In 2024-25, a lot went wrong and where do the Vancouver Canucks go from here?
There were a ton of injuries, drama and on-ice struggles. What could go wrong, went wrong. The 2024-25 season was cursed for the Canucks. This comes after a 2023-24 season where a lot went right. Perhaps, 2024-25 was the price for the successful 2024-24 season.
The Canucks have missed the playoffs for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons. That is astonishingly bad.
So Canucks fans enter another long offseason of watching other teams in the playoffs. There once again are a lot of questions surrounding the team. Where do the Canucks go from here?
Where do the Canucks go from here? They can only go up, right?
Right now, it is tough for Vancouver to get back into the postseason next year. But a lot can change between now and October.
The Canucks clearly need a top-six centre. But top-six centres don’t grow on trees and will be tough to sign in free agency.
“Based on the list (of free agents) that we’ve looked at, we’re going have to do better than that,” said Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford at the management year-end press conference on Monday per Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. “So it’s probably a trade and, well, I’m not going to play out my hand. “Tough decisions, it’ll be expensive. But it’ll be also very expensive not to get (a top centre). So we’re going to be open to do whatever it takes. . . to get that player.”
“I definitely want to keep all my options open,” said Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin per MacIntyre.
Speaking of top-six centres…
Elias Pettersson had a massive down year as he only managed 45 points. He is heading into the offseason with a lot of scrutiny and there is a ton of pressure for him to get back to form next season.
Throughout the season, Pettersson was involved in a ton of trade rumours. Allvin stated his belief in the centre that earns 11.6 million dollars a season.
“We still believe in him,” said Allvin. “But the talent we have, with (Filip) Chytil and him, we still believe that they are talented enough to become good players in this league. But when you move away from a player like J.T. Miller. . . you don’t replace him.”
Will Pius Suter and Brock Boeser be Canucks next season?
Pius Suter had a career season scoring 25 goals and tallying 21 assists for 46 points. Brock Boeser scored 40 goals in 2023-24 and followed up with 25 this past season.
Both players are pending UFAs and will get big raises. According to AFPAnalytics, Boeser is projected to get a seven-year deal worth just over nine million dollars a season. AFPAnalytics projects Suter to get a four-year contract with a 3.9 million dollar AAV.
Boeser stated to MacIntyre on April 11 that it is unlikely he will return to Vancouver. It also looks like he will be testing free agency.
Both Boeser and Suter could’ve fetched assets at the trade deadline. Now the Canucks are likely to lose both for nothing.
The future of Tocchet
Rick Tocchet also faces uncertainty. The Canucks declined his contract option but are offering him a new deal.
“We’ve gone through a process, we’ve negotiated,” said Rutherford per Ryan S.Clark of ESPN. “I would suspect sometime this week, he’ll have a decision. … We’re hoping that he takes that contract and stays.”
If Tocchet decides to leave, it would be a bad look for the Canucks organization. The players seem to really like him, especially Canucks captain Quinn Hughes.
“Toc and his coaching staff did as good a job coaching this team this year as they did the year before when he was coach of the year,” said Rutherford. “He was a totally different hand this year.”
Keeping Quinn Hughes
Hughes had another Norris-calibre season. He was the biggest bright spot in a dark season for the Canucks.
Rutherford spoke about Hughes on Monday.
“This franchise cannot afford to lose a guy like Quinn Hughes,” said the Canucks president on a possible extension for Hughes per Daniel Wagner of Vancouver is Awesome. “The one thing that we will be sure of is that we will have enough cap space to offer him the kind of contract that he deserves. That’s the one thing we can prepare for. It may not boil down to money with him.”
Then Rutherford said something he should not have said.
“He said before, he wants to play with his brothers. That would be partly out of our control — in our control if we brought his brothers here.”
Shouldn’t have said that, should not have said that! Unfortunately, you cannot talk about wanting to acquire a player under contract from another team. Why? That’s tampering and teams get fined for it.
Hughes’ brothers Jack and Luke play for the New Jersey Devils. Luke needs a new deal this summer and it is unlikely, the Canucks sign him on an offer sheet, while Jack is signed until 2030.
So it is farfetched that the Canucks trade for one or both of Hughes’ brothers. Maybe they are tired of collecting Petterssons and want to collect all the Hugheses?
All jokes aside, the Canucks could be seriously fined and lose draft picks.
“I probably crossed the line, anyway,” said Rutherford afterward.
He opened a big can of worms and put the team captain in an awkward position.
Not the greatest way for the offseason to start. Where do the Canucks go from here? Well, once again a lot needs to go right. Pressure on management is at an all-time high.
Buckle up, folks. This is going to be a wild and bumpy offseason!
