How the Vancouver Canucks Assembled a Potential Playoff Team: Building Through the Draft

You know, I never thought that I would ever be looking forward to Vancouver Canucks hockey this season as much as I am. They’ve had an interesting offseason that should make them a playoff team—notice I used the word should. There is reason to be excited about this upcoming season, but also skepticism is a part of being a Canucks fan. I've been an avid fan of the Canucks--please don't ask me why-- for my entire hockey viewing career. Growing up in New Jersey, it was a grind to get my Canucks fix. I could only ever watch the team on TV if they were playing the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, or the New Jersey Devils--so that's six games a year. I used to listen to the John-and-John calls from the Canucks radio on NHL.com--who says radio is dead?--and that was my only way of experiencing the Canucks. The best part about it was that the games didn't typically start until 10:00, so I would have to stay up to 1:30 to listen from start to finish. It was weird listening to the games, but it turned out to be for the best because the team sucked. It was hard getting up at 6 a.m, dragging myself out of bed, making a bowl of cereal, and then being committed enough to the team to watch a highlight reel of them get slaughtered the night before whilst I ate my cereal--yea, good times. The Canucks during my high-school career were especially bad, if you couldn't tell. Back then, all we had was Bo Horvat and the aging Sedin Twins--we've come a long way from those days. So, I want to do a series and crash course explanation on some of the essential moves and moments that the Canucks experienced the past five seasons. Why? Well, because I want to share my false sense of optimism with you, that's why!

There were some ruthless years, but I remember 2016-2017 fondly. When I say fondly, I don't mean because it was fun--it was hell. Bo Horvat led the team with 20 goals and 32 assists for a whopping 52 points to put things into perspective. Don't get me wrong, I love Bo Horvat as much as the next 'Nucks fan, but dear Lord, that was a brutal season. I remember that year specifically because we were inept on every level of play. The forwards featured two aging legends in Henrik and Daniel Sedin and the worst offseason acquisition in recent NHL memory Loui Erikkson. Bo Horvat, Sven Beartschi, and a prospect from Burnsville, Minnesota, named Brock Boeser had the only promise offensively for the team. The goalie situation was looking bleak with Ryan Miller almost out of his contract, leaving us with Jacob Markstrom set to be our starter the following season-- in hindsight, this was great. Markstrom would later become an all-star for us, but I digress. I'm not going to bother talking about the defense. We had Erik Gudbransson and Ben Hutton as starters on our blue line, and later on, we signed Derrick Pouliot. If that doesn't show how abysmal this team was on the defensive, I don't know what will.

Though it was extremely enticing for the NHL draft to commence, the Canucks had a regular-season game that many hockey fans were going to tune into. It was a matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and the Minnesota Wild, nothing too fancy right? The Wild were a good team trending in the direction of the postseason were as the Canucks were playing for a high draft pick, what could be so enticing? the truth is, this is the first NHL game that University of North Dakota superstar Brock Boeser would play in. The Canucks drafted Boeser with the 23rd overall pick in the 2015 Draft—which is now considered one of the best classes in league history. Boeser had a wicked shot, easily coachable, and a calm demeanor that made it hard to throw him off his game. What made this March game interesting was it was being played in St. Paul Minnesota and Boeser is a Minnesota native—poetic. Boeser only had 12 minutes of ice time in his NHL debut, but he made it count. In his first-ever game, Boeser scored a goal. The goal was nothing too fancy. The Wild were setting up a shift in the Canucks defensive zone when they lost the puck when the Wild defender shot the puck into Sven Baertschi. Baertschi kicked the puck to Bo Horvat who skated up the ice with the young Boeser. Horvat split the defenders and got a shot off on Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper ate the shot, but lost track of the puck and Boeser cleaned it up for an easy goal. Again, nothing too exciting. But he scored a goal in his debut, and that is special to an organization that was lacking a bright young star like Boeser. Boeser would go on to register four more goals and had six total points in the remaining nine games of the season—our first flash of hope.

