The Canucks Veterans' Added Role During a Rebuild
There is something different about the Vancouver Canucks this season, and it isn't simply that the team is rebuilding. It seems the organization is asking its players to think differently about what a successful season actually looks like. For a team that isn't expected to make the playoffs, that can be a difficult message to sell.
And that makes the veterans particularly interesting. Some of them signed with Vancouver expecting to play meaningful games in a playoff race. Now they're being asked to help build something that may not pay off for them personally. That can go one of two ways. Veterans can look at a rebuild and wonder what happened to the plan they signed up for. Or they can recognize that they still have an important job to do. Ryan Johnson knows this might be tough.
The Canucks' Veterans Have a Job Beyond Winning Games.
The obvious goal for Vancouver this season isn't the playoffs. It is building a common culture and establishing habits that might matter when this team is ready to compete again. That's not always easy when the standings aren't providing the motivation.
This is where the veterans become so important. The younger players need to learn what it takes to stay in the NHL, and the best people to teach them are the players who have already figured it out. Practice habits matter. Preparation matters. Professionalism matters. So does learning to handle a difficult stretch without letting it become an excuse.
That may be the real project for the Canucks this season. The organization isn't simply trying to find out which young players can score. It's trying to identify which players can help create a winning culture.
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The Veterans May Have to Buy Into Something They Didn't Expect.
This is where things could get difficult. Some of Vancouver's veterans didn't sign up for this version of the Canucks. They expected to be part of a team trying to win now. Instead, they're being asked to help prepare players who may eventually take their jobs.
That's a pretty human problem. It would be easy for a veteran to look at the situation and think, What's in this for me? But there is another way to look at it. These players have an opportunity to show exactly why they were good enough to reach the NHL in the first place. They can demonstrate the habits, competitiveness and professionalism that younger players need to see.
And perhaps that's what Ryan Johnson is trying to establish. Before Vancouver starts worrying about wins and losses, the organization wants to know whether its players are willing to do the little things every day. How they practice. How they prepare. How they treat teammates. How they respond when things aren't going well.
That doesn't mean the games don't matter. Of course they do. But for this particular Canucks team, the way it handles a difficult season may matter more than where it finishes.
Having Dual Roles Will Be a Challenge for Competitive Canucks Veterans.
That's a tough message to sell in professional sports. Players are competitors. They want to win. But if Vancouver can get its veterans to embrace the role of teachers rather than simply survivors, this season could become an important part of the rebuild.
The young players will learn hockey. The veterans may learn something about leadership. And somewhere in the middle, the Canucks may begin figuring out what kind of team they actually want to become.