Magical moments from a memorable Vancouver Canucks season.
Magical moments from a memorable Vancouver Canucks season.
The Canucks’ last game of their 2022-2023 season took place on April 13, 2023. It was a 5–4 overtime win against the Arizona Coyotes that impacted both teams marginally, with neither quite in the running for first-overall draft pick Connor Bedard. This marked yet another season in which Vancouver would be saddled with a middling end-of-season conclusion, highlighted by a brief winning streak that emerged too early to fetch them a top-five pick yet too late to make a genuine playoff push. It should have been an indicator of change to come.
I’m writing this on May 26, just shy of a week from the last Vancouver Canucks game to be played in the 2023-2024 season and over a month after when, if following the patterns that they’ve followed over this recent span of years, they should have ended their season. Should have is the key term here.
On April 13, 2024, one full year after that season-ending overtime win against the Arizona Coyotes, the Vancouver Canucks stood at the top of the Pacific Division. They were set to host their first playoff game at Rogers Arena in nearly ten years. After years of the same run-of-the-mill song and dance, could anybody have predicted this kind of result?
Fans are reasonably upset about Vancouver’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers. It’s a fair reaction — this was a team only a couple of goals away from the Western Conference Finals. Round two, Game 7 — it’s a different cast of characters, but the story remains the same. Vegas, Edmonton … the teams differ, but the result is the same. Disappointment is a reasonable emotion, but for one to be disappointed, it means that any expectations that they had must have been surpassed. So, as valid as these feelings of disappointment may be, they can’t overthrow the successes that this team achieved. In a season filled with overthrown expectations and fulfilled promises, here are the markers and milestones of an unforgettable season.
September 24, 2023: Canucks lose first preseason game 10–0 to the Calgary Flames
The Canucks’ first preseason game was certainly a memorable one. With a lineup consisting of players such as Nils Höglander, Dakota Joshua, and Noah Juulsen, Vancouver set low expectations for the regular season with a 10–0 loss against the Calgary Flames (who, in all fairness, dressed all of their regulars).
October 11, 2023: Canucks win season debut 8–1 against the Edmonton Oilers
Just as the preseason Calgary Flames matchup dampened the spirits of Canucks fans, Vancouver’s first regular season game certainly lifted them. This season debut saw a four-goal performance from a rejuvenated Brock Boeser, four-point efforts from J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, and a .955% save rate from an ill Thatcher Demko. The team came to play against an Oilers team that fell flat on their face and would proceed to do so for a big chunk of the early season. Little did we know this game would come to define a series occurring over six months after it.
November 30, 2023: Canucks acquire D Nikita Zadorov in trade with Calgary Flames
In what could be heralded as one of the biggest moves in the season, Vancouver traded a third-round pick in 2026 and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft for disgruntled Flames defenceman Nikita Zadorov. The move came as a positive to most, as Zadorov’s size and willingness to use it would cement his massive presence on the blue line. Now, he’s regarded as possibly the highest-priority free-agent signing for the Canucks.
December 14, 2023: Roberto Luongo inducted into Canucks Ring of Honour
After much debate over whether “Luuuuu’s” number one belonged in the rafters or the ring of honour, the Canucks finally decided to honour his legacy among the likes of Kirk McLean and Alex Burrows. Luongo was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last year alongside former teammates Daniel and Henrik Sedin.
December 23, 2023: Canucks go into Christmas Break at the top of the league’s standings
No one could have anticipated that the Canucks would stand atop the league by the start of the NHL’s Christmas break. With a 7–4 win against the San Jose Sharks, Vancouver increased their season record to 23–9–3, placing them above the likes of the New York Rangers and Vegas Golden Knights with 49 points.
January 27, 2024: Canucks finish the month with a 10–1–2 record; Boeser scores 30th goal of the season
In what was anticipated to be Vancouver’s toughest stretch yet, the Canucks torched the league with a 10–1–2 record in January. A gruelling road trip to the East Coast marked this anticipated roughness in their schedule. The team won five straight games on the road against teams like the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and Pittsburgh Penguins. They rounded out this road trip with a 5–4 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, in which Brock Boeser scored a hat-trick that got him his 30th goal of the season.
January 31, 2024: Canucks acquire Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames, trading Andrei Kuzmenko
There was slight speculation about the Canucks making a move before the trade deadline, seeing as they did the same last year by moving Bo Horvat at the end of January, but very few were expecting a deal of this size. A day before the start of the 2024 All-Star Weekend, Vancouver acquired Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames in exchange for former fan-favourite Andrei Kuzmenko, defensive prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo, a first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and a conditional fourth-round pick that would have turned into a third if the Canucks had made the Western Conference Finals.
