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The Province
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Province
Two glaring omissions in the Canucks' current marketing campaign
Yes, Elias Pettersson is missing from the Canucks' latest marketing imagery, but Thatcher Demko is missing too — and that's very notable Get the latest from Patrick Johnston straight to your inbox Canucks banners outside Rogers Arena in the spring of 2024. Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG Plenty of people have taken note that Elias Pettersson is prominently absent from the Vancouver Canucks' current ticket sales efforts. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors There is a Facebook advertisement that caught everyone's eye, for a start. Pettersson is not visible in it. And if you click on the Canucks' season ticket membership website, the video that plays at the top does not feature the visage of the team's best-paid player, just a fan sign that features his number. Is this because he's on the trade block? Maybe. Is it because his image carries too much negative connotations for fans right now? Perhaps also. Either way, what a spot to be in, given where Pettersson's star was 18 months ago, when he was one of the NHL's stars of the month. You can't even market the guy who is supposed to be one of your most marketable stars? That's one thing to note. But there's another face missing from the same imagery that should stand out more — goalie Thatcher Demko. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Kevin Lankinen is in the website video. But Demko, still the Canucks' No. 1 guy in the crease, is not. It does make you wonder if Demko is quietly being shopped around. One league source said that trading Demko made sense to them since he is a solid trade chip, even if he is coming off multiple seasons in a row with injuries, and could help bring back the kind of No. 2 centre the Canucks openly covet. Another source said management is looking to 'get rid of the emotionally soft, diva, drama-type, cancerous players, without doing a traditional rebuild.' Line that up as you will. Fans know this dressing room was a mess this past season. There has long been frustration with management and coaches over some aspects of the team culture that they inherited when president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin took over in 2022. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. There was too much entitlement, they felt, amongst a group of players that had very little to show for their work to date. Sure, the 2020 bubble playoff run was an impressive thing, but that was all they had in their cap. That was the only playoff run this group had put together to that point. And that's why Allvin in his first end-of-season news conference made note of what he wanted to see from his players in the future. He wanted to see more. He wanted to see a get-it-done attitude. He wanted to see players who focused on the task and got on with the job. There certainly have been rumours that management has been frustrated with how some players have prepared themselves. How they have worked to get back from injury. How they have operated once they have been cleared to return. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Fair or not, that's been an internal frustration. Is it possible to re-set this team in a direction that Rutherford, especially, believes this group needs to go? He has won three Stanley Cups, after all. He knows what winning teams look and sound and feel like. It's not hard to fathom how frustrated he would have felt this past season. The question is: Can they do this re-set this summer? They don't have a ton of resources to work with, but they do still have a handful of appealing ones. 'They have ammo,' one league source said. 'Demko, Hoglander, Willander, Lekkerimäki and the 14th overall pick. But is there a plan, or are they just shuffling deck chairs around?' Yogi's off — Multiple reports Wednesday said that Yogi Svejkovsky, who served as one of Rick Tocchet's assistants this season after several years as the team's skills coach, is off to Philadelphia to join Tocchet's staff with the Flyers. pjohnston@ Read More
Vancouver Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Canucks: Top brass takes a look at a Burnaby practice rink
Could the Vancouver Canucks really go back to Burnaby in their search for a permanent practice facility solution? The NHL team's senior managers — president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, general manager Patrik Allvin, president of business operations Michael Doyle and Dax Aquilini, son of team co-owner Roberto Aquilini — were spotted at Rosemary Brown Recreation Centre in south Burnaby on Wednesday, taking an apparent tour of the facility. Opened in April 2024, the facility boasts two NHL-sized rinks, an obvious item on the Canucks' required list. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The Canucks have spoken openly of their need for about 20,000 square feet of floor space to use for medical space, for gym space and for offices, over and above the need for a practice rink and changing rooms. To the west of the centre is Byrne Creek Secondary School and just down the road is the SkyTrain maintenance yard. It's in a part of Burnaby, bordering on New Westminster, that's seen a fair bit of development in the last 20 years. A number of townhouse and condo complexes have been built. A large development, called Southgate City, is in the works, and there is also some city owned land as well. There are also some underused multi-purpose rooms inside the facility, though presumably those spaces would get busier as the neighbouring development grows. It's about a 30-minute drive from Rogers Arena and about a 25-minute drive to Vancouver International Airport, so the location makes some sense. Along with securing 20,000 square feet of floor space, proximity to the airport and the arena are on the Canucks' list of priorities. It would be a commute for the players: most live in Yaletown or on Vancouver's west side, so a drive from Kitsilano could take an hour, depending on time of day. The Canucks have mostly practised at the University of B.C. in recent years and are understood to have had talks about a permanent arrangement at the university's Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, but those appear to be at an impasse. Burnaby was previously the NHL club's practice home: from 1996 until 2010 the team had a permanent base inside Burnaby 8-Rinks, now called ScotiaBarn. From 2019 until 2023, the team made occasional visits to ScotiaBarn, but it was never a popular destination for the players. pjohnston@
Edmonton Journal
7 days ago
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Canucks bring back a steady hand in Derek Forbort
Article content And now he's back for another season, the NHL club announced Tuesday. Forbort signed a one-year deal that will pay him US$2 million. Forbort, 33, skated in 54 games for the Canucks. He missed a large part of the early stages of the season with several injuries. But once he found his rhythm, the big blueliner's defensive impact was obvious. The Canucks' penalty kill improved greatly once he was able to play and he was on ice for just six goals against while the Canucks were down a man. He also added two goals and nine assists. He joined the Canucks last summer as a free agent, moving from the Boston Bruins. The Canucks are reportedly set to sign one of his former Bruins coaches, Kevin Dean as an assistant coach. 'Bringing Derek back for another season is an important move for our group,' Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said in a statement. 'His strong defensive play and solid work on the penalty kill really helped solidify our back end this past year.'
