Canucks: 3 takeaways from the year-end media availability

As expected, there have been a lot of questions surrounding the Vancouver Canucks lately.

The organization made their first attempt to provide answers this past week, scheduling their annual post-season media availability. Players took to the microphone on Thursday morning, with head coach Travis Green and general manager Jim Benning following up on Friday.

The Canucks finished the 2020-21 campaign with 50 points and a 23-29-4 record, good for last in the Scotia North Division and 24th in the league standings. More importantly, this season marked the fifth time in the past seven years that the club failed to make the playoffs, all under the Benning regime.

There’s no doubt that this offseason will be one of the most important in franchise history, and the responses on Thursday and Friday were the first indications of what could come.

Let’s take a look at three key takeaways from what was said during both media availabilities:

Elias Pettersson’s injury update

It’s been a windy road for Elias Pettersson this season.

The 22-year-old only struggled out of the gate, recording just four points in his first 10 games. He was able to bounce back, posting 17 points in his remaining 16 games of the year, finishing with a respectable 0.81 points per game, but, as many fans know, he wasn’t able to build off of his momentum.

Pettersson was injured on March 1st during a contest against the Winnipeg Jets. He played the following night, but eventually left halfway through practice a few days later. The organization kept his injury under wraps, only listing him as day-to-day while hinting towards a quick return. However, after visiting with a few specialists, Pettersson was eventually moved to long-term injury reserve, putting his season to an abrupt end.

Pettersson was able to provide a more clear update on Thursday morning, revealing that he hyper-extended his wrist in Winnipeg. He was initially given a return timeline of 4-6 weeks, but, as injuries often go, faced some setbacks that kept him off the ice.

Fortunately, all signs are pointing towards a smooth start to next season for Pettersson, and the former Calder Trophy winner even indicated himself that his wrist is almost at 100%. But, despite how Pettersson is feeling right now, there should be some alarms going off based on how management dealt with the situation.

Up until Thursday, the team never officially announced the cause of Pettersson’s injury, with most guesses coming from reports and insider sources. Yes, organizations aren’t obliged to reveal all information to the media and fanbase, and that’s not expected to change in this league.

What should be an area of concern, however, is how Benning and co. went about with handling the situation. Could he have done something different to help speed up Pettersson’s timeline? Did the organization take the right approaches and visit the right specialists? Why did Pettersson play the night after? Again, we’ll never know the answers to these questions and, in all honesty, it does just sound like Pettersson’s recovery had some bumps in the road, as has occurred for many other injuries.

But with the drama surrounding Jack Eichel and his injury situation in Buffalo, management needs to make sure that they play the right cards with their superstars if a situation like this were to arise again.

And, at the end of the day, even if none of the above actually transpired, we can still chalk this up as another prime example of poor communication from Benning, adding to an already-long list of his managerial mistakes.

What’s going to happen with the veteran players?

There’s no surprise that the Canucks have their fair share of older players in the line-up.

Out of the 32 players currently listed on the official roster, seven of them are 30 years or older. Of course, every team has older players, so the Canucks aren’t operating out of the norm. However, unlike the more successful teams in the league, the Canucks aren’t receiving significant contributions from these older players, both analytically and statistically, and there should be some concern given how some of them spoke during the media availability.

Edler, who turned 35 in April, indicated that he has no intention of retiring. For most, this didn’t come as a surprise, as the Swedish blueliner is still able to log 20+ minutes at both even strength and on the penalty kill, and is still searching for his 100th career goal. At the right price, he’d be a good fit on any blueline that requires a strong veteran presence, with Vancouver included in that mix.

Forward Antoine Roussel, who will be turning 32 at the end of this year, recorded yet another disappointing season in Vancouver. Roussel only posted one goal and three assists in 35 games before suffering an apparent season-ending lower-body injury on April 20th against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Roussel has one year left on his four-year deal, which will provide a $3 million hit against the team’s cap, and has never shied away about how much he’s enjoyed playing in Vancouver. The left-winger isn’t known for putting up points, but he also hasn’t been able to provide the physicality and grittiness that was expected from him, aside from the occasional hit or taunt.

Even if Roussel is healthy next year, there’s a chance he’ll either be on the outside looking in when it comes to the coach’s final line-up decision, or he might even playing down the 1-5 if the Kraken go down that road.

The most interesting case, however, would be for Sutter, who also spoke with the media on Thursday. Like Edler, Sutter will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and his future in Vancouver has been surrounded with questions. The 32-year-old didn’t put up good numbers this year, posting 12 points in 43 games in the bottom six forward group.

More importantly, however, Sutter had yet another season hampered with injury. He missed the final 13 games of the year with a tweaked shoulder, rounding out his total missed games to 178 in a Vancouver uniform. His most productive and healthiest season came in 2016-17, where he recorded 17 goals and 17 assists in 81 games, but he hasn’t been able to eclipse the 30-point plateau since then.

Again, these decisions are well out of our hands, and it’s up to Benning and his staff to make the final call with his older players. Could history repeat itself with this franchise, or will Benning finally be able to learn from him mistakes and go another direction with his veterans? He has hinted towards trades, buyouts and aggressive moves this offseason but, as we’ve all come to realize, we’ll never know what’s going to happen until it happens.

What are your thoughts on the team’s media availabilities? Make sure to drop a comment below!