Though Boeser and Horvat were a good start, they needed a player to bring energy to the team. Someone that the whole hockey world would recognize and revere, someone from the far northern reaches of Scandanavia-- they needed another Super Swede. As much as I would love to go into the Canucks' odd obsession with talented Swedish players, it would distract my main point. Just know that for whatever reason, the Canucks really like talented Swedish players. Guys like the Sedin Twins, Marcus Naslund, Mattias Ohlund, and Alex Edler-- oh God, I'm doing it, aren't I-- were all mainstays and are still fan favorites to this day. They impacted the team in a way that few ever have. With the Sedin twins not getting any younger, they decided to move on and bring in the next Star Swede to run the show. Who would be so unfortunate to get drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2017 NHL Draft? I can tell you right now that the result was not at all what I was expecting.

If you're a fan of hockey-- as I hope you are if you're reading this-- you know that the Canucks held the fifth pick in the draft. That's a big deal. Teams that draft in the top five of the draft are ordinarily horrible. If a team finishes in the bottom three in wins-- which naturally Canucks did-- they couldn't select lower than fifth. This means that my Vancouver Canucks were dealing with the worst-case scenario. We had the second-worst record in the NHL that season with 30-43-9 (69 points). The only team worse than us was the Colorado Avalanche with 22-56-4 (48 points). We were terrible, but boy, I'm glad we weren't that bad. Despite having the worst record, the Avalanche were bestowed with the 4th overall pick after the draft lottery-- please remind me to write about how horrible the NHL Draft Lottery is. The draft order went as follows:

First Overall: New Jersey Devils

Second Overall: Philadelphia Flyers

Third Overall: Dallas Stars

Fourth Overall: Colorado Avalanche

Fifth Overall: Vancouver Canucks

I remember that draft day very well. It was a late June day, and it was storming outside. My parents were out with friends all day, and my sister was working-- so I could watch the draft in my lonesome. I was excited this year because there was plenty of great talent in the draft, but none of the guys were league-ready quiet yet-- the consensus was that all of the top picks would need to wait a year. I threw on my Bo Horvat jersey that I had gotten for Christmas six months before and a Canucks hat, and I waited in anticipation. I knew that the first two players taken were going to be Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick. Hischier went first overall to the Devils. Then the injury-prone Patrick went to the rival Flyers. After those two were gone, I knew the draft was going to get interesting. The prospects that I wanted were Casey Mittelstadt or Gabe Vilardi. They had the size, speed, and shot that I wanted in my forwards. My reason for excitement grew after the Stars selected Miro Heiskanen and the Avalanche took Cale Makar-- both of which are defensemen. This meant that we were going to get one of the forwards that I wanted.

This was the second year in a row where the Canucks held the fifth overall pick. I can't even begin to stress how often the Canucks organization bragged about having the fifth overall pick. "Teams covet top five picks in the draft," and "Jaromir Jagr and Scott Stevens were fifth overall selections." The organization thought they would get the next Jaromir Jagr or Scott Stevens?-- they couldn't be serious, right? Well, at fifth overall, there was no one on the board that seemed like they would have that much impact on their team-- or so I thought. The Avalanche took Cale Makar, and now my Vancouver Canucks were on the clock-- our time was now. It was an easy choice in my mind; we're either taking Casey Mittelstadt or Gabe Vilardi. I saw the Canucks draft team and our legendarily inept general manager, Jim Benning, take the stage. I could hear my heart pumping with anticipation. After thanking the city of Chicago for hosting the draft, Jimbo went up to the microphone and announced the Canucks first-round draft. "With our first selection, we select from Timra, Elias Peterson." ...excuse me?

Those words rang in my ears as I stared in disbelief at my TV --who did we draft? I was upset that Mittelstadt and Vilardi were still on the board, but that doesn't do any justice to how mad I was when I saw Pettersson walk onto the stage-- he was scrawny. He looked like he weighed 80 pounds soaking wet, and the only thing keeping him to the ground was his suit-- I was appalled. Before they even showed his highlights, I had turned off the TV and thrown my jersey and hat off-- I was pissed. I didn't watch the rest of the draft, but I still got notifications of where players went. Mittelstadt went to the Buffalo Sabres, and Gabe Vilardi went to the Los Angeles Kings-- I couldn't stand it anymore. I went on my phone and began looking at the NHL online shop. I was ready to buy a Nashville Predators jersey and hop on their bandwagon-- yes, I was that mad. The Predators recently got new jerseys, and they were repulsive, but I didn't care. That team was good, and mine sucked. I didn't get a job until about a month later, but if I had a job, I would've bought a Pekka Rinne jersey, and I would be a Predators fan right now.

