The rise, fall and current rise of the Vancouver Canucks
Not since the fleeting days of the heartbreaking 2011 season has the Vancouver hockey market been this positive, and that is a sentence that will come as welcome news to both players and fans.
It would be a severe understatement to say that it has been a long seven years for the likes of the only remaining 2011 veterans, Alex Edler and Chris Tanev, and Canucks fans who in recent years, have been a bit less willing to wear their jerseys out in public. That being said, the expectations set seven years ago haven’t been the easiest to live up to. The oh-so-close squad that put together that championship run, built up by Brian Burke and Dave Nonis, and fine-tuned by Mike Gillis, had (almost) everything a fan could ask for.
The quick, precision-oriented team made up of the wonder-twins, Alex Burrows in his prime, a feisty Ryan Kesler, a frustrating Maxim Lapierre, and a solid back line featuring Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff and Dan Hamhuis among others, gave the fans more than plenty to cheer about well into June of 2011.
But the sweet milk of near-victory always turns sour, and following the madness that transpired on the night and in the early morning of June 15 and 16, the patience of the fan base began to wear thin.
Even riding high on a deep playoff run and capturing a second straight President’s Trophy the following 2011/2012 season couldn’t re-ignite the spark that was extinguished the night Tim Thomas and company hoisted Lord Stanley over the orca logo at centre ice.
From the early exit in the 2011/2012 quarterfinals to the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, to the departure of head coach Alain Vigneault and the John Tortorella experiment, to the mismanaged goalie fiasco with Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider, it was actually fairly understandable why the fanbase turned hostile. It was well known around the hockey world by that time that Vancouver’s media pressure was pretty much on par with Toronto’s unhinged media circus, and the team’s failure to live up to expectations led to the rapid decline and estrangement of a city from its team.
The impressive 12-year sellout streak at General Motors Place/Rogers Arena fell merely to the pages of record books in 2014, and once-absurd ticket prices fell with it. There was simply no demand or appetite for Canucks hockey anymore. By this point, the team was in shambles and searching for anything that resembled an identity, and the thousands of empty red seats that stared you right in the face on every Sportsnet broadcast were a glaring reminder of that fact. Fans couldn’t even seek solace in telling themselves that it was a part of a greater rebuild plan, because at most times, there seemed to be little to no evidence in the prospect pipeline nor in free agent signings that would inspire hope in even the most hardcore fan.
High draft picks weren’t seeming to have immediate impacts, the draft lottery quickly had Jim Benning’s hair thinning and the sometimes-questionable signings of aging free agents had fans praying for a saviour in the form of a McDavid, an Eichel or an Auston Matthews.
The first sign of holy redemption came last season with the arrival of Brock Boeser, who, after not being included on the opening night roster, quickly worked his way into Travis Green’s good books. The young 20 year-old sniper earned himself an all-star spot in his first season and was soon playing top powerplay minutes alongside Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who, at the age of 37, were still incredibly productive National Hockey League scorers. Boeser also bulked up significantly over the nearly five month-long off-season, but is coming off of a season-ending broken bone in his lower back, which caused him to miss the final 16 games of last season. Adding to this season’s uncertainty for Boeser will be the adjustment of playing without his red-headed future Hall of Fame linemates, who retired after a bounce-back season, partially thanks to Boeser and his laser-guided shot on the right wing. It’s a changing of the guard that everyone saw coming, but it remains to be seen if Boeser can stave off the dreaded sophomore slump.
And now, the answer to the fanbase’s prayers seems to have come in the somewhat unexpected form of 19 year-old Elias Petterson. The common consensus among fans and experts alike early on in this 2018/2019 season seems to be somewhere along the lines of “we knew he was good, but not that good.”
He dominated the SHL, the top league in Sweden last year, and made grown men look foolish enroute to notching 56 points in 44 games with Växjö Lakers HC. Through his first half a dozen games on this side of the pond, Petterson has shown poise which makes one reminiscent of a pair of young Sedins. He never seems to be in trouble, he’s confident with the puck on his stick and makes plays that are often only executed in EA Sports’ NHL video game series.
To put it simply, the kid is unreal.
So unreal, perhaps, that he makes defenders frustrated to the point of violence, which we all saw several days ago after Petterson deked Panthers defenceman Mike Matheson out of his jockstrap, leading to Matheson hitting the young Swede and throwing him to the ground à la Hulk Hogan.
And while it is of course never good for young players to be exposed to concussion symptoms so early in their career, there is one thing that Canucks fans must remember, and that is that all the best players throughout history have made people mad.
The Edmonton Oilers of the 80’s had to hire the enforcer equivalent of the Lithuanian army just to protect the Gretzky-Kurri duo, who embarrassed top defensive pairings night after night. Eric Lindros, who at his peak was averaging well over a point per game, ultimately cut his career short due to concussion issues in the rough-and-tumble NHL of the 90’s and early 2000’s, but was one of the most frustrating players in the league to play against in his time. Even Sidney Crosby, who is widely considered to be the best player of his generation, is constantly hunted by defencemen who are tired of being in the background of Crosby highlight videos. It’s not easy territory to guard, but the best players will always find a way to adapt and overcome. Canucks fans can only hope Petterson will follow this path, but the early signs look promising. So promising in fact, that some say the baby-faced winger is the best Canucks prospect since Pavel Bure, and if the kid has the possibility of turning out anything like the Russian Rocket, Canucks fans will surely be pretty thrilled with that notion.
On top of the exciting prospect of having a Boeser-Petterson combo, is the extraordinary leadership and playmaking abilities of Bo Horvat, the addition of capable third and fourth liners and the overdue development of prospects, which include big d-man Olli Juolevi, Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Gaudette, a promising Jonathan Dahlen and goaltender Thatcher Demko, who is poised to soon become the Canucks’ number one between the pipes.
Now, with prospects rising through the ranks and the big league club finally looking competitive, it’s finally safe for Canucks fans to have hope.
However, with big potential comes big expectations. The Vancouver media lions’ den will surely be out in full force in the coming months and years, and even if there are a few more bums in the seats, this club has a long way to go in order to get excitement levels back to anywhere close to where they were in 2011. It’ll be a long road for these new boys in blue green and white, but for the first time in a long time, there’s a glimmer of hope emanating from Rogers Arena.
It’s finally exciting to be a Canucks fan again, and that’s something that hasn’t been spoken in quite a while.
