Let's start this blog on a celebratory note, as the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame held its induction gala on Thursday for the first time since pre-pandemic days.
The Class of 2021 was inducted, including former Vancouver Canuck Gino Odjick.
It has now been eight years since we learned of Odjick's rare life-threatening illness back in 2014, and he had a recurrence of Amyloidosis in 2020. But Gino was on hand at the Vancouver Convention Centre on Thursday to receive his honor as he continues to show his fighting spirit.
Because no ceremony was held to induct the class of 2020, they were also honoured on Thursday night. That group includes two other former Canucks.
Legendary goalie Kirk McLean now works as an ambassador for the Canucks and is on the board of the Canucks Alumni Foundation. And Robin Bawa became the first South Asian player to suit up in the NHL when he joined the Washington Capitals in 1989, and played two games with the Canucks in 1992.
Congratulations to those three, as well as all of the other inductees!
Next up — the media rounds for Canucks president Jim Rutherford this week included an interview with Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet.
Northing earth-shattering, but MacIntyre did report that Patrik Allvin and Bruce Boudreau's search for a new assistant coach to replace Scott Walker is in the final stages, and that the new hire is expected to be "highly-technical and capable of helping improve structure," — aligning with Rutherford's comments from the end of the season.
Rutherford also expanded on his criticism of the Canucks' defensive structure, which some saw as a shot at Boudreau.
"I didn't view it as a slap at Bruce," he told McIntyre. "I didn't view it as a challenge to Bruce. I've said this all along, Bruce did a terrific job in getting the most out of our players. We won a lot of games and then ran out of runway at the end. But in order for us to get better. . . we have to have a system and pay more attention to details.
"There's nights where we're going to play loose and the guys are going to cheat at certain times and things like that. But ultimately, we're not going to be a contending team if we just play that way. We have to have structure. But it has nothing to do with challenging Bruce or taking a shot at the job he did. I'm the first one to say he did a terrific job. I'm just being honest."
As for J.T. Miller, Rutherford characterized conversations between the team and the agent for its leading scorer as "early stages."
"The thing that I can say is we would like to re-sign J.T.," Rutherford continued. "But we also understand we're dealing with an unrestricted free agent (in 2023) that's a really good player. How far can we go when we've got other areas that we've got to take care of? At some point in time, both sides will have the opportunity to make that decision. But I believe it's mutual, based on everything I've been told, that he wants to return and we would like to sign him to another contract. We will have a better understanding of that in the next month or so."
Rutherford also confirmed that the Winnipeg Jets will be joining the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and the Canucks at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton from Sept. 14-18. So for the first time since 2018, the band is finally back together.
Returning to Miller's status, he checks in at No. 4 on
Frank Seravalli's list of the NHL's top offseason trade targets, which dropped Thursday on Daily Faceoff.
Seravalli also includes Tanner Pearson and Jason Dickinson together at No. 18 on his list of 25 players — citing the fact that Rutherford traded Pearson away from Pittsburgh and that Dickinson underperformed relative to his contract this season as the reasons for their inclusion.
The suggestions are logical, based on the need to free up cap space. If there are less expensive ways to fill these roles, great — but it's not like the Canucks have a boatload of top-level forward prospects knocking at the door, demanding more ice time. And like nearly all of their teammates, both Pearson and Dickinson got better as the season went along.
Pearson turns 30 in August and is signed for two more seasons at a cap hit of $3.25 million. A fixture in the top six for most of the season, he finished seventh in team scoring with 14 goals and 34 points.
Pearson's production also increased as the season went on. He had 16 points in 27 games from February 1 to April 7, when he suffered the upper-body injury that sidelined him for the final 10 games of the year.
Pearson has also played an important leadership role in Vancouver — a Stanley Cup winner who keeps an even keel and has been able to raise his game in important situations with key goals and timely plays.
Dickinson also had injury issues which limited him to 62 games, and managed just 11 points for the season. But five of those points — nearly half his production — came when he returned to action for the last 13 games of the year in April. He was also a plus-three during that stretch, and averaged a pretty solid 13:12 a game as the Canucks made their push for the playoffs.
Was that enough to convince the new management group that Dickinson has more untapped upside? He turns 27 in July and is signed for two more seasons at a cap hit of $2.65 million.
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