The following day I woke up, and there was a moment of peace. The sun was warm coming through my window, and I could smell the all too familiar scent of bacon wafting in the air. I was at peace--until I realized the Canucks wasted a first-round pick on some freak from Sweden, and my mood soured instantly-- I least I got enjoy some remanence of bliss before my day started. I went on my phone and looked around the online NHL community to see what the non-bias consensus of the Canucks draft was so far. The first article I saw said that Elias Pettersson was the steal of the draft-- that couldn't be right. The man is going to get destroyed in the NHL. There is no way anyone could justify him getting taken as high as he did. I went to Twitter, and I saw people were gushing about this man--they couldn't say enough good things. Fans were praising his skating, his high hockey IQ, his slap shot, his wrist shot, how he wasn't afraid of taking hits, and how underrated his defensive abilities were. The only negative thing about his play that people were tweeting about was his inability to handle face-offs. Many people were posting minute-long highlight reels on their pages, and I clicked on one to see if these fans were being hyperbolic or if their excitement was justified. I opened the video, and for a minute, half-chewed bacon sat in my mouth as I watched my phone in disbelief. Everything the fans were saying was true. I never in my life would've dreamed of a player of Elias Pettersson's skill and talent falling into the clumsy fingers of the Vancouver Canucks organization. For once in my life, I was happy to be wrong.

2017-2018 was a little better than the season before. Brock Boeser was finally ready to play his rookie year, and he didn't disappoint. Boeser and new head coach Travis Green provided an extra boost to the team we haven't seen in some time-- the players looked more competent than they did under Willie Desjardins. Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and Sven Baertschi joined forces to form the formidable—albeit brief—Killer B’s Line. The three forwards made up our first line, which wasn’t ideal. What made the line effective was they had a finisher in Boeser. Of course, by doing this Henrik and Daniel Sedin were moved to the second line—it was disappointing to see the legends move down in the pecking order. Boeser's rookie year was so good that he was chasing the Calder Memorial Trophy-- or the rookie of the Year award. Boeser was going head-to-head with New York Islanders rookie forward Mathew Barzal-- yes, his name only has one 'T' for some bizarre reason, but that's beside the point. In February, the Canucks were out of a playoff spot, but we had something to cheer for the first time in a while. A Canucks player hasn't won the Calder since Pavel Bure did it in 1991-1992-- it was time for Brock to beak the curse. However, in one faithful game against everyone's least favorite team, the Calgary Flames, Boeser was checked into the bench and his spine. He lay on the ice motionless, and the wind was knocked out of every Canucks fan. The injury wasn't bad enough to end his career-- thank God-- but it was enough to end his rookie season. Barzal then walked away with the rookie of the year-- a reward that should've gone to the more electrifying Boeser.

With Boeser out for the remainder of the season, there really wasn’t any reason to pay attention to the Canucks. They were uninteresting and had a bleak future. But, there was one more huge event that needs to be covered from this season—it was the last season of the Sedins. The Sedin Twins, Henrik and Daniel, are legends in Vancouver. They came to the team as the second and third overall picks in the 1999 draft. The Swedes took a while to prepare for North American hockey, but when they finally adapted they dominated the league. They both lead in the league in scoring, earning the Art Ross. Henrik even won league MVP in 2010. But, 2017-2018 marked their last season in the NHL and as the season drew to an end, Canucks fans grew melancholy. They are the only two players to register 1,000 points in Canucks jerseys—Daniel doing it earlier in the season— and they’ve done so much for the Vancouver community. When they played their last game at home against the Arizona Coyotes, it was amazing to see how many people flooded into Roger’s Arena—the place was barely full all season, but the fans came to send off their beloved heroes. The Canucks won the game 3-2 in overtime. Daniel Sedin scored the game-winning goal from an assist from his brother and captain Henrik. It was such a euphoric feeling to see them win their last home game with one last bit of Sedinary. Their real last game wasn’t as fun. They went to Edmonton to play the Oilers, but they lost. However, the fans in Edmonton orange all stood up at the end of the game and gave the Sedins a standing ovation for their great careers. I never forgot the class and sportsmanship Oilers fans showed that day—they showed respect and I’ll never forget the gesture. What made it even sweeter was the Sedins made a career harassing the Oilers for almost two decades, and the fans still sent them off the way they did—Canadians really are the nicest people.

