Foote admitted as much when he conducted what was possibly his final postgame media session with the Canucks on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been so much going on with our captain leaving, the injuries,\u201d he said following a 4-3 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, it\u2019s not excuses, but it\u2019s just fact.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, he also showed fans and more importantly, his players, that he\u2019s a guy who\u2019s going to have their backs.<\/p>\n
After what was arguably the most disappointing season in franchise history, Foote showed sympathy for what his players dealt with behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the trade deadline and the names flying around\u2026we\u2019re going to a rebuild,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting rid of some older players and some money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, yeah, they\u2019re paid pros, and they\u2019re supposed to be able to handle it, but they\u2019re human as well,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this is a market we all know that\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see Teddy [Blueger] fighting, you see Fil [Hronek] fighting\u2026they\u2019ve been getting torn apart as a group for a very long time, and they decided, \u2018Hey, you know, this is our team. We know where we\u2019re going. We\u2019re staying here.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Foote complimented Marcus Pettersson and Filip Hronek for helping change the Canucks culture. (Bob Frid\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n The way Boeser, [Hronek], Blueger, Marcus [Pettersson]\u2026the way they\u2019re leading allows the youth to grow faster and allows them to be more of a free spirit,\u201d Foote said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re holding them accountable, but in a different way, which is very positive to see.\u201d<\/p>\n Foote has praised different veterans<\/a> for their leadership throughout the season, but there\u2019s a pattern with the four guys who were mentioned on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Hronek\u2019s leadership has been discussed aplenty<\/a>, but Marcus Pettersson and Boeser have also received praise. Ditto for Blueger, ever since he re-entered the lineup in January.<\/p>\n It does make you wonder about some of the veterans who haven\u2019t been namechecked by the coaching staff \u2014 specifically, Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk.<\/p>\n There are many potential rationales for that, but it\u2019s clear who Foote believes helped improve a dysfunctional Canucks locker room.<\/p>\n \u201cThe leadership, like, Fil [Hronek] started it. Fil and Teddy [Blueger] jumped on, and [Brock Boeser], I give Boes a lot of credit.\u201d<\/p>\n Other players in the locker room, outside of the guys mentioned, are beginning to feel it too.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can tell it\u2019s changed, I think, just by the way we play,\u201d Zeev Buium said postgame<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve really come together off the ice and gotten to know each other and care about each other.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think for all of us, we\u2019re really starting to come together and starting to move forward and not track back,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully, we can just carry that in the next game and next year.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"marcus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/marcus-pettersson-filip-hronek-canucks.jpg\"\/ "\\"\\"")
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