It seems that the recent Zeev Buium signing was the coup de grâce of one of the most impactful offseasons in recent memory for the Canucks.
On the surface, the team’s transactions don’t appear to be anything earth-shattering. They made three trades and signed three NHL-level free agents, none of which grabbed many national headlines. But Ryan Johnson and the Sedins’ biggest job this offseason wasn’t rebuilding the Canucks’ roster. It was rebuilding the Canucks’ culture. After three seasons that saw the organization go from one game away from the Western Conference Final to dead-last in the NHL, the Canucks didn’t just need to rebuild their roster.
The J.T. Miller-Elias Pettersson drama, Quinn Hughes’ departure, management leaks, and years of organizational instability had left the franchise with one of the worst reputations in the NHL. The new front office had to convince players, prospects, and fans that this was no longer the same organization.
When the Sedin twins and Ryan Johnson sat down at their introductory press conference, they seemed to be well aware of the aura — or lack thereof — surrounding the team. After saying a few thank-yous, the Sedins, in tandem, used their first words as co-presidents of hockey operations to address this with a very simple message:
“Every successful team we’ve been a part of had values, cornerstones,” Sedin said. “We want to reestablish the connection from top-to-bottom within the organization… We have a clear vision that will connect us to be a sustainable winning culture.”
As good as those words sounded, at the end of the day, they were just words. “Establishing the culture” and “trusting the process” have almost become sports management clichés at this point. The real test was going to be whether Vancouver could convince people to buy into it.The draft was the first opportunity.
A clear focus was put on selecting players who were known as high-character individuals. Caleb Malhotra, the Canucks’ first-round pick, was identified by his former coaches as someone they see as “an NHL captain one day.” When their other first-round pick, Adam Novotny, was selected, the first 40 seconds of broadcast analysis on him were dedicated to highlighting his character. The message was clear: Vancouver wasn’t just drafting hockey players. It was trying to build a room. Free agency provided the next test.
Although the Canucks were committed to getting younger, they still needed veteran pieces to shelter and lead their emerging core. Convincing the right players to sign in Vancouver figured to be a challenge. Veterans typically have more flexibility to choose their destinations, and a rebuilding team at the bottom of the standings doesn’t exactly offer the most attractive short-term pitch. Yet Vancouver still managed to attract players who appeared to believe in the direction of the organization.
Luke Schenn, Jamie Oleksiak and Paul Cotter, along with Brendan Gallagher before them, helped fill important roster holes while bringing experience into a team that at one point legitimately appeared in danger of failing to reach the salary-cap floor. More importantly, they represented a group of respected veterans who had options elsewhere and nevertheless chose to be part of what Vancouver was building. Schenn’s comments were particularly revealing.
“I think the real big positive is who’s running the organization now,” Schenn said. “You’ve got the Sedins and then (Ryan Johnson)… every time I would run into them, I always had a great chat with them and really, really respect them. So in terms of where they were, it’s kind of irrelevant now. This is where we are presently and obviously they’re working towards something and they’ve got a great staff in place from top to bottom.”
That is significant coming from a player who had been around the NHL long enough to understand exactly what Vancouver’s reputation had become. The draft showed what the new front office wanted to build. Free agency provided the first indication that people outside the organization might actually believe in the plan. Then came their biggest test.
The new collective bargaining agreement was set to take effect Sept. 15, after which players could only be signed to a maximum of seven-year contracts. Teams that wanted to lock up young players for eight years had to do so before then, adding urgency to the final days of the offseason. At the top of Vancouver’s priority list was Buium, whom the Canucks had acquired in the Quinn Hughes trade.
Although Buium had only played 76 NHL games, his potential and flashes of brilliance had already led analysts and fans to call for an extension before he established himself as a star and potentially drove his price even higher. But the biggest obstacle to an eight-year extension wasn’t necessarily Vancouver’s willingness to pay. It was Buium’s willingness to spend most of his prime years in the organization. For Buium, an eight-year extension wasn’t simply a bet on his own future. It was a bet on Vancouver’s. And by all accounts, the decision was remarkably easy.
“Yeah, I mean, it was pretty easy for me when they came with the offer,” Buium said during his press conference after the extension. “It wasn’t a hard decision to make. I think personally, I wanted to be here for eight years. I didn’t want it to be shorter, and you know, I’m really glad. I love the city. I love the fan base. You know, I love where this organization’s going.”
That’s perhaps the strongest endorsement the new front office could have received. Buium hasn’t played a single NHL game under the Sedins and Johnson’s regime. He had no years of winning in Vancouver to point to. No playoff runs. No established culture to fall back on. And he still chose to commit eight years of his career to the organization.
Actions tend to speak louder than words. When the Sedins and Johnson preached the gospel of culture at their introductory press conference, it was music to Canucks fans’ ears, but it was met with healthy skepticism. It’s easy to preach culture and community in May, when there are no bullets flying. The challenge comes when management has to sell that vision to the players who will ultimately determine whether the organization succeeds. This offseason, the Sedins and Johnson appear to have passed that first test.
The draft reflected the character they wanted to build around. Veteran free agents chose to join the organization despite its recent struggles. And Buium, perhaps the most important young piece of the new era, decided he wanted to spend the next eight years in Vancouver.
That doesn’t mean the Canucks have fixed their culture. It certainly doesn’t mean the rebuild is guaranteed to succeed. A strong environment can’t compensate for poor drafting, bad development or a lack of talent. Eventually, the Sedins and Johnson will have to prove that their philosophy can translate into wins. But culture was never going to be proven in a press conference. It was going to be proven by whether people actually wanted to be part of it. For the first time in years, there are signs that they do.
It’s much too early to plan a parade, but Canucks fans have reason to be optimistic about the very early stages of this rebuild. Vancouver hasn’t won anything yet. What it may have done, however, is establish something just as important for a franchise that had lost its identity: belief. And after everything this organization has been through over the past three years, that might be the most important thing it could have built this summer.