For the upcoming draft, the Canucks owned the seventh selection in the draft, which was respectable. The 2018 NHL draft was stacked. There was a generational defenseman in Rasmus Dahlin, promising forwards in Andrei Svechnikov, Filip Zadina, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and a tremendous puck-moving defenseman in Quinn Hughes. The Canucks needed a defenseman badly, but the chances of getting one of those two geat defensemen were impossible. I was eyeing Adam Boqvist, Noah Dobson, and Evan Bouchard-- I was trying to keep things realistic. In March of that year, my dad asked me if I wanted to go to a college hockey game that featured Michigan. I thought it would be nice to see Quinn Hughes play live, but I figured there would be no way he falls to the Canucks. We were a slightly better team than the year before, so I wasn't surprised that we had a lower pick in the draft. The order for the 2018 NHL Draft went as follows:

First Overall: Buffalo Sabres

Second Overall: Carolina Hurricanes

Third Overall: Montreal Canadiens

Fourth Overall: Ottawa Senators

Fifth Overall: Arizona Coyotes

Sixth Overall: Detroit Redwings

Seventh Overall: Vancouver Canucks

This was a weird draft for me because I was working that day, but that didn't stop me from watching the draft on my phone. I'd be damned if bussing some tables was going to prevent me from following the draft when the 'Nucks were on the clock. This draft was like the one before-- everyone knew that Rasmus Dahlin was going first-overall to Buffalo, and Andrei Svechnikov would follow him at second overall-- and that's exactly what happened. The draft became interesting, however, when the Canadiens were on the clock. Hughes, Zadina, and Tkachuk were all available so that they couldn't go wrong-- but they made an unusual pick. They selected forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi. I use the word unusual here because it was not a bad pick by any means. Granted, Kotkaniemi is no longer a member of the Montreal Canadiens after signing an offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes, arguably the funniest that happened in the offseason. Still, he impacted the team and was a crucial part of their recent run at the Stanley Cup this past season. This was an odd pick put pales in comparison to what happened shortly after the Canadiens' pick.

The Senators made it clear that they wanted Brady Tkachuk no matter what, and they were pleased to snag him at fourth overall. The Arizona Coyotes, however, made the most bizarre selection that stunned the hockey world. With Quinn Hughes and Filip Zadina still on the board, the Coyotes selected forward Barrett Hayton. My phone was blowing with confused hockey fans questioning the move the Coyotes just made. As much as fans were asking what happened, Canucks fans had a huge epiphany-- we were now guaranteed to get either Filip Zadina or Quinn Hughes. In other words, the Canucks were getting a great player.

At this point, I was fantasizing how great the first line of Elias Pettersson-- who has been dominating in the SHL-- Brock Boeser and Filip Zadina would be. I know that we needed a defenseman badly, but it would be hard to pass up a great opportunity to elevate our young forward core to even higher heights. In my mind, it was painfully evident that we weren't getting Quinn Hughes because he played college hockey at the University of Michigan-- the Redwings were going to take him. The Redwings drafting team came to the podium and enthusiastically announced their selection of Filip Zadina. I was stunned. I couldn't believe what was happening. Quinn Hughes just fell to the seventh-overall selection. This was absolutely the best-case scenario for the Vancouver Canucks-- we got our defenseman of the future.

I remember the summer of 2018 was filled with anticipation. Brock Boeser would be back fully healthy, Quinn Hughes was officially in our system, Bo Horvat got a new contract extension, and of course, Elias Pettersson would be starting his rookie season in October. There was so much to look forward to that it was hard to wait. The Canucks finally began their season at home against the archrival Calgary Flames-- or as I like to call them, Satan's Team. That game wasn't just great because the Canucks won, but because everything we hoped for in Elias Pettersson came as promised. The first-ever shot that Elias Pettersson had on an NHL net was a goal. He took a pass from Cancucks meme legend Loui Erikkson and skated up the ice with purpose. The two Calgary defenders played so far off Elias that he could've taken that shot from the blue-line and still scored. Pettersson got in close to Calgary goaltender Mike Smith and launched the puck short-side to beat the veteran in the net. It was a truly magical moment. Pettersson finished the game with another assist privileging him with a two-point NHL debut.

Pettersson would go on a tear his first couple of games. In his second game, he registered three points in a loss to Calgary. Everything that we wanted to see in a forward, we were seeing. His skating, shot, IQ, puck handling, defense, everything was better than promised. Letting him take another season to physically mature in Sweden was a brilliant move. However, Petey wasn't big enough to prepare him for a game against the Florida Panthers. 

