The Vancouver Canucks got their first win of the season eight games in. That’s not how they wanted to start the 2022-23 campaign, but some are and have been calling for a rebuild for a while now. The team has made the playoffs once in the past seven years, and that was during the 2019-20 season that was cut short allowing more teams the chance to play for a playoff spot.
With a start like 1-5-2 and repeated failure to make the playoffs, it begs the question of a rebuild. With the personnel the Canucks have, it can’t be a full rebuild or they risk losing a lot of what they’ve built and developed over the last decade. But something should be done. The Canucks have been clinging onto hope rather than accepting where they are and selling assets. They have finished last or second last in their division in four of those past seven seasons.
Why Won’t Ownership Allow a Rebuild?
Sometimes teams have to accept that their first attempt at a rebuild wasn’t successful. Take the Buffalo Sabres for example. They’ve missed the playoffs a record 11 seasons in a row and have broken down their roster more than once. The Canucks have a much better core and can’t do something like that.
Elliotte Friedman thinks it’s true that the ownership in Vancouver won’t let them rebuild. If that’s right, then some of the major decisions and failures that come from them aren’t necessarily on the general manager. The Canucks were coming to a crossroads about what to do about J.T. Miller before his contract got renewed. After leading the team in goals and points last season and having an amazing year, the team could have gotten a great deal of assets from trading him. Instead, he was re-signed to an eight-year deal and makes it that much harder to rebuild if things continue to go south.
How the Canucks Would Rebuild
The Canucks do have other options though. That would be either trading Bo Horvat or letting him go one way or another by next summer. Trading him would of course be better for the organization if they are thinking about a return. But if an immediate turn-around this season doesn’t occur, the trade deadline is the first stop to potentially moving the captain.
Trading Horvat won’t be enough if the Canucks are trying to get assets and do a soft rebuild. Players like Tanner Pearson, Conor Garland, and potentially Brock Boeser must also be traded.
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Right now the core group consists of Miller, Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and Thatcher Demko. They are the most reliant and effective at each position. That is a solid group to build around and the Canucks already have a few young players in Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Hoglander who will eventually step up.
When many think of a rebuild, trading all of the best players seems to come to mind. That’s not the case since it takes a team to win games. The Canucks have been losing with the strong-looking roster they have, but they have also been doomed from the start due to their defence. The team should definitely wait it out before making any drastic changes right now. It is only eight games into the season. December will be a better judgement of where the team is at this season and if things are able to be turned around. The Canucks would rather have a couple of tough years instead of struggling to even make the playoffs and being stuck in purgatory for many more years.
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