My predictions for the Vancouver Canucks 2023-2024 NHL season
The team can only go up from last season
With the Canucks leading Canadian NHL teams at the start of the season, the team is off to a redeemable year, especially with Quinn Hughes as the new captain. (Nyamat Singh)
The Vancouver Canucks’ 2022-2023 season was one to remember, but not for reasons most people would like.
Among the most noteworthy events was the previous Canucks coach, Bruce Boudreau, getting fired in January in a way I’ve never seen a coach be treated before. Former captain, Bo Horvat, was traded to the New York Islanders that same month due to contract talks which basically went nowhere.
If we include the offseason, there was the first overall pick in the NHL draft, Connor Bedard, who was born and raised in North Vancouver and known to be a homegrown future star in the making. He was drafted to the Chicago Blackhawks although he grew up a big Canucks fan, leading many fans to hope he would be drafted to the team.
To be honest, I feel I could write at least 10 opinion articles on what happened last season with the Canucks, with hundreds of words filling each piece. However, what happened should just be left there for now, it’s time to focus on the present.
With the 2023-2024 season already underway, the Vancouver Canucks are second in the western standings as of Nov. 17 and are leading Canadian teams in the NHL. This is a massive improvement compared to how the team started last season at the bottom of the rankings with their first seven games all being losses. The first three of these losses for the Cancucks even made unfortunate history for losing the games by blowing multi-goal leads in each. This is a welcomed change to experience as a fan.
Another notable change this time around is the team’s new captain Quinn Hughes, who is the Canucks’ top defenseman, and will now lead the team for the foreseeable future. After the Horvat trade and rotating alternate captains, I’m hopeful that Hughes’s captaincy will provide some stable leadership to a team that desperately needs it to move on from what happened last season.
On the topic of Hughes, I predict his new captaincy will elevate his skills to the point he will get nominated for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, or simply the Norris Trophy, which is given to the league’s top defenseman each season.
I’ll admit I can’t be certain he’ll be awarded this trophy considering how many other talented defensemen exist in the NHL right now like Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche and Adam Fox of the New York Rangers. There’s also Erik Karlsson, last season’s winner, who is now playing with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, all with the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, I’m sure Hughes will be seen as a reasonable competitor.
I do think a Canuck will end up winning a seasonal award though. That Canuck? Elias Pettersson.
After scoring 102 points and finishing in the top 10 for total votes in two different awards last season, I’m making a bold prediction Pettersson wins an award this time around. While I can see him being in contention for the Selke Trophy, given to the best defensive forward every season, I think he’ll win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, given to the player who best shows sportsmanship while playing at a high level.
On that note, I’m confident the Canucks will make a return to the playoffs for the first time under normal circumstances since 2015. As to how far the team gets this season, I hope the team will make the second round, but I guess we’ll see how the season plays out.
