With the Vancouver Canucks training camp right around the corner, we decided to ask these ‘Ten Burning Questions’ as your primer for the season.
1. What is Thatcher Demko’s health status?
Good goaltending is always a key to a team’s success and the Canucks have a very good one in Thatcher Demko. There has never been a question of ability with last year’s Vezina Trophy runner-up but his durability is a concern considering he missed a month of the 2022-23 season with a groin injury and didn’t finish last season with a knee ailment. Reports indicate that the latest injury is a chronic one and surgery isn’t an option. So how does that impact Demko’s play? And what will his workload be? The Canucks fate could be determined by it.
2. And what about Arturs Silovs?
Silovs sparkled in last season’s playoffs when given the opportunity but there are now questions with his health as well with the season approaching. Silovs didn’t play for his native Latvia in an Olympic qualifying tournament in August due to what the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation deemed “knee ligament inflammation” but according to CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal there shouldn’t be too much concern. Dhaliwal spoke with the general manager of the Latvian national team - Rudolfs Kalvitis - who said they didn’t want to push Silovs. Regardless, the Canucks are apparently looking for goaltending depth just in case.
3. Is Jake DeBrusk the cure for Elias Pettersson’s second-half swoon?
In the last three months of the regular season, Pettersson played in 33 games and managed 25 points based on seven goals and 18 assists. He followed that up with 1-5-6 in 13 playoff games – clearly not the production you are expecting from your $11.6 million dollar man. At the end of the season, he talked about a knee injury that he was playing through and that probably impacted his play. More importantly, however, is ending the revolving door of wingers that he has played with. Is DeBrusk the answer? The Canucks will give the ex-Bruin every opportunity to succeed with EP40.
4. What does the future hold for Brock Boeser?
Boeser was one of the feel-good stories from last year. He scored four goals in the season-opening 8-1 victory in Edmonton and just kept going, finishing with a career-high 40 goals. His season ended when a blood clotting issue in his leg arose after Game Six of the Edmonton series. He claims that the situation is behind him although he will have to keep tabs on it. The more important question is what do the Canucks do with the impending unrestricted free agent? According to Puckpedia, Vancouver has 16 players signed for the 2025-26 season at $74,354,167. The Canucks have been prudent with their signings, and with the cap expected to be just under $93 million, they do have space for a big ticket in Boeser. But term could be an issue. If he signs a long-term deal, Boeser could be 35 when his contract expires. And what happens if the Canucks season goes south and they need to get some younger pieces?
5. What more can Quinn Hughes do?
Last season, Hughes became the first-ever Canucks blueliner to win the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman. It seemed like every week the Canucks PR staff were issuing releases on another team or NHL record that Hughes would be breaking. In his first season as captain, Hughes racked up 17 goals and 75 assists for 92 points. At times, his skating made it look like he was using a cheat code. Hughes turns 25 on October 14 and he’s entering his sixth NHL season. Is there another level that Hughes can get to? He’s talked about reaching the 20-goal plateau and I’m sure 100 points might be a personal goal as well. Don’t be surprised if he gets there.
6. Can Rick Tocchet lift the curse of the Jack Adams Award?
Okay. Maybe there is no real ‘curse’ but we wanted your attention. You have to go back to Pittsburgh’s Dan Bylsma in 2010-11 to find a winner whose team got better the following season, and since 2010, only two winners have seen their teams advance further in the playoffs the following season. Barry Trotz took the Islanders to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2019 while Jim Montgomery got the Bruins to the second-round last season. You won’t find a bigger fan of Tocchet than this agent but he and his team are up against it looking at history. The reason a coach wins this award is that his team overachieves. And as history shows, regression usually follows.
7. Can Dakota Joshua continue to progress?
To be successful, NHL teams need their big earning stars to perform up to par and have some players who exceed expectation given their compensation. Last season, Dakota Joshua fell into the latter category. This year, he’ll be in the former. A career-high 18 goals and 32 points earned the 28-year-old a bump from $825,000 per year to a four-year deal with an average salary of $3.25 million. With big bucks come big expectations. No one is asking Joshua to score 30 goals – but was last year an outlier or the start of a new trend? I’ll bet the over on 20 goals - it will be the minimum required to earn his keep.
8. Is this a better team than the one that ended the season?
Gone from last year’s team are Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, Ian Cole, Sam Lafferty, Ilya Mikheyev, Vasily Podkolzin and Casey DeSmith. Additions to the current squad include DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood, Daniel Sprong, Vincent Desharnais and Derek Forbort. The bad news is that none of the incoming players have the high-end talent of Lindholm or Zadorov. The good news is that the floor of these new pieces is higher than the players they’ve replaced. Will it be enough for the team to eclipse the 109 points of last year?
9. Who is part of the next wave?
Various websites have the Canucks organization ranked anywhere from 18th to 26th in the overall prospect rankings. That’s not exactly inspiring confidence in the organization’s future with Canuck Nation. The good news is that the team’s two cornerstones in Pettersson and Quinn Hughes are 25 and 24 respectively but a solid prospect system is key to any team’s success. It provides a team with cheap, young talent but it also provides a team with chips to play with on the trade market. This isn’t really a major concern now but it is an area that the organization needs to improve in for sustainability of long-term success.
10. Can the organization continue to grow?
This is more of a big picture question in terms of management and organizational philosophy. The one thing that has impressed me about President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford and General Manager Patrik Allvin is that they have a plan and are disciplined in terms of their fiscal approach. They also strive for consistency when it comes to messaging whether it’s at the NHL, AHL or junior level. Knowing what it means to be a Canuck doesn’t start when you arrive at Rogers Arena. It’s something that you start to learn when you’re playing in Abbotsford or at the Young Stars tournament. The organizational philosophy and structure when it comes to player development has been rejuvenated under this regime but you can never be satisfied. I, for one, am very interested to see what steps the hockey club makes to continue to improve in this regard.
OVERTIME:
*The Young Stars tournament takes place in Penticton this weekend Friday, September 13th through Monday, September, 16th with many Canucks fans excited to see how top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki fares. The Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets prospects will participate in the tournament that will feature six games.
*The Canucks training camp will also take place in Penticton from Thursday, September 19th through Sunday, September 22nd.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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