It could be a long summer for the Vancouver Canucks. After a disappointing 2024-25 campaign in which they fell short of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the team lost their head coach and could have a few key players leave via free agency. It seems they will struggle to find suitable replacements on the free agent market.
Earlier today, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic passed along a note from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman articulating why top free agents don’t seem interested in joining the Canucks. Friedman points out that the internal rift between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller has steered players away in recent years, and captain Quinn Hughes’ pending unrestricted free agency in a few years is the other reason.
Any top free-agent signing in Vancouver would undoubtedly want Hughes to be part of the team for the long term. He has proven to be one of the best defensemen in the NHL and would significantly enhance the competitiveness of any team. Unfortunately, the Canucks are unable to provide a definitive answer this summer, as they cannot negotiate an extension with Hughes for another year. Additionally, there has been no indication of whether Hughes is interested in extending his contract with Vancouver.
Other snapshots:
- As one of the few remaining teams still seeking a head coach, the Boston Bruins have reportedly made some headway in their search. According to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, the Bruins have completed their first round of interviews and have significantly narrowed down their pool. At the time of writing, and of the remaining coaches on the market, the Bruins have only been connected to Jay Leach, Mitch Love, and Luke Richardson.
- A report out of Sweden suggests that the Detroit Red Wings could lose one of their defensive prospects in a few days. The report indicates that defenseman Eemil Viro will join the SHL’s Malmö Redhawks for the 2025-26 campaign. Viro, the 70th overall selection of the 2020 NHL Draft, had spent the last three years with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, scoring three goals and 19 points in 142 games with a -17 rating.
Toxic culture is part of the reason Toronto floundered for so long between Sundin and Matthews. Vancouver was on the precipice of being Cup ready, and they just completely imploded… Not to mention that whole mess with Luongo and Schneider (remember Schneider?) a decade ago.
How do you know these teams have a toxic culture?
I can agree with Vancouver I suppose.. It always seemed like J.T Miller was in the middle of it though with Bo Horvat and then Petey.. I remember the Luongo and Schneider stuff but it wasn’t a public declaration like the last couple of locker room issues. Who knows eh?
Extensive media reporting about the toxic culture of these teams.
As much as the local media is dragged for a role in the malfunctioning organization, in fact the bad news has regularly been delivered by the eastern media – rarely are the locals getting ‘the scoop.’ I think this blaming the “local media” (which has shrunk by at least 50% over the past decade) is an effort to take the heat off the owner & his mini-Me delegation- some of whom came from that local media… to paraphrase Dennis Weaver’s character from Touch of Evil, it’s a mess, a stink’n mess…
Dallas assistant Misha Donskov has been connected the Bruins by multiple Boston media outlets
The Canucks are probably going to be absolute bottom feeders in the near future. They had a pretty good thing to build on. Too bad.