The Vancouver Canucks made a strange leadership decision on Sunday night, designating newcomer defenceman Marcus Pettersson an alternate captain ahead of longtime Canucks forward Brock Boeser, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
The Canucks, of course, promptly lost 4-1 to the Dallas Stars following the bizarre move from the coaching staff. Boeser, 28, played just 15:49, his lowest amount of ice time since Feb. 8 against Toronto, recorded one shot on goal, and a minus-2 plus-minus rating.
It is, however, true that Boeser has mostly struggled, as have many of his Canucks teammates. The former 40-goal-scorer has just two tallies to his name since Jan. 23 and only 18 in total on the season. It is likely that the Burnsville, Minn., native finishes the season with north of 20 goals, but the bar would be pretty low for a player of his caliber demanding the money and term his camp is looking for on his next contract.
Pettersson, on the other hand, has only played 12 games in a Canucks uniform, joining the organization via a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on February 1. Mostly filling in for Quinn Hughes as the Canucks' No. 1 defenceman, Pettersson has just one assist.
The Swede did sign a six-year, $33 million contract extension with the Canucks almost immediately following his move to Vancouver, so perhaps this is the organization's way of nudging Boeser on the shoulder regarding the contract situation.
"If you don't want to be a Canuck, you are not going to be a Canuck, and you are not going to represent us, either," type of thing from the coaching staff and front office here. Let's see where things go by the end of the season.