The Vancouver Canucks are looking to get some revenge.
Welcome to a new Oilersnation summer series called Off-Season Review, in which we’ll take a dive into what’s going on with the other 15 teams in the Western Conference. We looked at the Edmonton Oilers’ provincial rivals on Friday, and in this article, we’ll look at another Western Canadian team, the Vancouver Canucks.
The Vancouver Canucks 2023-24 season in a nutshell
The Vancouver Canucks didn’t have a great 2022-23 season, firing head coach Bruce Boudreau midway through the season and finishing with a record of 38-37-7 with 83 points, 12 points out of the final Wild Card spot.
However, one of their best transactions in recent times happened in that season, even if the impact wasn’t immediate, as they hired Rick Tocchet as their head coach. Another transaction during that season was moving then-captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders in exchange for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty, and a 2023 first-round pick, which was traded at the deadline for right-shot defenceman Filip Hronek.
But that was 2022-23, what happened in 2023-24? Well, under the guidance of Tocchet, the Canucks won the Pacific Division, their first division title since 2012-13, and made it all the way to Game 7 of the second round, before falling to the Edmonton Oilers.
There were some notable trades throughout the season. Firstly, they acquired Sam Lafferty from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a fifth-round pick, a pretty darn good trade. They also moved on from Anthony Beauvillier, trading him to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2024 fifth-round pick.
Two of the team’s biggest moves were two separate trades with the Calgary Flames. In late November, they acquired Nikita Zadorov for a 2024 fifth-round pick and a 2026 third-round pick.
At the end of January, they traded for Elias Lindholm, moving Andrei Kuzmenko, prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo, as well as a 2024 first-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick, a trade they most definitely lost. We’ll talk about those two players a little later on in the article, though.
Overall, it was a rather impressive season for the Canucks, and if Thatcher Demko wasn’t injured in the first round of the postseason, who knows how far they could’ve gone. Will they taper off in 2024-25? Who knows.
Some Notable Statistics
The Canucks’ best forward was J.T. Miller, as the 30-year-old scored 37 goals and 103 points in 81 games, a career-high in both categories. Defenceman Quinn Hughes took home the Norris Trophy after scoring 17 goals and 92 points in 82 games. Thankfully for him, voters couldn’t change their minds after watching Evan Bouchard outplay him in the second-round matchup.
Although he was invisible in the postseason, Elias Pettersson was a big reason the Canucks had the success that they did in the regular season, as he scored 34 goals and 89 points in 82 games. They also got a career-year out of Brock Boeser, who scored 40 goals and 73 points.
The aforementioned Filip Hronek slotted in nicely alongside Hughes, putting up five goals and 48 points in 81 games. They also got depth scoring from Conor Garland (20 goals, 47 points), Nils Höglander (24 goals, 36 points), Dakota Joshua (18 goals, 32 points), Ilya Mikheyev (11 goals, 31 points), Pius Suter (14 goals, 29 points) Tyler Myers (five goals, 29 points), Teddy Blueger (six goals, 28 points), Sam Lafferty (13 goals, 24 points), Nikita Zadorov (five goals, 14 points), and Elias Lindholm (six goals, 12 points).
It’s worth noting that both former Flames, Zadorov and Lindholm, were impact players in the postseason. Lindholm scored five goals and 10 points in 13 games as a defensively responsible two-way centre, while Nikita Zadorov was an absolute menace in the Oiler series, finishing the postseason with four goals and eight points in 13 postseason games.
However, both were set to become free agents at the end of the season, which begs the question, where did they end up?
Aug 17, 2020; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Bruins left wing Jake DeBrusk (74) takes a shot during warmups prior to game four of the first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Off-Season Transactions
We’ll start off with the departed players. Elias Lindholm signed a seven-year, $54.25 million contract with the Boston Bruins, earning an annual cap hit of $7.75 million a season. Nikita Zadorov, the most Boston Bruin-like player to exist, joined his Flame/Canuck teammate in Boston, signing a six-year, $30 million deal with a cap hit of $5 million annually.
Sleeper agent Ian Cole also departed the team, signing a one-year deal worth $3.1 million with the team from Utah. Backup netminder Casey DeSmith will be the Dallas Stars’ new backup tendy, as he signed a three-year, $3 million deal with a cap hit of $1 million annually.
DeSmith’s departure makes sense, as breakout netminder Artūrs Šilovs re-signed with the Canucks, signing a two-year, $1.7 million deal with a cap hit of $850,000. The 23-year-old Latvian product nearly stole the series against the Oilers.
Their big free agent signing of the off-season was Jake DeBrusk, who signed a seven-year deal worth $38.5 million, carrying a cap hit of $5.5 million annually. Debrusk is a solid producer, as he scored 19 goals and 40 points with the Bruins last season, well off the pace of 27 goals and 50 points he set in 64 games last year.
The Canucks also made some depth signings, signing 32-year-old defenceman Derek Forbort to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million. Sticking with former Bruins turned Canucks, they signed Danton Heinen to a two-year contract with an annual cap hit of $2.25 million. Essentially, the Canucks traded Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm for Forbort, Heinen and DeBrusk. Not a great deal value-wise, but they saved cap space, I guess?
The Canucks also broke the hearts of Oilers fans, signing Vincent Desharnais to a two-year deal worth $4 million with an annual cap hit of $2 million. There’s nothing quippy I can say about this, it just makes me sad.
There were also some minor signings from the Canucks, as they signed Kiefer Sherwood, Nate Smith, and Jiří Patera to deals, with Sherwood getting a one-way deal. Nothing major here.
Will the Canucks be able to repeat the success they found in 2023-24? It remains to be seen, but they appear to have a weaker team than they did last year. Swapping DeBrusk for Lindholm is an exciting move for Vancouver, though it’s going to be difficult for Vincent Desharnais to fill the void of losing Nikita Zadorov.
If you enjoy my content, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.
