The Vancouver Canucks had an underwhelming 22-23 season after their roller coaster ride of a season in 21-22. They entered the season with optimism after Bruce Boudreau’s rescue, and subsequent turnaround in the standings, where they fell just short of the postseason; however, the season got off to as poor a start as 21-22, and due to the toxic culture inside the organization, Boudreau was unceremoniously shown the door mid-season to be replaced by Rick Tocchet. GM Patrik Allvin now has to find a way to pick up the pieces of his predecessor Jim Benning and his current boss Jim Rutherford. Normally, I ignore team stats from the year before in my introduction, but every single one of Allvin’s moves this off-season are clearly in the direction of working to improve the Canucks being the 27th ranked team in goals against last season (3.45 GAA/GM). 

Starting with the two notable subtractions this off-season, the Canucks elected to not qualify Ethan Bear, and opted to buyout Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Bear being released is a little bit of a surprise as he did not seem to be an overpriced option versus the market of free agent defensemen, and based on his defensive GAR of 3.3 last season, he was not a regular contributor to their defensive woes. Ekman-Larsson, on the other hand, is a more intricate situation. In his two seasons in Vancouver, OEL posted average offensive production, taking a step back from his consistent star-level production during his years in Arizona. His defensive value was also closer to the league average or below during his tenure in Vancouver. At a price tag of $8.3 million, it was necessary to buyout OEL in order to restructure his team to be more competitive for the 22-23 campaign, despite the varying cap repercussions, ranging from $150k to $4.5 million over the next six years. Vancouver made four notable signings in free agency: Matt Irwin, Carson Soucy, Teddy Blueger, and Ian Cole. Irwin will likely be Vancouver’s seventh defenseman this season. On the average night he is a minimal offensive contributor and a viable defender. Carson Soucy, their big ticket free agent pick up, is a bottom four defenseman who also contributes very little offensively, but is able to play tough minutes and matchups in his own zone. It is also of note that Soucy does have a proclivity to take more penalties than the average defender. Blueger joins the team as a viable two-way bottom-six winger who can occasionally contribute at the league average offensively, but is usually dependable in his own zone. Cole was not the headline signing of their off-season, but has the potential to be their best value acquisition. Cole does not add much offensively (Are you seeing the trend yet?), but his value in the defensive zone has been immense for his last several teams. Cole also brings a litany of experience and leadership with two stanley cup championships and five deep playoff runs in his career.

Looking to the future, Patrik Allvin set out to do one thing in the draft: (I bet you know where this is going) Find guys who play defense. With the 11th pick in the draft, Allvin looked past strong offensive contributors like Zach Benson, Matthew Wood, and Axel Sandin-Pellika in order to select Tom Willander. I like Willander, and I like a lot of how he plays the game. He is a great defender, his footwork in one-on-ones is exceptional, and he has a ceaseless motor in his own zone. Yes, this team already has Quinn Hughes, but adding high-end puck moving defensemen is the way of the modern NHL, and this pick, coupled with their other picks, just feels like a whiff. In the 3rd round Vancouver selected Hunter Brzustewicz and Sawyer Mynio. Brzustewicz posted 57 pts in 68 games in the OHL for the Kitchener Rangers, which paired with his game tape, shows a skilled puck moving defenseman. At this stage of his development, Brzustewicz’ development is reminiscent of Capitals stalwart Karl Alzner. Mynio, on the other hand, posted 31 pts in 68 games, and IS a capable puck moving defender, but similar to Willander, is more viable as a lockdown defenseman in today’s NHL. 

Overall, the Canucks did not have a bad off-season, but I would be hard pressed to say that it was objectively good either. I have no qualms with the free agent pickups made to bolster their defensive play, especially knowing the offensive potency of their core forward group and the aforementioned Hughes. I also like the depth pickups on the backend, and how they fit with the criminally underrated Filip Hronek trade at last year’s trade deadline, and how he will slot in with Hughes on the top pairing this year. I objectively think the 22-23 Canucks are legitimate postseason contenders based solely on roster talent. I despise their draft for being short sighted and picking based on current positional and systemic needs. Wallinder will likely be a foundational piece for them within the next five years, but by the time he is NHL ready, and with the propensity with which the Canucks organization likes to change direction, it feels bizarre to not take a player who could complement Hughes from the second pairing and second powerplay unit, or find another high-end forward for whenever the Brock Boeser situation is resolved. After digesting all of this, I give the Canucks a C+ for their off-season, because like the Coyotes, who I covered at the start of all this, they are going to be vastly improved in 22-23, but their future is messy under the best of circumstances.

-Christian