Vancouver Canucks Send Strong Warning to the Montreal Canadiens
Photo credit: ESPN
There's a genuine buzz surrounding the Montreal Canadiens right now. Riding a six-game winning streak and closing in on a playoff berth, the team is turning heads.
When you look at the current state of the Canadiens, it's hard not to draw parallels to the Vancouver Canucks following their breakout performance in the 2020 bubble playoffs.
With a young, energetic core and a style of play that's easy to rally behind, it's hard not to get excited about what this group is building.
Both teams showed flashes of promise with a young core, sparking optimism about the future, only to face growing pains and tough decisions in the seasons that followed.
Jeff Paterson from Canucks Army writes that when you look at today's Canadiens, it's hard not to be reminded of the Vancouver Canucks coming out of the 2020 bubble playoffs.
"Not even five years ago, you could have created a very similar looking list of players and prospects all 25 years of age and under." -Paterson
The 2020 Canucks consisted of Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, Adam Gaudette, and Nikolay Goldobin.
Watch out hockey world, here come the Vancouver Canucks.
Coming out of the 2020 bubble, the Canucks looked like one of the NHL's rising teams. With a young, talented core, it felt inevitable that they'd build on that momentum and grow into a true Stanley Cup contender. The pieces were in place, and the future looked bright.
And here we are, 5 years later, wondering where it all went wrong.
"The Habs have assembled an incredible crop of young talent. But that's the easy part of the equation. Now it's going to be interesting to see how that organization goes about the business of surrounding the likes of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky with the pieces necessary to ascend the NHL's competitive ladder." -Paterson
Just weeks after their surprising run in the bubble, the Canucks took a sharp turn in the wrong direction. In a bid to cut costs, they let key contributors like Chris Tanev, Jacob Markstrom, Tyler Toffoli, and Troy Stecher all walk as unrestricted free agents. What followed was a series of questionable decisions and shortcuts in roster building that undermined the team's trajectory.
As things began to unravel, the front office greenlit a desperate trade in an effort to salvage a slipping regime. While Conor Garland has been a solid addition, the price was steep: the Canucks are now saddled with Oliver Ekman-Larsson's buyout until the end of the decade and gave up a top-10 pick that became Dylan Guenther, a stinging loss for a team now clearly lacking in elite offensive talent.
Paterson also writes that non of this should scare the Montreal Canadiens or their loyal fans.
"There are certainly lessons for all hockey clubs to take from the demise of the Canucks once mouth-watering stable of young stars and prospects." -Paterson
But if you asked the Canucks of five years ago, they'd tell you, promise and potential don't come with guarantees. That's what makes Montreal's situation so intriguing. The Canadiens have a chance to learn from Vancouver's missteps, to avoid turning a strong foundation into a missed opportunity.
Whether they can successfully turn their promising young core into a true contender-without rushing the process or mortgaging the future-will be one of the most fascinating storylines to follow as they chase their first Stanley Cup.
Previously on CanucksDaily
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