Breaking down the Vancouver Canucks’ 2023-24 season and beyond
After a surprising comeback, the team looks to follow up their success
File art by Kristen Frier.
Following one of the most disastrous seasons I’ve ever seen from the Vancouver Canucks, both on and off the ice, the team took surprising strides and seems to be Stanley Cup hopefuls again.
The team had a seemingly miraculous turnaround this past 2023-24 season, finishing with 50 wins, 23 losses, and nine overtime/shootout losses. At 109 points, the team finished first in the Pacific Division for the first time since the National Hockey League’s (NHL) division realignment back in the 2013-14 season.
Alongside finishing second in the Western Conference and sixth overall in the NHL, they also qualified for playoffs (under regular circumstances) for the first time since 2014-15. I know they qualified for the NHL playoffs back in 2020, but there was a pandemic and it led to a lot of bizarre events, so I personally don’t count it.
In their first playoff run in years, they took down the Nashville Predators in the first round, beating them in six games. However, they took the Edmonton Oilers, eventual Stanley Cup finalists, to seven games in the second round before getting eliminated.
While hockey is a team sport, some Canucks achieved personal milestones. J.T. Miller recorded a career-high 103 points, also marking the first time he reached 100 points in a season.
Brock Boeser scored a career-high of 40 goals this past season, seeming to finally reach the potential a lot of people saw in him when the Canucks drafted him back in 2015. Goalie Thatcher Demko also reached a career-high 35 wins in goal, winning at least 30 games in a season for only the second time in his career.
Last, but not least, Quinn Hughes arguably had a lot to live up to in his first season as the new Canucks captain, succeeding Bo Horvat who was traded midway last season. Setting new career-highs with 17 goals, 75 assists, and 92 points, he also played all 82 games in a season for the first time. I haven’t even touched on Hughes winning the Norris Trophy, an award given annually to the top defenceman in the NHL, for the first time.
As impressive as this season was for the team, there are a few holes I think the Canucks have to cover, mainly depth and what to do with some of their star players, especially since Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm have left the team and signed with the Boston Bruins.
Following the end of the season, the Canucks signed Artūrs Šilovs to a two-year contract, a goaltender who was previously part of the Abbotsford Canucks American Hockey League team and went above and beyond in the playoffs after Demko and Casey DeSmith were injured.
The Canucks also signed Jake DeBrusk, Derek Forbort, and Danton Heinen, all of whom previously played for the Bruins this past season. The Canucks also re-signed Tyler Myers and Dakota Joshua after they had solid seasons with the team.
From what I’ve seen, the hope is that DeBrusk will help players like Elias Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, and Hughes by providing offense. Speaking of Boeser, he has one more season on his current contract with the team, so management has to figure out what to do with his future, whether it’s with Vancouver or somewhere else.
Nils Hoglander, who also made progress this past season scoring a career-high of 24 goals, has one more season with Canucks as well, making him another player management has to decide what to do with.
While it doesn’t have to be settled before the season starts, the sooner some of these up-in-the-air scenarios get covered, the sooner the Canucks can focus on trying to follow up their amazing season.