The Province
29-05-2025
- Sport
- The Province
The Abbotsford Canucks' strong season and what it may mean in the long run
If your AHL team has a strong goal differential, that usually means good things for your NHL team a couple seasons down the road. Get the latest from Patrick Johnston straight to your inbox Guys like Aatu Räty will make the Canucks' depth better. Photo by Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images The Abbotsford Canucks' strong 2024-25 season has brought some much-needed buzz to the Canucks' brand. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors For the organization's youngsters to finish on a high note is certainly a good thing, especially after the NHL squad crashed and burned, failing to follow up on a strong season last year. The story is well-understood now: a first-year head coach in Manny Malhotra guiding a reasonably experienced roster with a smattering of youngsters in the mix to a strong regular-season finish — including a 13-game winning streak — and then an impressive run in the playoffs. Arturs Silovs in the net for the Abbotsford Canucks playoff run. Photos: Abbotsford Canucks Photo by Jordan Jones And in that very sentence is a reminder of what the American Hockey League is all about — a league that is mostly filled with players who have reached the height of their potential, with a few players who still hold big-league ambitions and then a couple others who may yet prove to be late-bloomers. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Star prospects generally don't linger in the A. That's a premise that is also well-understood. If a prospect is good enough to play in the NHL, even if they are still a little flawed, the data has shown that those prospects do turn out better in the big picture than players who, as hockey folks like to say, 'marinate' in the minors. A 2021 study by hockey analyst Patrick Bacon found that prospects who spend a season in the NHL 'developing' end up better players in the long run vs. players who spend a development year in the AHL. That's not really a knock against the AHL, just a reminder of where the best players are — they are not in the minors, they're in the show. But your minor league squad still has use. Not every player on your NHL roster is a star, for instance. You need to find grinders, depth defencemen and goalies. And that's what your minor league squad is for. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. There's a proven correlation between AHL teams that have strong goals for/against differential and the strength of the NHL team a couple seasons later. Abbotsford, for the record, were plus-35 this past season. Strong AHL teams are almost always powered by veterans — but because of how AHL roster rules work, those teams are also getting contributions from young players. Ergo, if your team is playing well, it's because you have a solid lineup and that solid lineup has a good number of young players playing well. Take the 2022-23 Hershey Bears, who won the Calder Cup, as an example. They finished second in their division in the regular season but had one of the best goal differentials in the league at +34. When you look at their roster, though, you can see why they were so competent. Their top four scorers were all veterans. Only one, Michael Sgarbossa, is a name you might even be remote familiar with. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But you go down the list and you see Connor McMichael, who was a key top-six forward for the Washington Capitals, Hershey's NHL parent club, this past season. It was his second strong AHL season — two minor leagues seasons squashed around a full NHL season in 2021-22. He got a tasted of the NHL, but clearly that season back in the minors proved to be a finishing school for him. He's a best-case scenario here. The 2021-22 Stockton Heat might prove a more useful example. That season they were +57 in goal differential. That year's roster was relatively young, but the top scorers — Matthew Phillips, Jakob Pelletier and Glenn Gawdin — have struggled to make an impact in the NHL. You have to go down the list to the team's youngest players to find the guys who are now making an impact in the NHL for the Flames: You see Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, as well as Dustin Wolf. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Both those forwards played important roles this season for the Flames: the team still hopes Zary will pan out as a top-six winger, though he's already a very competent third-line two way player. Pospisil has been a physical force on the wing, though his lack of scoring touch is notable. Still, he's exactly the kind of guy you hope your minor league program will graduate to the NHL. And in the end, with these Abbotsford Canucks, it's the Pospisil type that the NHL Canucks are most likely to get out of their current AHL crop. The AHL team did help Elias Junior Pettersson progress into an NHL regular. He's probably this season's best-case development scenario. Jonathan Lekkerimäki has had an uneven season, but still showed with his scoring hands that he's going to be at least able to score in the show. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Vancouver Canucks defenseman Elias N. Pettersson (25) takes control of the puck in front of Dallas Stars' Wyatt Johnston, rear, April 8, 2025. Photo by LM Otero AP Photo / AP But it's the trio of Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson and Aatu Räty that are the most likely to come out of this year's AHL roster and make any difference in the AHL. Räty could very well become the NHL team's third-line centre, while both Karlsson and Bains showed flashes at time this season of being effective fourth liners. Even if these guys aren't going to be stars, being able to produce your own depth players — consistently, year in, year out — means you're not chasing after free agents, where you could potentially overpay in a roster area you really shouldn't overpay. pjohnston@ Read More News News News Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Sun
