A season of growth for the Canucks despite a disappointing record | TheAHL.com
Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Players and teams learn from their success.
And they can grow after retreat.
The Abbotsford Canucks have been on both sides of that professional dichotomy in just over nine months. It was last June 23 on the road against the Charlotte Checkers that they became the first Vancouver Canucks to win the Calder Cup. It was a hot, sticky night in Charlotte that ended a 24-game road trip through five rounds of postseason action, a few close calls, and all the drama and emotional swings that come with one of hockey’s highest-level pursuits.
This season will end on a low note with only four games remaining, all on the road. The 24-37-4-3 Canucks travel to Calgary for a pair of games this weekend before facing the Ontario Reigns on April 18. They have their final contest the following night in the Coachella Valley before entering what will be their longest season this year. The team that played the last home game of the tournament that ran last June 21, this season’s club has already completed its home schedule. They dropped a 2-0 decision at Rogers Forum last Saturday against the Firebirds before coming back 3-2 in overtime in the rematch.
The challenges of this season started in a few days when the Canucks won the Calder Cup, packed up, flew home and celebrated with their fans. Sammy Blais signed as a free agent with the Montreal Canadiens. Goalkeeper Arturs Šilovswho won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the Calder Cup Playoffs, left in a trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins on July 13. Those two losses, along with several other departures, left the organization trying to rebuild its depth at the AHL level.
When the season started, going 0-9-0-2 got them into early trouble. The dangers quickly piled up. Vancouver needed a system boost. And when its AHL affiliate ran into that early problem, Abbotsford pursued outside help.
They are the daily arrivals and departures of the main coach Manny Malhotra which is very confusing in retrospect. Players have come, gone, and scattered across the global hockey map.
As of Wednesday, they have registered 124 transactions, and 51 players have entered at least one game with the club. Captain Chase Woutersthe first player to lift the Calder Cup on Charlotte ice last summer, and a new defenseman Jimmy Schultt they have played 66 out of 68 games for the team so far. Long-term injuries are sidelined Guillaume Brisebois again Kirill Kudryavtsev. High hopes Jonathan Lekkerimäki he had season-ending shoulder surgery in February and played just 21 games with Abbotsford. Jett Woo went to the San Jose Sharks in a trade. Lukas Reichel He signed with the Chicago Blackhawks, played 26 games for Abbotsford, and then signed with the Boston Bruins. Six goalkeepers had at least one appearance.
He continued on to Abbotsford.
Last season’s team was struggling. A 6-2 road loss to the Laval Rocket in January 2025 prompted a players-only meeting. From there, however, a 30-9-1-1 turnaround sent Abbotsford to a second-place finish in the Pacific Division and established Malhotra’s team as a Calder Cup contender.
That meeting never came this time. They managed to win six out of nine games by one point in January to see their season complete come February and March. However, they have shown that they are not a pushover from last season. Coming off the AHL All-Star break, they defeated the Ontario Reign, the team that holds first place in the Pacific Division and can reach 100 points, in consecutive games on the ice of Abbotsford. They also swept San Diego in a two-game homestand set on March 28-29 that locked the Gulls into playoff contention.
“The results are definitely not there,” said Malhotra after last Friday’s defeat, “but it is very easy for us to see the growth of the team and the game plan and how they commit to doing the things we ask of them.
“And… doing it with a good attitude. That’s a big thing for us. It can be very easy to look at our situation and show up at the rink with a doom-and-gloom type of attitude. But our guys come to the rink every day, smiles on their faces, ready to work.”
And nights like that are where the lessons of this season can be found – and they will have to be found.
“We are still seen on the pitch ready to work and improve as a team and as a team,” said Wouters after the team’s home game. “We didn’t get results this year, it’s a long year and we can learn a lot from it.”
Several players on last season’s roster played a role in Vancouver. Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson, Victor Mancini, Mueller said, Jiří Patera, Aatu Räty, Max Sasson again Nikita Tolopilo are among the Abbotsford products that have seen time with Vancouver. The improvement continued this season even if the losing record took over. Come next October, Abbotsford will be able to start over with a 0-0-0-0 record, but this year’s hard-earned lessons will continue.
“You see guys get called up and play in the NHL,” Wouters continued, “and they do their thing there. And that’s what we’re about here. We push each other to get better, and that’s a big part of what we’ve been doing here at Abbotsford.”
After the Calder Cup experience, there is no denying that it is difficult to play games now without the playoffs on the line. That’s a test as Abbotsford’s program winds down, and it will be an opportunity for Malhotra and the Vancouver front office to gauge the growth of their prospects.
“Right now for us,” Malhotra said, “it’s continuing to be proud of the way we conduct ourselves, the way we perform, the level of competition we bring every night.”
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
