With the Vancouver Canucks season coming to and end, we present to you our “Canuck Notebook” covering a wide variety of topics.
Tocchet’s future: The Canucks do have an option year remaining on head coach Rick Tocchet’s $2.75-million contract and they would love to see him return, but will he? Tocchet will undoubtedly take a few days to decompress and then decide how he wants to proceed.
Many will look at the contract as the deciding factor but it may not be. With possibly options on the table such as the vacancy in Philadelphia, Tocchet probably wants to be certain that his plan for building a team is aligned with the organization’s.
As for reaching an extension, Tocchet’s agent is Steve Mountain, who is also the agent for Toronto head coach Craig Berube. Berube has a four-year contract at $4 million per, so expect Tocchet’s new deal with the Canucks to be in that neighborhood.
Changes: Barring something unforeseen, both Brock Boeser and Pius Sutter are set to become unrestricted free agents. For the hockey club, that means replacing 50 goals of production for a team that finished in the bottom third of the league with 236 goals.
The priority for the Canucks this off-season will be to find a top-six centre as well as a top-six winger. The question is what assets are they willing to give up to acquire those pieces? If Tocchet does indeed return, don’t be too shocked if there is another veteran coach added to the mix. I’m also hearing rumblings about some foundational changes within the organization as well.
Speaking of Boeser: I shared this story on Sportsnet 650 awhile back about Boeser. It was the tail end of the 206-17 season and Boeser had just joined the Canucks after finishing at the University of North Dakota.
Following a game at Rogers Arena, Boeser spent some time with a young boy in a wheelchair. What caught my attention wasn’t that this was a quick photo op but rather Boeser showing a legitimate interest in the kid and spending about 10-15 minutes chatting with him. I just remember thinking to myself at the time “this kid gets it” and I wasn’t mistaken.
I recently shared that story with Boeser during one of my dressing room visits. “I’m pretty sure that was Cameron,” responded Boeser. The fact that Boeser remembered the kid’s name tells you all you need to know about what type of quality human being Brock Boeser is.
What happens with Elias Pettersson – the forward – moving forward: Pettersson’s no movement clause kicks in this summer, so the Canucks will have to decide whether or not they are committed to their $11.6-million man for the next six seasons. Pettersson’s off-season conditioning program last summer didn’t meet the team’s standards and management has hinted that they would like to oversee his summer conditioning program by having Pettersson stay in Vancouver.
“That’s something we’re obviously going to talk about here when the season is over and have a plan for it. We have the right resources here to help him. Listen, he has the ability to dictate the future, and I'm sure he wants to come back to his normal form and wants to continue to grow and get better. So we have absolutely the commitment and resources here to help him do that,” Canucks GM Patrik Allvin recently told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre.
O’Neill ends long run: The season finale against the Vegas Golden Knights marked the end of Canucks equipment manager Pat O’Neill’s 45-year career. O’Neill broke into the NHL as an assistant equipment manager with the Winnipeg Jets during the 1980-81 season and joined the Canucks as their head equipment guy prior to the start of the 1989-90 campaign. As a tribute to O’Neill the team did a video presentation in the third period which resulted in a standing ovation.
“I call him the Godfather of all the trainers. Any team that we play, there is always three or four players coming down to say hi to him,” noted Tocchet. In an ultimate show of respect, the entire Vegas team went over to shake O’Neill’s hand after the final horn sounded. In another show of respect, the Canucks players name plates above their stalls were replaced with one representing O’Neill. “I looked at them this morning and I asked who’s that guy? Did they bring someone up and not tell me again,” laughed O’Neill.
Joshua finishes strong: The 2024-25 season was a grind for Dakota Joshua. Big things were expected from Joshua, who was coming off an 18-goal season which earned him a new four-year deal worth $13 million dollars. Instead, Joshua was diagnosed with testicular cancer in the summer and didn’t make his debut until Nov. 14 against the Islanders. Then he missed 11 games in January with a leg injury.
The good news is that his game picked up in the last few weeks of the season and hopefully is a harbinger of things to come. “It’s nice to get the confidence back. I’m heading into the summer with a lot to prove but knowing I can do it,” said Joshua. Asked what he learned about himself this season, Joshua’s eyes welled up and he struggled to maintain his composure. “I learned a lot as far as how I dealt with adversity. Maybe just realizing the situation that I am in and the life I have lived and what it took to get here and what it will take to keep it going,” replied Joshua.
We’re talking about practice? The Canucks remain one of only two teams in the league without a dedicated practice facility. The other team – the Calgary Flames – have announced plans to build one leaving the Canucks as the only team still seeking a site. There was some momentum possibly about building something at UBC but those negotiations have apparently stalled.
Talking to high-ranking officials at Canucks Sports and Entertainment, they remain optimistic that something gets done soon, telling this agent that if they are going to build a facility, they want everything to be right and do not want to go about it haphazardly. The biggest issue with not having a dedicated facility is the secondary aspects that help in player development such as a workout facility or a dedicated video room that can be used for teaching.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes about the B.C. sporting scene for Black Press Media. This column is brought to you in part by:
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