It has been a long summer for Vancouver Canuck fans, but the wait for NHL regular season hockey is over. The 2016-’17 season was not a good one for the ‘Nucks, who finished 29th in the league and had one of the worst scoring seasons in team history.
Many fans hope this will not be repeated this season with the additions of Sam Gagner, Thomas Vanek, and Michael Del Zotto. All were free agents, signed during the summer with the purpose of adding more depth and scoring to the lineup and sending a message to the young prospects’ which basically was if you want to make this lineup, it’s going to be earned not given.
Vanek is a former 40-goal scorer and although he’s older now, he could still pot 20 goals. Gagner is a power play specialist and he could also chip in offence, which would help the Canucks a lot due to how brutal their power play has been these past seasons. Del Zotto, a smooth skating defenseman, adds stability to the Canucks blue line and gives a kick to the power play as well. Seeing what these three acquisitions can bring to the table, it’s clear why the fans are excited.
“I’m looking forward to how Bo Horvat improves,” said fan Paolo Mastrili. He wants Horvat to evolve into that number one centre Vancouver has been missing since the decline of Henrik Sedin. “I know this is a rebuilding year but I just want to see a competitive team,” he said.
Many fans excitement comes with the words “the draft”, “draft lottery” or, of course, “Rasmus Dahlin”. One fan he wanted the Canucks to lose games so they could draft Dahlin.
Rasmus Dahlin is the best prospect going into the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and if they Canucks drafted him they would have a franchise player and a number one defenceman, something they arguably have never had in their franchise’s history. With the Oilers getting Connor McDavid in 2015 and the Leafs grabbing Auston Matthews in 2016, Canucks fans want a young star player of that calibre on their team and Dahlin could be that guy.
Arman Sandhu, another Canucks fan, said two words when asked what he is most excited about: Brock Boeser. Boeser is probably the most intriguing name on the roster because of his potential and what he’s already shown from last year. He’s a favourite to win the Calder trophy (best rookie) and that could make him the first Canuck in franchise history to win the Calder. Surprisingly, Canucks head coach Travis Green decided to sit him for the first game of the season, which left many if not all fans shocked.
