CANUCKS WILL HOIST CUP ... EVENTUALLY
The Vancouver Canucks. The Stanley Cup.
They still can't find their way into the same sentence — Canucks fans know better. This team will never win the Cup.
Three times this franchise has found itself in the final. Twice they got as close as can be, losing in a seventh and deciding game. The heartbreak is multi-generational.
If the greatest squad in team history, the 2011 team led by the Sedins and Roberto Luongo — three hall of famers! — couldn't get it done, why should a lesser team be able to get it done?
At least the Canucks aren't the Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven't even played in a final, let alone won the prize itself, since before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Why do we still ask the question? Because, yes, one day, those morose fans and the even more morose sports writers who talk about this team will surely be wrong.
Yes, there will be a day that a Canucks captain hoists that giant silver chalice aloft. Surely. Right? Right?
Status today: The Canucks would like to call themselves contenders. Last spring they pushed the Edmonton Oilers hard, losing in seven games to the eventual Cup finalists. A bounce here, an Ilya Mikheyev mishandle there and the Canucks might have won that game. This off-season, management brought in a clutch of new wingers and defencemen; will this new mix work out better than last year's, which performed very well despite some flaws in the top-end construction? That's the big question.
Reason to believe: The Canucks have some elite top-end talent, led by captain Quinn Hughes on the blue-line and the one-two punch at centre of Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller.
Pettersson slumped in the second half of last season, but, in January, he was the NHL's first star of the month. There's no reason to think he won't be back to his dynamic self this season, especially now that he's got a top-end winger like Jake DeBrusk with him.
Miller became the seventh Canuck to record more than 100 points in a season last year. He's 31 years old now, but there's still plenty of life left in his game.
Hughes being the reigning Norris Trophy winner says everything about how strong his game has become.
Reason for skepticism: Last season the Canucks opened the season on a scoring tear without precedent in NHL history. They can score, but the rate they were scoring at was out of this world and unlikely to repeat itself.
On top of this is the anxiety in goal: Thatcher Demko isn't expected to be in the mix at training camp this week. He's been skating in his recovery from some sort of knee ailment, but it's not believed he's faced any shots at this point. The Canucks signed Dylan Ferguson to a pro tryout this week, an obvious insurance move at minimum against Demko not being ready this week and possibly longer.
If he's not ready to start the season, the pressure will weigh heavily on Arturs Silovs and Jiri Patera; a bad start can make life later in the season very hard, especially in a division like the Pacific, with at least five teams in the mix for a playoff spot.
Prospect pipeline: There's Jonathan Lekkerimaki at the very pinnacle. He's little, but he's got great hands. He could play NHL games this year.
There's Tom Willander, going into his second year at Boston University. Most expect him to sign a pro deal after his collegiate season ends in spring. He's a good skater and is pretty sharp, but how hockey-sharp is he and can he handle the puck fast enough to be a topend NHL blueliner or just a guy? Those two are the top. Aatu Raty, picked up in the Bo Horvat trade 18 months ago, is somewhat intriguing as well. He's got lots of talent, but questions remain about his skating and hockey sense.
Next there are a handful of interesting lower-end prospects, like centre Max Sasson, winger Arshdeep Bains and defencemen Elias (D-Petey) Pettersson, Cole McWard and Jett Woo.
All could play depth roles this season, but none are expected to truly move the meter long term. Salary-cap situation: The Canucks have an inch of space below the cap, even accounting for the buyout of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the retained salary of Mikheyev and the last season of Tucker Poolman's contract.
President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford has made it clear: the Canucks would like to remain below the cap limit this season so they can accrue cap space to be used nearer to the deadline, when they can add a higher-end player to help with the playoff push. Postmedia News predicts: The Canucks will win the Cup in 2026. Postmedia explains: The Canucks' best players — Pettersson and Hughes — are in their prime. Miller is in his 30s and players fall off the pace at this age, but he looks set to have at least two more topend seasons.
Demko is a huge question mark, but the Canucks do have strength in goal behind him and look set to remain solid between the pipes.
The key here is the youngsters: they need the likes of Lekkerimaki and Willander to hit and hit big. Give them two years and there's every reason to think they'll be strong depth contributors by 2026.
Everything lines up well.