VANCOUVER – Three hours and 58 minutes into their pre-season schedule, the Vancouver Canucks took their first lead on Saturday. Two minutes later, they had their first win – and the pre-season was over.
The National Hockey League’s 84-game regular season has been described as a marathon. But the new pre-season is an absolute sprint.
In a span of 10 days, from the opening of training camp in Penticton until Saturday’s 4-3 win against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Arena, rookie Canucks coach Manny Malhotra and his new staff implemented a playing system and the ideals surrounding it, incorporated a bunch of new players, played four pre-season games, added a goalie and set the trajectory for the most ambitious rebuild in franchise history.
Imagine how much else the Canucks might learn in the 10 days that start Tuesday, when they open the regular season in Edmonton against the Oilers, before returning for a three-game homestand and then embarking on a six-game eastern road trip that includes games against the winners of the last three Stanley Cups.
“I think the guys have really picked up on the concepts,” Malhotra said after his team ended its pre-season at 1-3, scoring as many goals on Saturday as it did in the first three exhibition games. “Tonight was a great example of that — kind of a great way to cap off camp is that they put it all together.
“The process of it, defensively, we closed plays out quickly… our breakouts from last game to tonight were again night and day cleaner. And then offensively, again, some really good rotations, but our willingness to get to the inside and create havoc around the net. Just putting all the pieces of camp together for us, we saw the visuals tonight. So it was a good way to cap off camp.”
Longest-tenured Canuck Brock Boeser shot the puck off Jake DeBrusk’s butt on the power play with 1:38 remaining as Vancouver rallied from an early two-goal deficit.
“It nicked Jake’s butt,” Boeser confirmed.
“Yeah, it’s a big one.”
Even for an exhibition win against a team they’ll likely be battling at the bottom of the Pacific Division this season, there were a lot of smiles in the Canucks dressing room post-game as players found something tangible on which to anchor the positivity that was a theme of their pre-season.
Zeev Buium, the $75-million future of their defence, scored the tying goal on a power-play feed from Linus Karlsson at 11:05 of the third period.
Rookie hopeful Jonathan Lekkerimaki, in his best of three pre-season games, set up Elias Pettersson for a nice goal in the second period as the 22-year-old skated on the top line.
The power play finished 3-for-4 and got its winning advantage when Seattle’s Ryan Winterton initiated a fight with defenceman Elias Pettersson (Junior) after the Canuck had demolished Shane Wright with an open-ice hit. Pettersson also won the fight.
“I think it definitely lifts the morale and kind of shows that we’re trending in the right direction,” veteran goalie Kevin Lankinen said. “It’s been an upward trajectory at camp. It’s not going to be complete right now, but we’re working and trending in the right direction, which is important.
“We have a good chemistry, a good group of guys here. Of course, every season is another challenge. It’s going to be a roller-coaster like any other year. But the most important thing is we’re pulling the same rope. Everybody’s on board, and we’re having fun doing it.”
Building that togetherness, what general manager Ryan Johnson describes as the “environment,” has been a paramount priority for the Canucks’ new regime after the team collapsed amid internal dysfunction over the last two years.
“I think we have even more energy,” Buium said when asked about the vibes that permeated the pre-season. “Knowing that the regular season is now just around the corner, I think we’re all just really excited to get going, and everybody just wants to play and, you know, compete for each other.”
Although they won’t officially announce their regular-season roster until Monday, the Canucks may already have their 23-player lineup.
Newly-claimed goalie Leevi Merilainen needs to replace Nikita Tolopilo as Lankinen’s backup, as goalie Thatcher Demko (hips) and centre Filip Chytil (shoulder) start the season on injured reserve. But there were only three extra skaters on Saturday – centre Aatu Raty and defencemen Guillaume Brisebois and Victor Mancini – and the Canucks could carry all three.
In theory, this could already be the Canucks’ team.
“In theory, yeah,” Malhotra said.
Of course, the team could still use its hard-earned (by finishing 32nd last season) right to choose first on the waiver wire and add another player by Monday. They do have some in-house flexibility with Lekkerimaki and Mancini not subject to waivers and easily assignable to the American Hockey League.
The team will, however, have to waive Tolopilo. But if he is claimed, the Canucks could sign journeyman goalie Chris Driedger, who participated in camp on a tryout, for their minor-league team.
After a lot of conjecture about their defence pairings and some blue-line switches during the pre-season, the Canucks may have found their top six by matching their three first- or second-year defencemen with three veterans.
On Saturday, Buium played with Filip Hronek, Tom Willander partnered Jamie Oleksiak and Pettersson Junior was matched with Luke Schenn.
“We were just discussing it; all three pairs tonight worked well together,” Malhotra told reporters. “It’s difficult in such a small window to try to find that chemistry, but they did a good job of it. They responded well to each other, they worked well off each other. Even if you look at the bench and the way they’re communicating on the bench. . . a lot of really good instances where they’re just communicating the game and talking about what they need to do. And I think that carried over on to the ice. So it was a good mix of veterans and young guys (and) they worked well together.”
Malhotra on centre Elias Pettersson, who had another strong game: “His confidence is back. He’s playing like himself. He’s trying to be an impactful player, and not just offensively and fancy plays or high-skill plays. Again, he’s showing those things we’re asking for: he had a great forecheck in the third, tenacious on the puck, solid out (of the defensive zone). He’s doing the right things. He’s trying to lead by example. I think his confidence is coming from doing those little things right, having the puck on his stick more, and then executing with his linemates.”
The other Pettersson on fighting Winterton: “If you land those big hits, then you have to stand up for yourself. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
Forwards
DeBrusk-Pettersson-Lekkerimaki
Ohgren-Rossi-Boeser
O’Connor-Sasson-Karlsson
Bains-Cotter-Gallagher
Defencemen
Buium-Hronek
Oleksiak-Willander
Pettersson (Junior)-Schenn
C Raty, D Brisebois, D Mancini