Dakota Joshua Holds Nothing Back Describing What Went Wrong with the Canucks' 2024-25 Season
Photo credit: Bob Frid - Imagn Images
Former Vancouver Canucks forward Dakota Joshua recently opened up about a tough 2024-25 season for both him personally and his team after they missed the playoffs.
The last 12 months have been quite difficult for former Vancouver Canucks forward Dakota Joshua after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer last summer, which delayed his 2024-25 season debut until mid-November and he wasn't able to produce at the levels he had in the previous year, but neither could any of his teammates, aside from a handful including captain Quinn Hughes.
A little over two weeks into the NHL's offseason and the Vancouver Canucks decided to trade Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fourth round pick in the 2028 NHL Entry Draft, which opened up an additional $3.25 million in cap space for Patrik Allvin to work with this summer.
Dakota Joshua opens up regarding difficult 2024-25 campaign
During an edition of Leafs Morning Take with Jay Rosehill and Nick Alberga a couple of weeks ago, Dakota Joshua opened up about his difficult 2024-25 season with the Vancouver Canucks.
Joshua said his situation before training camp began was tough because he felt like he was having a good summer preparing for the new season, especially after signing a new contract with the club, and while his teammates were extremely helpful through it all, he believes he had to play catch-up all year long.
"That was a tough situation to go through. I was getting ready for training camp and had a good summer behind me. To go through that, especially after signing a new deal, was tough. There was a little bit of a period where I'm not sure how to go about it mentally, and then obviously it's tough news to break to everybody My teammates at the time were very helpful and supportive, which made it easier, but just having to miss training camp and then being behind the 8-ball from the start didn't really do me any good. It felt like I was playing catch-up the whole season. I'm definitely tougher for the situation and facing that adversity for sure, but also, [it's] a year I want to put behind me and keep moving forward. I'm very happy and thankful to be in good health now and once again try to build my career and keep going." Joshua said.
The 29-year-old will now have a big opportunity ahead of him with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team that drafted him back in 2014, as they are looking for their first appearance in the Eastern Conference Final in over two decades and made some big changes this summer, most notably the departure of Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights.
All Vancouver Canucks fans are pulling for Dakota Joshua and are hoping that he's able to have a strong 2025-26 campaign, with his sights set on setting a new career-high in points.
The Dearborn, Michigan native will make his return to Vancouver and Rogers Arena on Saturday, January 31st on Hockey Night in Canada.
Previously on CanucksDaily
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AOUT 10 | 2261 ANSWERS Dakota Joshua Holds Nothing Back Describing What Went Wrong with the Canucks' 2024-25 Season Do you think the Vancouver Canucks will regret trading Dakota Joshua? | ||
| Yes | 1262 | 55.8 % |
| No | 999 | 44.2 % |
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