Well, the season is over now, and it’s time to retrospect. This year was a year of change, as promised by new general manager Patrik Allvin and president Jim Rutherford. This team’s makeup changed considerably over the course of the season, and fans are divided on the state of the team and the plan for the team going forward.
The team finished this season with 83 points, 12 points short of a playoff position and 10 points behind their 2021-22 performance. After a disastrous start, and a multitude of injuries, the Canucks struggled to recover under Bruce Boudreau, until he was fired in a protracted media spectacle that ended with the hiring of Rick Tocchet, formerly of the Arizona Coyotes and Pittsburgh Penguins. Under Tocchet, the Canucks have won more often than under Boudreau, the PK has improved, the PP has regressed, and Demko seems to be back in excellent form.
# Acquisitions and Departures
Here is a short summary of the season’s moves. **Bolded players** were free agent signings or departures, all others are trade acquisitions unless noted. True to his reputation, Rutherford was a dealmaker, happy to make significant trades to change the makeup of the team. His stated goals were to make the team more flexible in terms of salary cap, and to make the team competitive in 2023-24. The biggest move was sending team captain Bo Horvat to the Islanders in a pair of moves that netted us Filip Hronek, Anthony Beauvillier, and Aatu Raty (acquiring and flipping NYI’s first-rounder in the process).
|IN|OUT|
|:-|:-|
|**Andrei Kuzmenko**|**Jaroslav Halak**|
|**Ilya Mikheyev**|**Nic Petan**|
|**Dakota Joshua**|**Brad Hunt**|
|**Christian Wolanin**|**Justin Bailey**|
|**Aidan McDonough**|**Ashton Sautner**|
|**Akito Hirose**|**Matt Highmore**|
|**Cole McWard**|**Madison Bowey**|
||**Brandon Sutter**|
||**Alex Chiasson**|
||**Brad Richardson**|
||**Juho Lammikko**|
| Anthony Beauvilier| Bo Horvat|
| Aatu Raty | Curtis Lazar |
| Filip Hronek| Luke Schenn |
| Ethan Bear| Riley Stillman |
|Lane Pederson| Will Lockwood|
| Vitali Kravtsov|Lane Pederson (claimed off waivers)|
| Wyatt Kalynuk| VAN 2026 7th |
| Josh Bloom| VAN 2023 2nd |
| DET 2023 4th| VAN 2023 5th|
| NJD 2024 4th||
| TOR 2023 3rd||
| NYI 2023 1st (top-12 protected)| NYI 2023 1st (top-12 protected)|
|Rick Tocchet and staff|Bruce Boudreau and staff|
(lmk if I missed anything significant here)
​
# Salary Details
For all the cap details going into the future, check out the Canucks page on [CapFriendly](https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/canucks). There has been fan discussion of buying out players like OEL, Myers, Poolman or Hughes (jk) to free cap space – you can calculate buyout options here on [CapFriendly](https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-calculator) if you want to play armchair GM.
# Discussion
On the one hand, this season was pretty disappointing in a number of ways. For fans expecting the team to continue their hot streak at the end of the 21-22 season, their hopes were instantly crushed as the Canucks started the season by losing 7 straight. We saw a fan-favorite coach get fired after a prolonged “lame duck” period. We saw some of the worst PK and goaltending stats in recent memory. A number of high-profile players went through injuries, and the team’s medical staff is now suspect due to Pearson’s poor recovery. The Canucks didn’t do badly enough to get high draft lottery odds. And despite the team’s moves to quickly retool, the Canucks have missed the playoffs again. The team seems to be middling.
On the other hand, we saw a number of reasons to feel hopeful for the next few seasons. Pettersson and Hughes both had stellar, career-best seasons, solidifying their place as all-time Canucks even at their young ages. The arrival of Andrei Kuzmenko, and his instant chemistry with Pettersson on the top line, has given us a true star LW we’ve been waiting for since Daniel Sedin retired. Demko looks to have fully recovered from injury and is playing very well of late. The team PK has improved dramatically under new head coach Rick Tocchet, the team seems to play better defense, and we seem to have a few very promising players in Hirose and McDonough who will improve the roster going forward. Acquisitions like Filip Hronek and Ilya Mikheyev make 2023-24 look promising.
Where did you see this team finishing at the start of the year? How do you think they did against your expectations? How do you grade the players, the coaches, the management? What surprised you about this year? What doesn’t surprise you? Do you think the plan for the team is clear, and do you agree with it?
Talk your talk. What are you feeling after game 82? Of course, follow all the rules, and be respectful to each other.
# Important Dates
NHL Draft Lottery – May 8, 4pm Pacific
NHL Awards – June 26
NHL Entry Draft – June 28-29
NHL Free Agency opens – July 1, 9am Pacific
Canucks training camp opens – TBD, late September should be expected
8 comments
It’s probably good that that Miller quote came out before this post
Where did you see this team finishing at the start of the year?
-In the playoffs with about 98 points
How do you think they did against your expectations?
-Much worst
How do you grade the players, the coaches, the management?
-Players get a C-, old coaches get a D, and the management gets a B
What surprised you about this year?
-How bad Demko was to start the year
What doesn’t surprise you?
-That we went for a retool instead of a rebuild
Do you think the plan for the team is clear, and do you agree with it?
-Plan is clear, I do agree with it. You don’t rebuild from scratch when you have three difference makers that we do.
I was unimpressed with the play of this team early on and made the decision to sit this season out and do better things with my time, only occasionally watching recaps.
I did this without being a big dramatic baby and telling everyone on this sub how I was done watching the team and blah blah blah and insert soapbox grandstand.
Some of you should be more like me.
Would have drafted in the top 10 if Delia was played 3 more games minimum. Getting a mushy middle prospect for what felt like a bottom feeder season is what will stick out to me most of this season.
I have a really hard time seeing this team making the playoffs next year. Obviously nothing is set in stone, but based on their current constructions I think Vegas, Edmonton and LA are locks for the Pacific. I think Seattle demonstrably passed us and thus can be expected to get a top 3 spot or a wildcard. I know the Flames were a joke this season, but they still placed ahead of us and I think they have at least one more year of being somewhere in between this current disaster and their dominant form last year. Maybe the floor completely drops out on the Central. But boy does it look like a mountain to climb just to squeak in.
Ouch? Sucks to be a Nucks fan still. Ima be there for the first big glass of Koolaid next Sept tho
I really liked Joshua, especially under Tocchet. I think he is going to look like a really smart signing in about a year.
i stopped watching games before the all star break and i feel like i missed nothing.