Respected NHL Insider Gives His Take on the Current State of the Vancouver Canucks
Photo credit: Bob Frid - Imagn Images.
A respected NHL insider has given his take on the current state of the Vancouver Canucks as they head into the 2025-26 season with one goal in mind - playoff hockey.
Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin had quite a busy summer, with the first big move he made being just days before the NHL Entry Draft when he acquired Evander Kane from the Edmonton Oilers to beef up the team's top-six and add some more scoring depth.
Less than a week later, Allvin was back at it, locking up Brock Boeser to a long-term deal on July 1st, while also handing out contract extensions to both Thatcher Demko as well as Conor Garland.
With less than four weeks to go until the Canucks open the 2025-26 season, the team feels confident on where they stand with their current roster and one NHL insider has shared his opinion of the state of the team heading into the new campaign.
NHL insider gives his take on the current state of the Vancouver Canucks
During a recent appearance on Donnie & Dhali, NHL insider and co-host of the 100% Canucks Podcast John Shannon gave his thoughts on the current state of the team as they look to avoid missing out on the postseason in back-to-back years.
Shannon says that there is belief in Vancouver that things will settle down in terms of drama, outside noise and all of that, but there are still questions that need to be answered, two of them being - can Elias Pettersson bounce back and will Thatcher Demko be healthy all season long.
"I think there's a real hope and belief that things can settle down. I mean, even when you look beyond the Miller-Pettersson thing, Rick, how many times were we consumed with Rick Tocchet's future? How much time did we spend during the 4 Nations break wondering 'Is Tocc coming back?' and 'What's going to happen there.'
Management has had to settle things down and I think they're on the way to doing it. I don't think we already know that until they play a regular season game and Adam Foote has put his imprint on this hockey club, but you know, it ends up being the strength of this team are still question marks. Where is Pettersson in all of this, can he bounce back? Can Thatcher Demko stay healthy? We're going to have a soap opera for 24 months about Quinn Hughes. So those are going to be issues that in a very, very difficult media market and I don't say that in a negative sense, I say that in a real sense. That's the reality. The market is a very, very high profile, difficult market to deal with. Some people have a tough time doing it, some don't. The questions that are asked are the right questions. But that's what's going to have to happen and the only way, and you know this Rick, the only way the Canucks can really put everything to rest, is by winning more than losing. We'll just have to wait and see if that's possible." Shannon said.
Management has had to settle things down and I think they're on the way to doing it. I don't think we already know that until they play a regular season game and Adam Foote has put his imprint on this hockey club, but you know, it ends up being the strength of this team are still question marks. Where is Pettersson in all of this, can he bounce back? Can Thatcher Demko stay healthy? We're going to have a soap opera for 24 months about Quinn Hughes. So those are going to be issues that in a very, very difficult media market and I don't say that in a negative sense, I say that in a real sense. That's the reality. The market is a very, very high profile, difficult market to deal with. Some people have a tough time doing it, some don't. The questions that are asked are the right questions. But that's what's going to have to happen and the only way, and you know this Rick, the only way the Canucks can really put everything to rest, is by winning more than losing. We'll just have to wait and see if that's possible." Shannon said.
If the Vancouver Canucks are able to get off to a hot start to the 2025-26 season, winning seven or eight of their 12 games during the month of October, that'll certainly go a long way in silencing their critics.
In order to do so, they're going to need everyone at the top of their game, including those who struggled last year for various reasons, injuries included, such as the aforementioned Elias Pettersson & Thatcher Demko, along with Nils Hoglander.
Previously on CanucksDaily
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