A lot of my early childhood consisted of me sitting in front of the television and indulging myself in Vancouver Canucks games. I remember not having access to Sportsnet during the 2010–2011 season so eight-year-old me sat in my parents’ room for hours with my ears glued on to their clock (which was also a radio) and listened to the powerhouse Canucks team of 2011. During that playoff run, however, I could actually watch the games due to CBC being available on all platforms. Because of this, the voice of Jim Hughson became prevalent in my head as I would replay the sequence of “Great save Luongo” everywhere I went. I remember the times waiting anxiously for one of those players on that incredibly deep team to make a solid play to seal a game or series which they seemed to have always done. Two of my favourite memories ever came from that cup run; Burrows’ dragon slayer goal and Bieksa’s off-the-stanchion, double-overtime winner against the Sharks. Unfortunately, the Big Bad Bruins with a dominant Milan Lucic and a literal brick wall, Tim Thomas, knocked us off of our high horse and claimed Lord Stanley in suppressing game seven victory.
Fast forward about eight and a half years with almost every single one of those beautiful and amazing hockey players, including the likes of the Sedins, Kesler, Burrows, Luongo, Samuelsson, Raymond… and the list goes on, now gone, the Vancouver Canucks have finally ascended from the depths of hockey hell to becoming, in my opinion, a serious playoff contender. Our current General Manager, Jim Benning, has been one of the most crucified people in the city of Vancouver due to some of his horrendous contract negotiations and trades but his work in drafting good young players has paid off. I personally sympathize with the man they call Jimbo because of the impossible situation he was thrown into an exceedingly demanding market. He had leftovers from the 2011 run who were only shells of themselves with little to no prospects in the system from the terrible job previous GM Mike Gillies had done. At first, he began with the idiotic plan of “winning now” by signing veterans to long contracts with the prime example being Loui Eriksson and his 6x6, but soon thereafter discovered that this was NOT the way to go. And so began the drafting era of Jim Benning.
The year is 2014 and it is Jim’s first draft. The Kesler trade has given the Canucks an extra first-rounder to add to their collection. The Vancouver Canucks do supposedly the safest thing and take the BC boy, Jake Virtanen with their sixth overall pick. In the second round, Benning takes a goalie, one coming off a hot season at Boston College, in Thatcher Demko. In 2015, Canucks would pick up hot-shot goal scorer Brock Boeser 23rd overall in the first round and an unknown kid named Adam Gaudette, seemingly unheard of. In 2017, the Canucks would take some skinny kid from Sweden named Elias Pettersson fifth overall, instead of the consensus from Canucks fans which was “GLASS OR VILARDI.” Oh my god were they wrong… Anyways, the 2018 draft saw us taking this kid by the name of Quinn Hughes; some smooth-skating defenceman out of UMich who before we would know it, changed how the league perceived the Canucks blueline.
Fast forward to this season. We had just come off of Pettersson’s Calder-winning rookie season where he took the league by storm. Two seasons ago, we had seen Brock Boeser display his uncanny goal-scoring ability and be a runner-up for the Calder trophy. At the beginning of this season after much anticipation, Bo Horvat was named captain of the Canucks, also considered the worst kept secret in the city. We started this season off hot in October as usual but there was something different this time around; hope. Fans in the stadium have oohed and ahhed every time Hughes has walked the line or Pettersson has deked someone out. Additions like J.T. Miller, who by the way has been fantastic, round out or top line well. Brock Boeser, #6, Elias Pettersson, #40 and J.T. Miller, #9, have all meshed well together and fans have even gone as far as calling them the Lotto Line, a gimmick taken from a famous Canadian lottery, Lotto 649. Our second line consists of Captain Bo and Tanner Pearson and another winger such as Josh Leivo or Loui Eriksson. Our third line is also great and consists of three fan favourites, Antoine Roussel, Adam “The Hockey Gaud” Gaudette and SHOTGUN Jake Virtanen. These three are all on pace for career years and have developed fantastic chemistry working together. Furthermore, this line has more often than not been considered a “spark” with their ability to score timely goals. Finally, we have a third line of Tyler Motte, Jay Beagle and Tim Schaller. This is our “shut down line” as it is rarely able to produce any offence, and these players are used in defensive situations almost always. Our defencemen include the stud Quinn Hughes, also considered the best defencemen the Canucks have ever had who pairs alongside Chris Tanev, solid veteran man. Our team also has newly acquired big man Tyler Myers, Alex Edler, Richmond boy Troy Stecher and Jordi Benn/Oscar Fantenberg. Our goaltender tandem is the best in years, consisting of an amazing starter in Jacob Markstrom and the goalie of the future, Thatcher Demko as a backup.
Where do I stand in all of this? Well, I am just the average die-hard Canucks fan that has been a supporter of this team through thick and thin. I have witnessed both unbelievable seasons and downright disgusting seasons but this season seems to lean towards the former. There is just a buzz in the Lower Mainland that we have not seen in quite a while. Players like Pettersson are lighting up the lamp night in and night out and our goalie, Jacob Markstrom has been playing absolutely out of his mind, propelling the Canucks to our current seven-game win streak. I might just have succumbed to recency bias but I strongly believe that this Canucks team has what it takes to make it into a playoff spot, even in this tight-knit Pacific division which has tons of parity this season.
So how do we make the playoffs you may ask? The plan is simple; steal games on the road, get some dirty grind-it-out goals and GIVE JACOB MARKSTROM RUN SUPPORT!!!
