There’s a clean little contrast sitting inside the Canucks’ latest chatter. Brock Boeser is talking about what Vancouver is trying to become next, while Bo Horvat is out in New York wearing the captain’s C for the Islanders. Put those two names in the same conversation and you get a pretty clear snapshot of where the Canucks stand: one veteran still helping steer the present, and one former leader who keeps serving as a reminder of what was left behind.
Boeser doesn’t sound interested in dragging last season’s wreckage into a new one. Vancouver went through a miserable 2025-26, the roster kept shifting around him, and there wasn’t much reason to dress up the mess.
Now he’s framing the upcoming season in plain terms: “It’s a new chapter for our team.” His belief is just as straightforward - if the players come to the rink every day wanting to get better, the Canucks can have a much better year.
That may sound simple, but simple is often the hardest thing to pull off. Vancouver has young players who need bigger roles, veterans who have to provide some stability and a group still figuring out what kind of team it wants to be.
Boeser knows culture doesn’t just appear because a season changes on the calendar. Somebody has to set the tone, and at 29, he’s one of the players expected to do that now.
It’s a different place from where he started in Vancouver, back when he arrived and scored 29 goals in his first full NHL season. He’s been around enough to see the organization through strong stretches and ugly ones, which is why this next phase feels like more than just another campaign. If it really is a new chapter, Boeser has a meaningful part in writing it.
Horvat, meanwhile, remains part of the Canucks conversation even from afar. Asked about his former teammate becoming captain of the Islanders, Boeser didn’t hesitate: “No surprise.” He called Horvat a great guy, a hard worker and a pro who comes to the rink wanting to get better every day.
That praise lands naturally from a former teammate, but it also brings back the familiar hockey question that never fully goes away: what would Vancouver look like if it had kept Horvat?
The Canucks traded him to the Islanders on Jan. 31, 2023, and received Anthony Beauvillier, prospect centre Aatu Räty and a protected first-round pick in return. At the time of the deal, Horvat had 31 goals in 49 games.
Once he got to New York, he signed an eight-year, $68-million contract. Now 31, he’s coming off three straight seasons of 28 or more goals, and his $8.5-million annual salary is looking more and more manageable as the NHL’s salary cap keeps rising.
Vancouver couldn’t keep everyone, and Horvat was nearing unrestricted free agency, so the organization had to make its call. But the trade still invites a look back, because that’s what hockey does. A deal gets made, everyone moves on, and a few years later the story circles back to see what became of the pieces.
For now, Horvat is the Islanders’ captain, Boeser is still in Vancouver, and the Canucks are trying to build something new. That’s the thread connecting all of this.
Boeser is focused on moving forward. Horvat is a reminder of where the franchise has already been.
And the next phase in Vancouver will come down to the same basic formula Boeser laid out: show up, get better and see where it leads.
In Other News...
Former Canuck Pushes Back On J.T. Miller Blame Narrative
During a recent podcast appearance, former Canuck Nikita Zadorov offered a different version of the J.T. Miller story than the one that has followed Vancouver through much of the public conversation around the team. Zadorov spoke positively about Miller as a teammate, describing him as competitive and team-oriented, and said the reports of a feud with Elias Pettersson had been exaggerated.
Zadorov also made clear he was not around for the later stretch of the Canucks reported locker-room drama, which makes his perspective limited to what he saw firsthand. Even so, his comments added another layer to a narrative that has often been driven by social media and outside noise, which he said tended to blow the situation out of proportion. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Could Land An Overlooked Difference-Maker Before Opening Night
The waiver wire is about to become one of the Canucks first real roster-building tools for the new season, and Vancouver is planning to be aggressive when it opens on Sept. 17. General manager Ryan Johnson said the club intends to use its top priority position to add players who fit the teams vision and can provide real value, which keeps the door open for a move that could matter before opening night.
It is a path the organization has used before, with waiver claims such as Martin Gelinas, Brian Glynn and Kyle Wellwood turning into notable depth additions in different eras. Whether this years opportunity produces a similar kind of overlooked difference-maker remains to be seen, but the Canucks are clearly treating the market as more than just a roster afterthought. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Have A Bigger Reason To Be Careful With Braeden Cootes
Braeden Cootes already gave the Canucks a quick look last season, getting into three NHL games before going back to the WHL and buying himself another year of development. For Vancouver, that early taste of the league now comes with a bit of added strategy. Because his entry-level contract slid, the club has some flexibility in how it handles him this season, and the way it manages his NHL appearances could matter well beyond simple ice time.
The delicate part is that fewer than 10 NHL games can keep a young player in a different contract bucket, while also affecting how the Canucks think about long-term roster protection. It is the kind of behind-the-scenes roster math that teams hate to rush, especially with a recent first-round pick whose future could be shaped as much by paperwork and eligibility rules as by what he does on the ice. Vancouver has been here before with Danila Klimovich, and Cootes now looks like another case where patience may be as important as promise. [Read more 🡒]