The Vancouver Canucks are all-in on a rebuild, and the fan response has been something the organization clearly did not expect to go this smoothly.
This was a franchise that finished last in the league this past season, 25-49-8, with a -100 goal differential.
That record does not lie.
The Canucks allowed 316 goals in 82 games, averaged 2.6 goals per game on offense, and ranked dead last overall in the standings with 58 points.
By any measure, this was rock bottom.
Henrik and Daniel Sedin take over a broken roster and a hopeful fanbase
And yet, somehow, the mood around this team is not panic. It's genuine optimism.
That is a genuinely strange thing to say about the worst team in the NHL. But here we are.
The key is the front office. Replacing the previous regime with Henrik and Daniel Sedin as co-POHOs sent a message to Vancouver that this process would be built on credibility, not spin.
The Sedins are the only MVPs in franchise history. Nobody in that city questions their commitment to winning the right way.
Manny Malhotra was then hired as head coach, with Ryan Johnson brought in as GM.
Both won an AHL championship in Abbotsford. Both are respected former players who know what it takes to develop talent from the ground up.
Think of it like handing a crumbling house to an architect who actually grew up in the neighbourhood. The rebuild means something different when the people running it have real roots.
On the ice, Elias Pettersson finished the season with 51 points in 74 games and went minus-30. That's a long way from the player Vancouver fans expected when he arrived.
Brock Boeser led the team with 22 goals but finished at minus-48 over the full season.
Jake DeBrusk had his moments, posting 23 goals, but this roster from top to bottom simply lacked the depth to compete in the Pacific.
The home record was 9-27-5. Opposing teams came to Rogers Arena this season and treated it like a road trip win waiting to happen.
Young defenceman Zeev Buium, 20 years old, played 76 games and went minus-33. That kind of exposure on a team this bad can either build a player or break one. The Canucks are betting it builds him.
Cap space is another story. Filip Hronek carries $7.25 million against the cap. Marcus Pettersson is at $5.5 million. Those contracts will be conversations Ryan Johnson has to navigate.
The question of whether this fanbase has the patience for a true multi-year rebuild is still technically unanswered. It's been one offseason of good feelings, not three winters of missing the playoffs.
But right now, the Canucks have more goodwill heading into a full rebuild than almost any team in recent memory.
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That's a real asset. And it's also a real pressure. Because there will come a point when the losses pile up again and the patience gets tested.
The Sedins know that better than anyone. And so does this fanbase, even if they haven't admitted it to themselves yet.
Do the Sedins and Malhotra have what it takes to turn the Canucks into a contender within five years?
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