On October 13th, 2018, the Canucks made their annual trip down to South Beach to play the equally incumbent Florida Panthers. It didn't seem like the game would have that much of an impact on anything. The Canucks won the game 3-2 with goals from Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat, and Antoine Roussel-- goaltender Anders Nillson also had a strong game in the net, stopping 24 of 26 Panthers' shots. Why is this game so important, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. The biggest fear for Canucks fans had of Elias Pettersson was his size. He's 6'2 which is fine, but when he was drafted, he only weighed in at 161 lbs-- this made him easy prey to the bigger, grittier NHL vets like Mike Matheson. On a play in the third period, Pettersson played the boards with the puck and put a filthy move on the defending Matheson by spinning around with such grace that Matheson lost control fell to the ice. Now, this play embarrassed Matheson, and when children get embarrassed, they act irrationally for attention. After putting Matheson on the ground, Pettersson moved behind the net and passed the puck off behind him--Matheson followed him, trying to poke check the puck out of his possession. Once the puck was gone and the only people behind the Florida net were Pettersson, Matheson, and the referee, Matheson decided it was an excellent time to lay a cheap shot--only it wasn't a cheap shot. He picked Elias Pettersson off of the ice and slammed him down like it was nothing. It was a horrifying sight to see. The future of the Vancouver Canucks organization was just manhandled. I don't know if Matheson's actions made me upset or that no one on the Canucks roster stood up for their rookie and gave Matheson some peace of mind. Elias tried getting up after the hit, but he fell back down to the ice-- it was painful to watch. 

After the incident in Florida, Elias' rookie season was briefly put on hold with a concussion. I knew it was a big deal because other fans were showing genuine concern over Pettersson's injury-- we haven't seen the national hockey media become this involved with anything Canucks related in a long time. This showed me that the entire hockey viewing community was upset that his rookie year was getting shortened-- we had an extraordinary player, and everyone knew it.

The Canucks struggled without their star rookie, but he picked up right where he left off when he returned. Pettersson went on an incredible run when he was scoring ten goals in his first ten career NHL games. Pettersson's game was so electrifying that many people were already convinced that he was getting the Calder that year. There was no other rookie in the NHL that was playing in the same stratosphere as Pettersson. To make Pettersson even more lethal, he developed a natural connection with Brock Boeser, which the fans wanted to see. Their bond wasn't as cerebral as the one that Hank and Danny had, but we could all feel that it was the start of something exceptional.

We saw the potential of this duo on November 2nd, 2018. Not many hockey fans looked into this matchup, but it turned into one of the greatest games of the season. The game was played in Roger's Arena, the home of the Canucks. Vancouver was coming into this game with a record of 8-6, which is better than I thought they would be at this point in the season-- yes, I know it was only a month into the season, that shows how little hope I have had for this team. The scoring started early in the first period when Avalanche forward Alex Kerfoot advanced the puck into the offensive zone and tried passing the puck across the ice to a teammate after meeting two Canucks defenders in the corner. The only problem was that there was no Avalanche player near the streaking puck was Elias Pettersson. Pettersson corrals the puck, looks up, and launches a saucy pass to Brock Boeser, who has already beaten the defender. Boeser takes the pass, streaks up the ice, and puts a move on Philip Grubauer, scoring the game's first goal. Wow. Words honestly can't describe how insane that progression was. The rest of the first period was uneventful, but the second period would give us more of a reason to believe in the young core that Jim Benning is assembling.

Early in the second period, Sheldon Dries was able to get past Jacob Markstrom and open the scoring for Colorado-- I want to point out that this game was ugly for both goaltenders. About four minutes later, the future of the Vancouver Canucks became clear to me. The play began when Nikolay Goldobin broke up an Avalanche pass that found its way into the talented hands of Pettersson--first mistake. Pettersson then got deja vu when he saw Boeser streaking past two defenders--last mistake. It would've been hard to thread that pass to Boeser, even if the defenders were beaten on the play. Instead, Elias Pettersson decided to make a high IQ decision by overshooting the puck past Boeser, so it banks off the board and into the hungry hands of the Burnsville native. Boeser somehow gets control of the wobbly pass and snipes the puck into the net, beating Grubauer for the second time that game. This moment was the moment that Canucks fans couldn't contain themselves. These are two generational talents that play for the Canucks. Their connection reminded us all of the Sedinary magic that we had become accustomed to over the years. The Canucks would go on to win this game 7-6 in overtime. Elias Pettersson had five points, while Boeser had four. The future is now--only it wasn't. There was still one player left to fill our young star-studded core-- Quinton Hughes.

