points over 64 games. The total was well below the 102 points he put up in 2022-23.
“Obviously, I’m not happy with how last year was. That’s in the past,” Pettersson said. “I just want to get back to myself, be the player I know I can be. And what I can do is only focus on the day that’s ahead.”
With last season in the rear-view mirror, the Canucks are optimistic about what’s to come.
There are a lot of teams across the NHL who are close in the standings and have a real chance at making a post-season run, said Jim Rutherford, the team’s president of hockey operations.
Assuming there’s no real adversity, that is.
“I do believe, if everything goes right, and as we go along, make an improvement here and there, that this team can be in the playoffs,” he said.
Vancouver acquired bruising winger Evander Kane from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick at the end of June.
The 34-year-old forward joins the Canucks following 16 NHL seasons that included time in Atlanta, Winnipeg, Buffalo and Edmonton.
Kane didn’t play a single regular-season game for the Oilers during the 2024-25 campaign as he recovered from surgeries to repair both abductors, two hernias, two abdominal tears and a knee injury.
He returned for the playoffs and contributed six goals and six assists in 21 post-season games before Edmonton fell to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final.
The Canucks also dealt winger Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a draft pick, and saw centre Pius Suter decamp to the St. Louis Blues in free agency.
Nils Hoglander will be out to start the season after having surgery for a lower-body injury he picked up in Vancouver’s pre-season contest against the Flames on Sept. 24. The Canucks say the 24-year-old Swedish winger is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks.