February 1, 2024: Six Canucks players, Canucks Head Coach represent Vancouver at NHL All-Star Weekend
With the Lindholm deal occurring only a day before the All-Star festivities began, the Canucks brought six players, as well as their Head Coach, to Toronto for All-Star Weekend. Deservedly so, Toronto got to see forwards Miller, Boeser, Pettersson, and Lindholm, defenceman and co-captain of his own team, Quinn Hughes, and goaltender Demko. All players except for Lindholm ended up on the same All-Star team together.
March 30, 2024: Canucks clinch playoff spot
The Canucks didn’t play on March 30, and yet, they still managed to clinch a playoff spot. This occurred due to a variety of events that happened on this day. First, the Minnesota Wild lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime. Second, the San Jose Sharks shut out the St. Louis Blues. In a season that saw them winning some of the most improbable games, it’s ironic that the Canucks clinched their playoff spot through the success of another team.
April 8, 2024: Boeser scores 40th goal of the season, Miller notches 100th point of the season, Garland plays 400th NHL game
April 8 was a game filled with milestones. At this time in the season, the Canucks had been enduring a bit of a skid, having lost four of their previous six games. Before the game started, various media members made note of a shirt that all the players seemed to be wearing. Crafted by Miller, the “Conor Garland 400th NHL Game” shirts did their job — they lightened the dressing room up and helped the Canucks post a 4–3 win against the Vegas Golden Knights. In this effort, Boeser tallied his 40th goal of the season, and Miller collected his 100th point.
April 16, 2024: Canucks clinch Pacific Division
In their last home game of the regular season, the Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames 4–1 to clinch the Pacific Division. This would ensure that, throughout their playoff run, they would have home-ice advantage up until the Western Conference Finals. It marked the ending of a regular season that, for once in a long time, would bring an exciting postseason run to Canucks fans.
April 21, 2024: Canucks host first playoff game at Rogers Arena in nearly ten years
The Canucks started their playoff run in Vancouver against the Nashville Predators. Fans crowded the arena bearing playoff towels and excited chants as the team steamrolled their way to a 4–2 win. U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” blared through the arena as the Canucks took to the ice, with fans cheering them on every step of the way. Things didn’t look optimistic until Pius Suter and Joshua scored 12 seconds apart to bring the Canucks up 3–2. With Joshua's empty-net dagger near the end of the third period, Vancouver successfully locked in their first playoff victory since 2020.
April 28, 2024: Canucks start third goalie of playoffs and win 4–3 in overtime
Game 2 looked bleak when the news broke that Thatcher Demko would be out for the remainder of the series with an injury. Casey DeSmith performed well, but a tweak before Game 4 led the Canucks to hold him out of the game out of caution. With a career total of nine regular season NHL games, Artūrs Šilovs stepped into the crease, backstopping Vancouver to a solid 4–3 overtime win. The victory was spearheaded by efforts from Lindholm and Boeser, who put the team up 3–1 in the series.
May 3, 2024: Canucks defeat Predators 1–0, advance to the second round
The score of Vancouver’s sixth game against the Nashville Predators remained tied at 0–0 until 18:21 into the third period when Suter tucked a goal past Juuse Saros. Vancouver proceeded to lock in defensively, with some players sacrificing valuable body parts in hopes of preventing a Nashville goal. When the buzzer sounded, Šilovs had his first NHL playoff shutout of his career, and the Canucks had punched their ticket to a second-round matchup against the Edmonton Oilers.
May 8, 2024: Canucks win 5–4 against Oilers in a thrilling three-goal comeback
After Zach Hyman scored his second goal of the game to put the Oilers up 4–1, not many could have anticipated what the Canucks would do after. Just like how their 2023-2024 season shook up, the team proved the doubters wrong. With around 17 minutes left in the second period, Elias Lindholm scored to shorten the difference to 4–2. The Canucks exploded in the third period with goals from Miller, Zadorov, and then Garland, allowing the team to clinch a Game 1 victory.
May 20, 2024: Canucks season ends in Game 7 versus the Oilers
Even with the disappointing result, there are still many things to reflect on from this remarkable season. This team fought hard, came back, and brought fans out of their seats in both the regular season and the playoffs. With this same ethic and set of values (and hopefully a relatively intact roster), the Vancouver Canucks will return to the postseason next year — and all of us will be here to cheer them on.
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