For better or for worse, these are the Vancouver Canucks for the rest of the 2024-25 season. On Friday night against the Minnesota Wild, it was for the better.
The Canucks kept quiet on trade deadline day, neither trading any of their players nor acquiring additional players for the stretch run to the playoffs. There are fans on both sides of the aisle — those who wanted the Canucks to sell and those who wanted them to buy — who are disappointed.
For the players in the Canucks’ room, however, the passing of the trade deadline is a weight off their shoulders.
“For us, it’s a little bit of a relief that those guys stayed,” said Kiefer Sherwood. “It’s also empowering for our group that we have them and can keep the band together and continue to roll.”
A quiet trade deadline can be spun in a couple of different ways. A pessimist could interpret it as the management group not believing in the team enough to add a player; an optimist could instead say that management believes in the team so much that they don’t need anyone else.
“I like our group. I like what we have going on,” said Kevin Lankinen. “It’s a relief for everybody just to know that we can focus on the real things now.”
No one was more relieved for the passing of the trade deadline than Brock Boeser, who was heavily involved in trade rumours as a pending unrestricted free agent and also had to deal with some blunt statements from his own general manager, Patrik Allvin, about his value.
While his long-term future is still uncertain, he’s thrilled to be staying in Vancouver for at least the rest of this season.
“These are some of my best friends, on this team,” said Boeser. “We have such a good team, so many great guys here. And we’re right in the hunt for a playoff spot, so that’s our main focus right now.
“Obviously, it’s kind of tough to focus on that with all that noise, but now I’m just so happy that it’s over with and I can really just focus on helping our team win games and being better for our team.”
The days leading up to the trade deadline were tough for Boeser, who couldn’t entirely block out the off-ice talk, especially with the Canucks and his agent having contract discussions.
“Your head’s a blender,” said Boeser. “You hear so many things, you don’t know what’s true, what’s not true. I really tried to not talk to [my agent] unless something was really important, just let him deal with that and just deal with the Canucks and whatever. It was a long week and I’m just happy that it’s over with.”
Can that happiness and relief turn into winning hockey and get the Canucks into the playoffs? That remains to be seen. And I will see it, if it happens, with my eyes, like I did when I watched this game.
- Considering the Canucks had two power plays, they really should should have mustered up more than six shots on goal in the first period. In their defence, the Wild blocked 11 shots in the first, so the Canucks were at least shooting the puck in the direction of the net, which is a positive step.
- Speaking of shooting the puck: Oh, there you are, Petey. The Canucks’ much-maligned franchise forward looked like his old self on a late first-period power play. He took a Filip Hronek pass and drilled a one-timer into the top corner from just above the right faceoff circle, a few feet away from his old haunt, The Petterzone. As the kids say these days, it’s always the most over before the we’re so back.
- “He’s got a great shot,” said Rick Tocchet. “We’ve talked about it: when he shoots it, if it gets blocked, it gets blocked — I can live with that. He knows. The power play, I thought there were a couple of times where he could have ripped it. He and Filip were playing pass; I wish one of them would’ve smashed it.”
- The Canucks really should have had a second power play goal in this game, as they were whipping the puck around like a belligerent Oberon. On a second-period power play, Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk combined to set up a backdoor chance for Conor Garland, but he was robbed by Gustavsson. Then, Pettersson put a one-touch pass into Brock Boeser’s wheelhouse in the slot only for Boeser to miss the net.
- “We’ve got to hit the net,” said Tocchet. “Even a low one will be a rebound; somebody can be there to put the rebound in. Sometimes, we’re trying to hit a peahole and we’re missing the net. That’s the one frustration.”
- Oh, the jokes I could make about hitting a peahole but it turns out that there is such a thing as a peahole hem in sewing that results in small holes around the edge of the fabric. We’ll assume that’s what Tocchet was referring to and NO OTHER TYPES OF PEAHOLES.
- Five minutes into the second period, Pettersson came agonizingly close to following up his first-period goal with a highlight-reel beauty. He took a pass from Kiefer Sherwood and spun right around Mats Zucarrello, then tried to pull the puck to his forehand around the sliding Filip Gustavsson, only to see the puck slide off his stick before he could tuck it in. Even still, he nearly swatted the puck in as he fell to the ice with Gustavsson’s legs locked around his like Ric Flair.
- “He’s juking, he’s shooting, he’s feeling himself, and he’s gaining his swagger back, which is scary to see,” said Sherwood about Pettersson. “He does a lot of things well without the puck, too, that probably go unnoticed.”