Before Quinn could come into the NHL, he had to finish his season at Michigan. Quinn had an excellent regular season for the Wolverines as he recorded 33 points--five goals and 27 assists in 32 games. For a defenseman to average over a point per game at any level is impressive and highly notable. His career as a Vancouver Canuck began on March 28th, 2019. It was a home game against the Los Angeles Kings. The game wasn't as impactful on the future of the Canucks as the Avalanche game earlier in the season, but there is one play that I want to highlight--Quinn's first NHL point. 

He didn't score a goal like his illustrious Swedish teammate on his first shot, but it showed his offensive prowess and skating abilities. The play began with Elias Pettersson passing the puck to Quinn Hughes, who went the length of the ice and got behind Jonothan Quick-- the Kings' Stanley Cup-winning goalie. Right off the bat, this gave Canucks fans more reason to be excited. This young man went the entire length of the ice, cruising past Kings' players left and right. This displayed his elite speed, skating, and puck control skills-- three crucial attributes that make up any solid NHL-level defenseman. Now that Hughes was behind the net, he put a juke on Los Angeles forward Trevor Lewis and created enough separation between the two to get in front of the net. After all of that, Quinn took his first shot on an NHL goal. Quick blocked off the point-blank shot, but Quick couldn't cover the puck-- and the puck wound up on the stick of Boeser. Boeser fired his shot, and it got past the befuddled Quick. It was a great chain of events that made Canucks fans giddy. 

I don't mean to disappoint all of you, but the Canucks failed to make the postseason again in 2018-2019. But, the sense of hope was becoming stronger and stronger with every passing day. At the rewards ceremony, Elias Pettersson won the Calder, which Brock Boeser couldn't do. We all knew it would happen because the only other competition was St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington. Binnington was 25 years old and started his season in January. He barely qualified as a rookie, but somehow people still gave him Calder votes. But that doesn't matter because the player who earned the award won it. 

The NHL Draft this season was held in Vancouver, so it was going to be special. The Canucks had the 10th pick in the draft--which shows progress in the team. With the 10th selection, the Canucks selected forward Vasily Podkolzin from Russia. Podkolzin is a power forward, which means that he is an aggressive, offensive player. He hits hard and is known for standing up for his teammates-- it would've been nice to have him when the Matheson incident occurred. Podkolzin is looking to be a nice addition to the team, but the Canucks made another addition this draft that helped propel the team to new heights.

After selecting Podkolzin, the Canucks made a deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning for third-line forward J.T Miller. For a couple of seasons, J.T Miller has been valued as a solid piece to the Lightning's insane forward depth. Though he was a good player, many pundits thought it was ludicrous that the Canucks forked over a first-round pick to the Lightning. By trading a first-round pick, this showed that Jim Benning was feeling confident in the direction the Canucks were going-- he believed that adding another skilled forward might be enough to push the Canucks into the offseason-- and he was right.

Coming into the 2019-2020 NHL season, many hockey journalists and experts projected that the Canucks were a playoff team--this was absurd to me. When I took the time to sit back and look at our roster, I would be lying if I didn't feel a strange sense of excitement when I viewed our line-up. In net, we had Jacob Markstrom and Thatcher Demko, which was very good. After working with goaltending guru Ian Clark, Markstrom transformed from an underwhelming starting goalie to a top ten netminder. Demko was a second-round pick from the 2014 NHL draft and the first hit that Jim Benning had as the general manager as the Canucks. The blue-line wasn't as promising as our situation in the net. However, we still have a formidable defensive-minded defenseman in Chris Tanev, a solid veteran in Alex Edler, young stalwart Troy Stetcher, and the rookie from Orlando, Quinn Hughes. The best part about this Canucks team was the forwards, however. Checking the roster, I saw we had Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, J.T Miller, Tanner Pearson, and half-through the season, the Canucks could acquire winger Tyler Toffoli from the rival Los Angeles Kings. It occurred to me that this would be a special season for Travis Green's unit-- and for once, I was excited to be a Canucks fan.