If this was Adam Foote’s final game as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, he went down showing fans who he really is.
Things haven’t gone well during his rookie season as an NHL head coach. Scratch that, it’s been historically horrific.
Foote admitted as much when he conducted what was possibly his final postgame media session with the Canucks on Thursday night.
“It’s been so much going on with our captain leaving, the injuries,” he said following a 4-3 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings.
“And, it’s not excuses, but it’s just fact.”
But, he also showed fans and more importantly, his players, that he’s a guy who’s going to have their backs.
After what was arguably the most disappointing season in franchise history, Foote showed sympathy for what his players dealt with behind the scenes.
“With the trade deadline and the names flying around…we’re going to a rebuild,” he said. “We’re getting rid of some older players and some money.”
“I mean, yeah, they’re paid pros, and they’re supposed to be able to handle it, but they’re human as well,” he said. “And this is a market we all know that’s tough.”
Foote then went out of his way to praise some of his veteran leaders, four of them, in particular, for helping create a new culture for the Canucks.
“You see Teddy [Blueger] fighting, you see Fil [Hronek] fighting…they’ve been getting torn apart as a group for a very long time, and they decided, ‘Hey, you know, this is our team. We know where we’re going. We’re staying here.’”
Foote complimented Marcus Pettersson and Filip Hronek for helping change the Canucks culture. (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)
The way Boeser, [Hronek], Blueger, Marcus [Pettersson]…the way they’re leading allows the youth to grow faster and allows them to be more of a free spirit,” Foote said.
“They’re holding them accountable, but in a different way, which is very positive to see.”
Foote has praised different veterans for their leadership throughout the season, but there’s a pattern with the four guys who were mentioned on Tuesday night.
Hronek’s leadership has been discussed aplenty, but Marcus Pettersson and Boeser have also received praise. Ditto for Blueger, ever since he re-entered the lineup in January.
It does make you wonder about some of the veterans who haven’t been namechecked by the coaching staff — specifically, Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk.
There are many potential rationales for that, but it’s clear who Foote believes helped improve a dysfunctional Canucks locker room.
“The leadership, like, Fil [Hronek] started it. Fil and Teddy [Blueger] jumped on, and [Brock Boeser], I give Boes a lot of credit.”
Other players in the locker room, outside of the guys mentioned, are beginning to feel it too.
“You can tell it’s changed, I think, just by the way we play,” Zeev Buium said postgame. “We’ve really come together off the ice and gotten to know each other and care about each other.”
“I think for all of us, we’re really starting to come together and starting to move forward and not track back,” he said. “Hopefully, we can just carry that in the next game and next year.”
Zeev Buium’s most common D-partner in Vancouver has been Filip Hronek. (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)
It’s easy to look at the Canucks late-season win streak and call it a mirage. With last-place locked up and the season’s miserable end in plain sight, the stakes couldn’t be lower for this club.
But Foote doesn’t see it that way.
“It’s not a fluke what happened the last three games,” he said. “You know, these teams are pushing for they all wanted to beat us because of their own destinies, and you know it’s, we’re doing things right. We’re playing as a team. They’re sticking to the game plan.”
Aside from banding together as a team, the Canucks should enter their final regular-season game with motivation. If they beat the Edmonton Oilers in regulation on Thursday night, they could force them into a Round One matchup against the Colorado Avalanche.