VANCOUVER — Since disappointment is calibrated by expectations, the Vancouver Canucks are coming off one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.
Their 90-point season of turmoil, of debilitating injuries and melodrama, came the year after a 2023-24 campaign that was opposite: harmonious and smooth, inspiring and re-invigorating. And 109 points.
The difference between the two seasons felt more dramatic than just 19 points. After stacking such disparate years back-to-back, this feels like a make-or-break season for Canuck players and management.
“I’m not sure if urgency is the right word,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin told Sportsnet when asked about it. “But there is pressure. I just feel for my players, too, that I want to provide them — and especially the players who have been here for several years — I want to provide the best roster I can for the players to have a chance to win. And for the fans.
“I definitely believe with (Thatcher) Demko, Quinn (Hughes), Elias (Pettersson) and Brock Boeser… there’s a lot of talented players and I need to build out the roster. I wouldn’t say urgency, but as a general manager the pressure comes on you because what you realize in the NHL is the years are just flying by.”
Allvin is starting his fourth full season in charge of the Canucks.
“As a player, you might think (after a good season), ‘I’ve got another chance to be in the playoffs, another chance to play in the second round, another chance to win the Cup.,’” Allvin explained in an interview from NHL meetings in Detroit last week. “But, man, it’s so competitive. And when you’re in there, the years or just flying by. So I think I owe it to the fans and ownership and the players. That’s the way I see it. It’s truly an honour and privilege to be the general manager for the Vancouver Canucks.”
It has also been a wild adventure — from the salary-cap crunched team Allvin inherited from Jim Benning in the flat-cap era, to the violent roller-coaster ride of the last two seasons and now the dawn of a historic era of payroll inflation in the NHL when virtually every team thinks that more money gives it a better chance to win.
More than four months after Canucks president Jim Rutherford said the organization would do “whatever it takes” to acquire a top-six centre to fill the void left by January’s trade of J.T. Miller, unofficial “captain’s skates” start this week without reinforcements in the middle behind top centres Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil.
The third NHL centre on the depth chart is penalty-killer Teddy Blueger, although the organization has solid prospects Aatu Raty and Max Sasson pushing upwards from the Canucks’ Calder Cup-winning minor-league team.
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Allvin had a productive start to summer, getting top-six winger Evander Kane in a salary dump from the Edmonton Oilers on June 25, six days before the stunning re-signing of long-tenured goal scorer Brock Boeser. The popular Canuck’s July 1 contract followed proactive extensions to pivotal teammates Demko and Conor Garland.
Those Canada Day deals energized the organization and much of its fan base. But with training camp less than two weeks away, Allvin is still looking for help at centre.
“We continue to talk to teams but there hasn’t been a whole lot available here leading up to this point,” Allvin said, his statement backed up by the NHL transactions log since the end of last season. “Obviously, it comes down to the cost of acquisition and, you know, where the fit is for (coach) Adam Foote and his style of how we want to play. That’s definitely something we continue to look at.
“You’re right, the more depth you can have at centre, probably the stronger you are as a team. It’s an area where we’ve identified that if we’re going to make a trade. . . our preference to strengthen our lineup is a centre iceman. But Raty is, what, 22 years old. Ty Mueller was a horse in Abbotsford at the end, and we have Max Sasson.”
Projected as a two-way centre, Raty scored seven times in 33 games as a rookie for the Canucks last season. The speedy Sasson, 25, has more offence on his resume but managed just three goals and seven points in 29 games in Vancouver, the undrafted prospect’s first foray into the NHL.
But good or bad, neither centre is likely to be remotely close to Pettersson in impact. Amid all the questions surrounding the Canucks this season, the two biggest factors are likely to be Demko’s health and Pettersson’s performance.
Set back by a perplexing knee injury, Demko started only 23 games last season after finishing second in 2024 Vezina Trophy balloting, while Pettersson opened his $92.8-million contract with an alarming 45-point campaign.
“I think that’s fair,” Allvin said of the Demko and Pettersson factors. “If you look around the league at the way teams are constructed, every team needs their drivers and best players to lead the team. Going through what we went through last year. …I think a lot of guys learned from the adversity. And I know Adam and the coaches have had leadership meetings in the summer here on Zoom, and I believe the guys are extremely hungry to come back because the belief (in the team) is there.”
Demko and goalie Kevin Lankinen were among the first Canucks to return to Vancouver for pre-camp training in August, and Allvin said Demko’s enthusiasm around Rogers Arena has been contagious.
Before Allvin returned from his own trip home to Sweden in July, the GM said he met there with Pettersson.
“He was very much turning the page and moving forward,” Allvin said. “He’s excited. He made a trip over here (in May) to meet with Adam and a couple of other players and he wants to take his game to another level.
Allvin and former coach Rick Tocchet were candid last season about Pettersson’s off-season and the 26-year-old’s need to be better prepared.
“I think every player learns what they need to do to be successful in the league,” Allvin said from Detroit. “They tweak the way they do things in order to get better. Being a pro athlete today, you can’t just do the same things over and over. You want to find ways to get better and I think that’s the same thing with Elias, too. I think he has matured. I think he takes ownership (for his play) and he’s very excited to come back and compete with the guys.”
Pettersson was among the Vancouver players who participated in on-ice workouts at the University of B.C. last week.
Most of the Canucks will be at the team’s annual Jake Milford charity golf tournament on Monday before unofficial practices ramp up ahead of training camp starting in Penticton on Sept. 18.
The Canucks also stage a mini-camp in Abbotsford this week for prospects, including those pushing for full-time NHL work, who will travel to the Seattle area next weekend for a pair of games against Kraken prospects.
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