Canucks mailbag: Fans make their 2025 resolutions

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Vancouver Canucks fans are a pretty smart bunch, and they’ve been there more than once.

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In 2024, they saw the return of playoff hockey. That was a highlight. But they also saw their team stumble in the first half of the 2024-25 season.

“I’m not happy at all, but a lot has been done for this team, let’s be honest,” head coach Rick Tocchet said Friday. “People coming in and out, things like that, a lot of noise. It’s positive to be where we are. Like Quinn (Hughes) said the other day, we know we have some guys we need to play better, but in our situation that’s a positive.”

And now the team will be without Hughes and Elias Pettersson, both of whom are dealing with undisclosed injuries from recent games, at least for Saturday’s game. The team is still in a playoff spot, but it’s a tricky situation.

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What resolutions are Canucks fans making this season?

I will appreciate every second that Quinn Hughes is on the ice. It will be a short time in Canucks history that “we” have such a great player.

—Shane Austin on BlueSky

We will be reminded of the heavy burden Hughes carries for this team when he misses Saturday’s game due to his undisclosed injury that he apparently sustained last Saturday against Ottawa.

The void he left behind simply cannot be filled. He is the most exciting and dynamic skater this city has ever seen, certainly since Pavel Bure. The Canucks control the game when he’s on the ice; They hunt him when he sits on the bench.

As long as he’s out, we’re probably going to see some ugly hockey.

Similar to Andy Bernard, who said, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” Not to be taken for granted. Too many dark years not to appreciate what we have now.

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—Derek Kwan on BlueSky

This is a long-winded version of the answer every seasoned athlete gives when asked what advice they give to athletes being sent onto the big stage for the first time: Just enjoy it.

What they always mean is that the first time everything looks rich and pure, no nonsense. The world seems to be all yours. It’s a moment you’ll never feel again.

So try to maintain that spirit as much as possible.

It’s also good advice for fans.

We want to be grateful that we are past the darkness (Jim Benning and COVID era) and enjoy the thrill of sports (like a roller coaster ride, for there to be highs there must be lows) no matter the outcome fails.

— The Tao of Oats on BlueSky

This is a nice follow-up to the point above.

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Hot Take: The most talented Canuck squad ever. May they find a way to put it all together.

—Aaron on BlueKsy

That’s brave. And I’m sorry, Aaron. I just don’t think you can look at this D corps, even with the best defenseman in team history, and say it’s better than the 2011 defensive corps. The forwards are good and pretty deep, but so are the forwards In 2011, the Sedins had two of the best two-way forwards in team history in Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler in their prime.

I admire the optimism, but I don’t buy it.

I hope they finally find a D-man who can exercise the spirit that Quinn Hughes keeps seeing.

— Myra C. on BlueSky

Even before Hughes suffered the injury he was dealing with this week and before Filip Hronek injured his shoulder last month, Canucks management was looking for another defenseman. It’s no secret that they want to sign a blueliner who can move the puck adeptly.

This has clearly been the case since the summer. This is a big, grueling group that doesn’t have all the talent to move the puck aside from Hughes and Hronek and, when he’s on the line, Erik Brännström.

As for the ghost face, the man just focuses on that.

Let’s hope we get to see it again soon.

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