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Vancouver Sun
Canucks: How the prospects stack up against the cup contenders
Getting your team to the Stanley Cup final requires sacrificing some of your future, that's today's lesson as we carrying on looking for lessons to apply to the Vancouver Canucks from the four teams left chasing the NHL championship. The Canucks were close to being there just a year ago, but after a disastrous 2024-25, they're going to need to get back in the hunt. Is there hope in the Canucks' prospect pool? What can we learn from the way the Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers have all leveraged their futures in exchange for their present success? Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. This is the biggest thing to understand about building a championship roster: you have to accept you're giving up futures to acquire the stars of the present — and that's not about the literal act of drafting. There's so much chatter about drafting and developing but the simple truth is that while you have to find players yourself, the best teams make shrewd trades as well. Look at the Panthers, for instance: they had two players on the roster who were top-end picks, but both were picked more than a decade ago: Sasha Barkov (2nd overall in 2013) and Aaron Ekbland (1st overall in 2014). The lineup is filled with other top-end talent, almost all acquired via trade: Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett up front, and Seth Jones on defence. And then there's the miracle of Gustav Forsling, who the Canucks, Blackhawks and Hurricanes had all viewed as disposable, finally making it with the Panthers and becoming one of the game's pre-eminent shutdown defencemen. That said, they've bled their future. They haven't drafted in the first round since 2021 (thought that was Mackie Samoskevich, who's had a strong first NHL season for the Cats). And they traded away a goalie of the future in Spencer Knight for Jones, and another quality goalie prospect in Devon Levi to get Reinhart. But they've won a Stanley Cup and have been in the final four twice in the last three years. They've paid a price but it's clearly been worth it. Will the Canucks' acquisitions of Marcus Pettersson and Filip Hronek play out in similar terms? Patrik Allvin needs to land a couple forwards through trade but he doesn't have many chips to work with. The Stars have been excellent in delivering players to the NHL. They've hit on their first rounders just about every year for the past decade — hello Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley, Jake Oettinger and Wyatt Johnston — but they've added great players in the second round, too, like Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz and Logan Stankoven. In Stankoven's case, he was flipped to Carolina for Mikko Rantanen — the kind of trade for a superstar you can make when you're overflowing with prospects. 'You can be good at drafting and bad at development and your results will suffer,' an NHL team scout told Postmedia, highlighting the strength of the Stars' development program. Elite Prospects rated the Stars' system as the NHL's 14th best pool before the season. 'The Dallas Stars' pool lacks depth, but fittingly, it hosts many of the league's top star prospects. Quantity is good; quality is great,' David St-Louis wrote. The Stars' pool isn't that well-regarded now, but only because they graduated Stankoven, Mavrik Bourque and Lian Bichsel this season. Bourque and Bichsel have become solid role players for the Stars. The Canucks are getting better at developing players; Jim Benning talked a lot about developing players, but he didn't give his coaches the true tools to do so. The Hurricanes lean hard into analytics in their drafting but have been hit and miss in their development model. The Hurricanes didn't have an official minor league affiliate for the 2023-24 season, which is not the way to build up your prospects, but this season had a strong run with the Chicago Wolves. 'Not a believer in the Canes' drafting. Small. Data driven,' our NHL scout said. They haven't landed a prospect full time in the NHL since the 2021 NHL draft — fourth rounder Jackson Blake, who became a full-timer this year. The year before that they scored Seth Jarvis. Unlike the Stars and Panthers, the Hurricanes have been careful about giving up their draft picks. They lost their 2022 first rounder for their offer-sheet signing of Jesperi Kotkaniemi and in 2021 traded back out of the first round. The Canucks have their analytics department involved in drafting and Junior Pettersson is understood to be one player where data played a big role in his selection — will they keep hitting there? The Oilers' last draft that provided real value to the Oilers was the 2018 draft, when they grabbed Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod. McLeod isn't an Oiler anymore. They also scored first-round successes in Philip Broberg in 2019 and Dylan Holloway in 2020, but both were lost to St. Louis offer sheets last summer. They've got Matthew Savoie leading their prospect list, but there's not much else. But when you have Conor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, do you care? You have the best player in the world and one of the next-best — and you've been aggressive in building out your supporting cast via trade. The Canucks have one of the world's best defencemen, but they need to hit more on building out the roster, one way or another. pjohnston@
