Vancouver Canucks 2021-22 Season Preview
The Vancouver Canucks had a COVID-riddled season last year. They had to postpone about three weeks’ worth of games during the regular season. And when you’re scheduled to play every other night, that starts to add up. The league made them finish all 56 games even though they had already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Despite all of that, the Canucks are all healthy and ready to start this season. Hopefully, it goes better for them.
The moment we’ve all been waiting for
On Sunday, after what felt like 100 years, Elias Petterson and Quinn Hughes finally signed contract extensions with the franchise. Petterson is the teams’ topline center and Quinn is their no. 1 defenseman. They missed the start of training camp and preseason so the absolute number 1 priority needs to be getting them up to speed and ready.
Forward lines
| Nils Hoglander | Elias Pettereson | Brock Boesser |
| Conor Garland | J.T Miller | Vasily Podkolzin |
| Tanner Pearson | Bo Horvat | Jason Dickinson |
| Phillipp Di Giuseppe | Brandon Sutter | Tyler Motte |
Much anticipated arrival
Oliver Ekman-Larson is the newest arrival to the Canucks. He was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes in a trade in late July. He’s stated he hopes the change of scenery will be a fresh start after his decline that last couple of seasons. Last season, the Canucks defense gave up the third-most shots per game (33.4) and the sixth-most goals per game (3.34). Obviously, building depth on the backend needs to be very important this season as well
Defensive pairings
| Oliver Ekman-Larson | Tucker Poolman |
| Quinn Hughes | Travis Hamonic |
| Jack Rathbone | Tyler Myers |
In the net
Thatcher Demko proved to be a starting goalie last season in what started as a tandem job with Braden Holtby. Demko was 16-18-1 with a 2.9 GAA and a .915 SV%. Braden Holtby was bought out and Jaroslav Halak was signed as backup.
This years’ Vancouver Canucks definitely have the potential to jump to the top of the Pacific Division quickly. They also definitely have the potential to maintain the losing trend they’ve started these past seasons. The few roster changes that were made could make or break this team. Only time will tell.
