Vancouver Canucks’ owner Francesco Aquilini’s message to fans

The owner of the Vancouver Canucks, Francesco Aquilini, penned a letter to fans and season ticket holders today.

The message Francesco Aquilini has for Vancouver Canucks fans is one of patience and hope. He took to Twitter this afternoon to address the fans. Last season, Aquilini took to Twitter and sent his message to fans through a 15 tweet thread.

In last year’s tweets, Aquilini thanked all of the loyal Canucks fan, offering an apology to them for the way the season had gone last year. He then added that nobody was more disappointed in the season than he was. Aquilini then went on to explain how injuries played a role in the Canucks season, but also that the team’s young players learned what it takes to win in that season. You can read all of the tweets from last year’s message here.

This year, however, it appeared that Aquilini put a tad more thought into his letter to the fans, tweeting on Friday, “Several people have asked me if I’m happy with the way the Canucks season has gone. The answer is both yes and no. I’m working on a letter about that which will go out to our Season Ticket Members on Sunday. I’ll post it here as well.”

Last year, former team President Trevor Linden wrote the formal letter to season ticket holders, preaching patience and trusting the process. Since Linden is no longer with the team, Aquilini took over the duties of facing the Canucks’ faithful. Let’s get into Aquilini’s message regarding this season, for season ticket holders and fans alike.

Aquilini, like Linden, said in his message that the Canucks were building something this season. Aquilini spoke about the goal the organization had to forge a new identity — one that didn’t include the Sedins. They wanted to identify the foundation players they can build around, and to have their young players learn how tough it is to win in the NHL. Here is the message in its entirety.

What I found interesting was that Aquilini decided to name specific players who he was excited about and impressed with. Those players were Jacob Markstrom, Thatcher Demko, Horvat, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Quinn Hughes.

He commented on the great seasons all these players had individually, but the comments he made about Horvat were the most intriguing to me. Aqulini said, “Bo Horvat maturing into a skilled, durable leader who can play with anybody, against anybody, in any situation.” It’s good to see that Aquilini has taken notice of Horvat’s abilities and leadership skills. Hopefully he encourages the decision to name Horvat captain.

Like last year, Aquilini stressed the fact that he hates losing, but promises that brighter days are just around the corner — and that is something we all know as well.