The Vancouver Canucks are entering a new phase, and Ryan Johnson is making one thing plain: young players won’t be treated like revolving-door call-ups.
With a new regime in place, everyone in the organization is getting a clean slate heading into training camp, including the unproven prospects who will be trying to turn heads in Penticton. But Johnson’s view of player development is already taking shape, and it runs directly against the old habit of shuttling prospects back and forth between the American League and the NHL.
Speaking Wednesday morning before camp, the general manager laid out why he doesn’t believe in that kind of movement for young players.
“And if there’s one thing that I’ve really learned in this game over the course of the last 10 years, it’s that it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to go backwards with a player,” Johnson said. ‘Once you commit to something and realize maybe you’ve done it too soon, it is really, really hard to reimagine not for the organization, but what the player now sees himself in their own mind.
“So we have to protect a lot of these young players in their process. I do not believe in the Yo-Yo up-and-down American League/NHL of a young player.
I feel I’ve said it earlier: when they get in, they step in; if they’re in the American League, I often see it as there’s one call-up. They kick the door down, there’s one call-up, and they never go back.
And for me, there are elite players that never play in the American League, but it is a rarity. And I think it’s our job to protect those young players and doing right by them.”
The Canucks still haven’t announced their full training camp roster, but there will be plenty of young names on the ice with a chance to make a case for themselves. Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Braeden Cootes, Riley Patterson, Adam Novotný, Ilya Safonov, Ty Mueller, Kirill Kudryavtsev, and Sawyer Mynio are among the players expected to get a look.
For any of them, the path is straightforward: make a real impression, and the door opens. Miss by a little, and Johnson doesn’t sound interested in forcing the issue just to keep a prospect around the NHL bench.
That’s true even for players like Lekkerimäki or Cootes. If they don’t completely knock the door down in camp and preseason, Johnson won’t hesitate to send them to the American League.
And that doesn’t automatically mean they failed. In his view, if a player is better served by a larger role and more minutes in the AHL, that’s the smarter route for development.
It’s a clear break from the old approach, when young players were often pushed into the NHL before they were ready and paid the price for it later.
In Other News...
Canucks Fans Just Got A Familiar New Postgame Voice
A familiar voice is sliding back into the Vancouver Canucks orbit this season. Jamie Dodd, the former Sportsnet 650 on-air personality, will co-host Rink Wide Vancouvers postgame livestreams for most Canucks games, giving fans another steady place to land after the final horn.
Dodd is set to begin with the preseason game on Sept. 22 and the regular-season opener on Sept. 29, while other co-hosts will handle the remaining broadcasts. The show will continue to be offered as both a livestream and a podcast, keeping the postgame conversation easy to find no matter how fans prefer to follow along. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Suddenly Face A Bigger Thatcher Demko Question At Camp
Thatcher Demkos camp availability is already shaping up to be one of the Canucks first real storylines of the preseason. General manager Ryan Johnson said the goaltender will not be fully participating this week as he continues to recover from hip surgery, even though he is still skating and working out on his own in Penticton. For a team that has leaned on Demko as a foundational piece, any update on his health naturally draws attention, especially when the calendar flips to camp and the first signs of the season start coming into focus.
Johnson framed the situation as a matter of patience and support, stressing that the organization wants Demkos recovery handled properly and noting his determination to get back as part of Vancouvers future. The important part for the Canucks is that this is not a setback in effort or intent, but it does leave one of their biggest questions hanging over the week as the rest of the roster settles into full camp work. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Just Became An Early Test Case For NHL Contract Changes
The NHLs new collective bargaining changes are already giving teams and agents a fresh set of rules to navigate, and Vancouver has become an early example of how that looks in practice. The updated agreement, which took effect Sept. 16, trims the maximum length of extension and free-agent deals, while also tightening how much salary can swing from year to year and putting a ceiling on signing bonuses.
For the Canucks, the timing mattered. They locked in Zeev Buium on an eight-year extension before the deadline, then structured the deal with front-loading and signing-bonus components that still fit within the new limits. It is the kind of maneuver that could become more common around the league as clubs try to preserve long-term value in a system that no longer gives them quite as much room to work. [Read more 🡒]