October 11th, 2023
Alex Rickman
With the 2023-24 NHL season finally upon us, questions still hang over the Vancouver Canucks. Many new additions were brought in this offseason, Rick Tocchet has now had a chance to run a full training camp and preseason with the team, and players like Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes seem primed for big years, but questions still remain about whether or not this team can be consistently big over an 82 game season. So what might we expect for the 2023-24 campaign? If you asked 10 Canucks fans that question, you may find they give you back 10 different answers, but here is what I expect out of the Canucks this coming year.
The first, and biggest question mark most fans have about this team is how the defence will hold up. The Canucks defence has been suspect since the early 2010s, so it makes sense that Canucks fans are sceptical of what they see, but does this defence have a chance to be the one that breaks the cycle? Quinn Hughes, now Canucks captain, seems set to take another step forward after a career year last season, but the rest of the defence is worthy of some questions. Recent acquisitions Ian Cole, Filip Hronek, and Carson Soucy give the Canucks plenty of talent on the back end, but it remains unclear how they may fit into the Canucks lineup, and none seem to be the perfect partner for Hughes, something the Canucks have lacked since losing Chris Tanev. However, even if none are the perfect fit to go with Hughes on the top pair, they give the Canucks the best defensive depth they’ve had in years, and will almost certainly improve the team should the Canucks find the right way to use them. Additionally, undrafted rookie Cole McWard showed some promise on Hughes’s pair, and if he can handle the responsibility for a full season, that would be a major boost for the Canucks chances at competing. Concerns about the defence can’t be fully put to bed until the on-ice product is shown to be improved from years past, but there is some hope that the Canucks could have a functional blueline for the first time in close to a decade.
The bottom six also looks to be better than it's been in recent years thanks to a few new additions. Free agent signings Pius Suter and Teddy Blueger, along with trade acquisition Sam Lafferty, give the Canucks new pieces to bolster the bottom of the lineup that plays a different game to the options they’ve had recently. Suter gives the Canucks a dynamic two-way player who should comfortably fill in the third-line centre position and has already shown some good chemistry with some of the Canucks wingers through the preseason. Blueger gives the Canucks Stanley Cup experience, having won it in Vegas this past season, and one of the league's premier defensive and penalty-killing forwards to provide stability to the fourth line and often shaky penalty kill. Lafferty, who was acquired on October 8th in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs, gives the Canucks bottom six a speedy, physical player who should do well on the third or fourth line. However, concerns do still exist. Dakota Joshua, an important piece of the Canucks bottom six last season, has had a rough preseason, with some surprised to see him make the NHL roster at all over Jack Studnicka. Additionally, some injuries have occurred over the preseason, taking out Blueger among others, meaning that the Canucks will potentially have to start the season without one of their key additions. The bottom six does however seem much improved from past years though, and can be expected to do more for the team than we’ve gotten accustomed to in the recent past.
The top six options are where things get interesting for the Canucks. Elias Pettersson, in a contract year, is projected to have a monster year. JT Miller responded well to Rick Tocchet being brought in last year and seems primed to have another solid season himself. The wingers are where things get more interesting in Vancouver. Andrei Kuzmenko had a great year last season, but it may be hard for him to produce at the same rate, although he can definitely still be an important player even if he doesn’t reach these heights, and Ilya Mikheyev won’t be ready to play on opening night, although his return may not be far off. If the Russians can find the same chemistry they displayed with Elias Pettersson last year, big things can be expected from both of them. Conor Garland and Brock Boeser, however, present more intriguing cases. After a good preseason, Garland has requested a trade, which seems likely to happen in the coming weeks given the Canucks need for cap space and perceived willingness to part with him for a while now. Boeser, despite assisting 5 times during the preseason, failed to find the net himself, raising concerns from the past couple of seasons about his ability to find his scoring touch again. Garland and Boeser both can be key pieces for the Canucks on their day, but the future remains unclear for the pair. Anthony Beauvillier also makes an interesting case, coming off a good end to the season last year, but could still find himself on his way out if the Canucks need to open up cap space. Young wingers like Vasily Podkolzin, and Nils Höglander will be in need of NHL roster spots soon, so some wingers will have to go. The Canucks wingers certainly have the potential to do a lot for the team, but there are a lot of ‘ifs’ in this group.
Goaltending may seem to be one of the safest position groups in Vancouver, but there is one major question facing the position. While Thatcher Demko can be one of the league's best goaltenders when he’s healthy, after an injury-plagued 2022-23 season, fans are questioning whether or not we can expect to see Demko play as well as he has in the past while maintaining a similar workload. Thankfully, Demko now has a strong backup option in Casey Desmith, which will allow him to get adequate rest for the first time in several seasons. After returning from his injury last season, Demko recovered well from his poor start to the season, helping to relax the nerves of those worried that we may never see the same Demko again. A healthy season from Demko will be essential to the Canucks success this season, and hopefully, Desmith taking some of the workload will help this be realized.
So, knowing all this, what should be expected of the Canucks this season? While I would love to say that I expect this to be the year that the Canucks finally return to the postseason, I just don’t see it happening. While this roster does have more potential than we’ve seen from a Canucks team in recent years, too much needs to go right for the full potential of the roster to be realized. I do think that this team is good enough to be playing meaningful games deep into the season, which can’t be said about a lot of Canucks teams in recent memory, but in the end, I just don’t see the Canucks getting over the hump. I predict the Canucks to finish 5th or 6th in the Pacific and finish just outside of a wild card spot. However, I do think the Canucks will play a much more consistent game night in and night out over this year and will have a good shot to make the postseason next season if they play their cards right. If the Canucks can prove to Pettersson and to other prospective Canucks that they can compete soon, this season won’t be considered a failure, even if they spend their April golfing rather than playing in the playoffs.