The Vancouver Canucks brand has taken a hit in recent years, and not just because of their putrid play on the ice.

The team has left a lot to be desired off the ice as well.

Infighting within their own dressing room, prickly attitudes in front of reporters, and a diminishing level of community involvement have all proven that.

The Sedins and Ryan Johnson have admitted as much in the past two days, as they’ve conducted their media tours following their appointments in Canucks hockey operations.

“Looking back, 26 years ago, when we flew into the city, Brian Burke told us that this was the No. 1 organization in the league when it comes to community involvement. We need to get to that point,” Daniel Sedin said during Thursday’s press conference.

Undoubtedly, that commitment has slipped.

Take the team’s annual visit to BC Children’s Hospital. When the Sedins played, the whole team showed up.

Where is the leadership group?

— FireAllvin (@nucksfan79_) November 25, 2025

 

“We should be the No. 1 organization in the NHL when it comes to community involvement. We’re going to ask our players to do a lot. I think it’s so important for us as players when we did those things. I think it puts perspective in life. I think fans will respect that. You might have a bad game here and there, but if you’re out, you do the work in the community, I think they can certainly buy into what we are trying to be.”

“We gotta bring that back,” Henrik agreed. “Just to have the people in the city and this province to be proud to be Canucks fans again. And that’s part of it.”

They’re right.

Vancouver can be a tough media market, but players have to stop viewing reporters as if they’re just out to get them.

Easy to forget now, but the Sedins were once whipping boys in this market with both fans and media. They overcame it.

Who better than them to provide advice for the next generation?

“As individuals, be honest about your effort. If you’re fair to the media and you treat them with respect, I think they’re going to treat you with respect, too,” Daniel Sedin said in a Friday morning interview on Sportsnet 650. “You have to understand that when things go well, they’re going to build you up to something that you’re probably not. And when you’re playing bad, they’re going to push you down to something that you’re not.

“It’s so important to stay even-keeled. That’s where I think the environment comes into it, too. You need to trust your coaches. You need to trust your teammates. If they think you’re doing ok, that’s all that matters. If the coach doesn’t like your game right now, he’s going to tell you, and that’s all that matters.”

The Canucks became increasingly adversarial with the media during Jim Rutherford’s tenure as president of hockey operations.

Perhaps that’ll change going forward.

“As far as the media, we would like to be more transparent and accessible,” Johnson said in a television interview with Jason Pires on Global BC. “Break down a little bit of a wall that has been between the team and the media. Be more accessible, take responsibility for what we’re doing, but be ok to talk about it and own it.”

New @canucks GM Ryan Johnson on first priorities, head coaching situation, team culture, the rebuild, local media, community connection, and if he plans to join his bosses for the Grouse Grind this summer. @GlobalBC pic.twitter.com/pkqTtTsaew

— Jason Pires (@JPiresGlobal) May 15, 2026

Social media versus reality

Social media is something Daniel and Henrik didn’t have to deal with early on in their careers, but they acknowledged the challenge it can present to today’s players.

Canucks Twitter is notorious, after all.

“It’s hard in this day and age with the social media. It’s such a big issue in a Canadian market especially. You’re going to read stuff on social media that a lot of times doesn’t reflect you as a person or as a player,” Daniel told hosts Mike Halford and Jason Brough.

“It’s unbelievable how bad it affects people… It affects all of us, I think. It’s more about creating an environment around every player that social media becomes something on the outside, that you don’t really worry too much about.”

If the players remain in a bubble, keeping themselves away from the public, they may confuse social media for reality. Because, as Daniel notes, this city isn’t really that scary a place.

“I can honestly tell you, when you talk to players, former coaches, GMs — if you go around the city, coffee shops, grocery store, when you’re on playgrounds with your kids — I’ve never met a fan that’s going to criticize you. They’re so supportive.

“And that’s what I think players need to realize. Face-to-face, they will never say a bad word. They will support you, one hundred per cent. So I think the more you’re out, the more you move around, the more you see people… they will respect you.”