Some were good, some were not. Regardless what you thought of the 2022-23 Vancouver Canucks season, it was full of memorable moments.
In the end 2022-23 Vancouver Canucks season was short on victories and contained more off-ice drama that it ought to have. And even though it resulted in another year without playoff hockey at Rogers Arena, it was a season that provided memories that won't soon be forgotten. Here is a list of the top 10 memorable moments from a hockey season that offered up a little bit of everything:
JANUARY 21 Without a doubt in a season filled with drama, the image of Bruce Boudreau standing behind the bench at Rogers Arena for the final time as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks stands out above all others. As the clock high above centre ice ticked down on the final minutes of a 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, that same clock counted down the time remaining in Boudreau's tenure behind the bench. Any one with a pulse had to feel for the man in that moment. Knowing he was about to be shown the door and as adoring fans chanted 'Bruce There It Is' one last time, Boudreau, with tears welling in his eyes, tapped his heart as a show of appreciation to a city that had embraced him even if his own organization had not. It was gut-wrenching to watch but provided an indelible image of a tumultuous season that started poorly and didn't get a whole lot better.
JANUARY 30 With the hockey club a few days into its All Star break, the Canucks pulled the trigger on one of the biggest trades in recent franchise history. After nearly a decade in the organization, captain Bo Horvat was no longer a Canuck. A pending unrestricted free agent seeking a contract the Canucks could not afford to offer him, Horvat was shipped to the New York Islanders for a first round pick, Anthony Beauvillier and prospect Aatu Raty. There were enough warning signs that Horvat would be dealt, but it was still a shock to the system to get the official word that Bo was on the go.
APRIL 11 With a goal-mouth set up for friend and teammate Brock Boeser on a first period power in Anaheim in the team's 81st game of the season, Elias Pettersson reached the 100 point mark for the first time in his National Hockey League career. After his goal, Boeser reached into the Ducks net to collect the puck for Pettersson before joining the goal celebration. In a season in which so much went sideways for the Canucks, Pettersson reaching 100-points was significant. It punctuated his arrival as a true star in the league and it gives legitimate hope for brighter days ahead. Pettersson finished that night in Anaheim with another assist and then capped his season with a goal in Arizona giving him 39 goals and 63 helpers for a 102-point campaign.
DECEMBER 1 The Canucks season officially came to a close on April 13th, but a strong argument can be made that really it ended on December 1st. That was the night Thatcher Demko suffered what turned out to be a 12-week injury that forced him to miss 35 games. Late in the first period at the tail end of a dizzying sequence that resulted in three Florida goals in a 59 second span, injury was added to insult when Demko pulled a groin trying to make a right pad save off Patric Hornqvist before Ryan Lombard scored on the rebound. Demko stayed down on the ice and then had to be helped to the Canucks locker room. It was difficult to watch -- as was the team's performance without its star netminder who didn't return until February 28th.
OCTOBER 12 Opening night in Edmonton provided a glimpse into a couple of trends that would define the Canucks season. Andrei Kuzmenko wasted no time scoring the first of what would become 39 goals in his inaugural NHL season. Kuzmenko converted a goal-mouth feed on a second period power play that put the Canucks in front 3-0. But as they proved that night -- and many to follow -- multi-goal leads were no blueprint for Canuck success. Like many other NHL teams, the Canucks couldn't contain Connor McDavid who scored a hat trick in a 5-3 Oiler victory. As it turned out, the Canucks set a dubious NHL record by blowing multi-goal leads and losing each of their first three games of the season and then did the same thing in their fourth game, too. Incredibly, it happened seven times in the team's first 19 outings this season.
OCTOBER 22 The Canucks returned winless (0-3-2) from a season-opening road trip and fans in Vancouver were not impressed. And things didn't get any better for the Canucks or the fans in the team's home opener -- a 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on a Saturday night at Rogers Arena. Down 2-1 heading to the third period and the club's first victory of the season still within its grasp, the Canucks allowed three unanswered goals as the Sabres skated away to a convincing victory. The night was remembered for the fan that threw a Canucks jersey on the ice -- in the team's home opener and just the sixth game of the season.
DECEMBER 29 It wasn't just the paying customers that were frustrated this season. Late in a game in Winnipeg just after Christmas and with the Canucks trailing by a goal, JT Miller drew the attention -- and the ire -- of the hockey world with 'the stick smash heard around the league'. In an attempt to get Collin Delia to head to the bench for an extra attacker, Miller twice gestured to his goalie as he circled behind his net with the puck. Since Dellia had not budged, Miller then whacked his stick on the top of the net to get the netminder to move. It wasn't a good look. But it was yet another indication that all was not well with a hockey club that ended up losing that night and nine times in its next 11 outings.
DECEMBER 5 If you believe in karma, then Elias Pettersson stealing Mike Matheson's lunch money and the puck and then scoring 13 seconds into overtime to cap a wild comeback against Montreal was for you. Of course, it was Matheson who had body-slammed a rookie Pettersson to the ice in Florida years earlier and it seemed like the Canucks centre was waiting for just the right time to deliver payback. It came on a crazy night in which Montreal jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead only to see the Canucks rally with the next five goals. However, the Habs weren't done. A pair of quick strikes late in the third period had Montreal in front again with three minutes to play. But after the Canucks tied the game 6-6 on a power play, Pettersson won it in overtime when Matheson fell in his own zone. Pettersson grabbed the puck, cut in from the right side and stuffed the puck past Sam Montembault for the winner.
FEBRUARY 25 The Canucks had trouble keeping pucks out of their net for much of the season. And with the league-leading Boston Bruins in town for their lone visit of the season, no one expected goalie Linus Ullmark to add to their woes. But late in a hard-fought game with the Bruins up 2-1 and Arturs Silovs on the bench for an extra attacker, Ullmark stopped a dump-in at the right side of his net. He then hoisted the puck high in the air over the sticks of on-coming Canuck forwards and sent it the length of the ice into the unguarded goal. It was the first goalie goal in the NHL in more than three years and the first in Vancouver since San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov scored in 2002.
JANUARY 16 Just days after defenseman Quinn Hughes had publicly questioned the organization's handling of Tanner Pearson's hand injury, the Canucks were forced to respond. And they did so in a fashion never before seen in Vancouver -- Jim Rutherford, the team's highest ranking hockey officer, appeared at a press conference flanked by the head of the club's medical staff Dr. Harry Sese along with one of the team's top doctors Dr. Bill Regan to address the situation. It was an unusual show of force from the hockey club and due to the sensitivity of the topic and privacy involved with patient medical records, the press conference was short on specifics and details. But it was apparent for all to see that the organization wanted to make it known that it did not take the matter lightly.