Why Do I Keep Talking Myself Into the Vancouver Canucks?

I have a confession to make. I keep talking myself into the Vancouver Canucks. This is probably not the most sensible thing to do with a team that finished last in the NHL. Usually, when a team finishes at the bottom of the standings, you look for reasons to explain why it got there. With Vancouver, I keep doing something slightly different. I keep looking at the roster and asking what could happen if a few things go right.

If the Canucks get some breaks, they might surprise their fans.

This might be the teacher in me. I'm always a little suspicious of judging something entirely by its final result. A student gets a bad mark, and I want to know why. A team finishes last, and I want to know what was underneath it. Was it talent? Injuries? Bad development? Poor coaching? Bad decisions? Or was it some combination of things that might not be repeated?

That's what keeps pulling me back to these Canucks. Filip Chytil is a good example. If he can't stay healthy, then I'm probably guilty of seeing something that isn't there. But if he does stay healthy, suddenly Vancouver has another useful forward who wasn't really part of the equation for much of last season.

Could Braeden Cootes make the roster and have a solid rookie season?

And then there's Braeden Cootes, who could be one of those pleasant surprises that changes the way we look at this Canucks rebuild. Cootes isn't just a player with some talent; there's also a leadership quality to his game that makes him interesting. If he can make the team this season and put together a decent rookie year, Vancouver could suddenly have a young player contributing sooner than expected while also beginning to establish himself as part of the team's leadership group.

Nobody should expect him to carry the Canucks, but that's not really the point. Sometimes a rebuilding team gets a player who arrives a little earlier than planned, plays well enough to earn more responsibility and gives everyone a glimpse of what's coming. Cootes could be that guy for Vancouver.

I see so many possibilities with the young Canucks.

And that's probably the real reason I'm higher on this team than I should be. I'm seeing possibilities. I'm seeing young players who might improve, injured players who might return, and a team that has a chance to look considerably different from the one that finished last.

The problem is that possibility isn't probability. That's the part I have to remind myself of.

Maybe Chytil stays healthy. Maybe other youngsters take big steps. Maybe Thatcher Demko stays healthy, and Vancouver gets better goaltending and better coaching. Put enough “maybes” together, and you can talk yourself into almost anything.

It’s easy to see a more finished team with this group of Canucks.

But here's the thing about a rebuild: sometimes that's exactly how it starts. You don't see the finished team. You see enough pieces to make you wonder whether the finished team might be better than anyone expects.

And that's probably why I keep talking myself into the Canucks.