- Funny thing is, Pettersson’s underlying numbers took a beating in this game, partly because some of the best chances he and his linemates created (such as the one above) didn’t result in a shot attempt, but also because he was on match-up duty when the Wild pushed back hard and he had a few rough shifts. Shot attempts were 25-to-9 for the Wild with Pettersson on the ice at 5-on-5.
- “I got mad at a couple lines,” said Tocchet. “Actually, Petey was funny because I gave him crap and we talked after the game, he goes, ‘Sometimes I need that.’ He actually had a good shift [after].”
- Canucks fans were howling for a penalty call when Filip Chytil got upended early in the second period but upon further inspection…yeah, that’s a dive. Yes, Chytil took a stick in the leg, but you can see the moment where he stops skating and leaps forward. I’m not even mad, but he’s got to be careful not to get a reputation for that kind of thing or he might not get legitimate penalty calls.
- Kevin Lankinen was outstanding in the Canucks’ net, making 37 saves on 38 shots. It wasn’t always pretty, particularly in the third period, when the Wild really poured on the pressure, but he got the job done. It’s the most saves he’s had in a single game all season, as the Canucks have generally been pretty good at limiting the opposition to fewer shots. Lesson learned: no open bar when the Wild are in town.
- Lankinen got some help from the defence, who poked the puck away several times on what looked like sure goals. It seemed like every defenceman had a moment where they swept the puck away from an open net, but the biggest play came from Filip Hronek, who stopped a Marcus Johansson wraparound when Lankinen got caught outside his post. He picked exactly the right time to leave his check, Frederick Gaudreau, in front of the net.
- “I think there were three or four plays where maybe our forwards were out of position but our D got back and knocked the puck away,” said Tocchet. “Instead of just taking things for granted, you continue to go downhill and you swipe the puck away. I think twice they would have had an empty net.”
- As much as the Canucks got badly outshot, they can take some comfort in how much had to go wrong for the Wild to get a goal. It started with the penalty call, which was simply awful. Hronek stepped up and threw a hit in open ice on Zuccarello, which is allowed, last time I checked, but he was called for a tripping penalty.
- Tocchet clearly didn’t like the call. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but my amateur lipreading skills suggest that the words that came out of his mouth were something along the lines of, “That’s a bad referee. You’re ****ing awful.”
- On the ensuing power play, things got a lot worse when Tyler Myers’ stick snapped in half on an attempted clear. Lankinen made two brilliant saves in the chaos that followed but when Sherwood gave his stick to Myers and tried to bolt to the bench at an opportune time for a new twig, the Wild struck with a quick passing play that had Lankinen swimming, which isn’t recommended because the water was in solid form at the time. Brock Faber sent the puck into the top of the net for the 1-1 goal.
- If Sherwood felt any guilt for the tying goal, he more than made up for it by scoring the game-winner. Nils Höglander battled hard to maintain possession in the offensive zone, and then he fed Sherwood, whose centering pass to Teddy Blueger was poked away. Hronek jumped on the loose puck and sent a one-touch pass to Sherwood at the backdoor. He kicked the puck up to his stick, then bounced the puck off Gustavsson’s booty like it was a quarter, and into the back of the net.
- The goal earned Sherwood a boisterous “Kie-fer Sher-wood!” chant from the Canucks crowd, which had Sherwood a little bit emotional after the game.
- “It’s pretty special,” said Sherwood. “You can’t really put it into words. I don’t know, I just black out a little bit. I’ve never played, really, in a market like this, with a fanbase like this that’s this crazy. I got a taste when I was on the other side last year in the playoffs but the fans are nuts. I’ve just got to keep giving them reasons to cheer.”
- The Canucks closed out the game thanks to Teddy Blueger’s hustle. He chased down a puck cleared by Pius Suter and poked it away from Brock Faber as they raced up the ice. The pokecheck just happened to slide the puck into the empty net for the insurance marker.
- Nils Höglander nearly added another empty-net goal with less than a minute left. He missed the net and it resulted in an icing but still, it’s nice that Tocchet trusted him enough to put him on the ice in the final minute to defend a lead.
- “They were out for the winning goal and when we made it 3-to-1, I thought they deserved to go out there,” said Tocchet. “It’s a team game and I want to give Höggy confidence.”
- With the win, the Canucks move to 69 points, which is nice because that’s one more point than the Calgary Flames, enough to push them above the playoff bar into the second Wild Card spot in the West. Both teams have 20 games left but they’ll also have to keep an eye on the St. Louis Blues and the Utah Hockey Club. It’s a race.
