Vancouver Canucks may not be winning much, but morale is still high

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Rarely in recent times, perhaps even years, have we been able to say the vibes in the Vancouver Canucks’ dressing room are good.

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Certainly not last season. And not this season either.

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Grim, dour, disappointed, anxious, frustrated, even sad. Those are words you could use to describe the mood around Vancouver’s leading sporting passion over the past two years.

Funny how a win can start to deliver a new mood. Friday, less than a day after his Canucks posted a very solid 2-0 win over the high-flying Anaheim Ducks, a win that did nothing to change their standing but improved their moods, Liam Ohgren spied pal Elias Pettersson, the defenceman, in the middle of a scrum of reporters and cameras, grabbed a goalie stick and extended the stick into the middle of the scrum, making like he was an interviewer putting another mic in front of the young defender.

And then he went further, prodding the tall Swede’s head. The guffaws were immediate.

It was a loose moment, a happy moment, a moment between friends shown to all the world.

A moment that has been too rare in the home team locker-room for the past decade really. Even as the Canucks found their way to some success in 2024, there were few moments of joviality like this. Things were always serious.

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Of course, fun can’t rule the day. You’ve got to make sure that you walk a bit of an edge, where you remember that you’re human. Ohgren and his teammates are bottom of the league. They have a long way to go if they’re going to become a top team again. They need to come to the rink every day and press forward, to become better.

They also need to remember that they’re living their dream. They’re in the NHL, being paid to do what they’re naturally gifted to be: athletes, pure and simple. They’re not swinging a hammer in the pouring rain or sitting at a computer all day, all to earn a paycheque.

They’ve been blessed with a special gift.

When you’re bottom of the league, those bad moments come more often and the repetitive nature can hit harder. That’s a challenge for the coaches, Canucks head coach Adam Foote said. The easiest way to turn morale around is to pull off a win like they did Thursday. Even if they aren’t getting wins consistently, he does feel morale is up — and the way his team is playing is evidence of that. They’re managing to focus on their process as much as their results, he believes.

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“We’re gonna have our bumps in the road, but hopefully we don’t stay in those ruts as long,” Foote said.

It was oddly fitting that his modest bump in mentality came as the collapsing Toronto Maple Leafs arrived in town. Ex-Canuck Oliver Ekman-Larsson is in a remarkable comeback season personally, putting up points as if he were suddenly a decade younger.

But even as he’s found personal success, the Leafs’ season has hit free-fall. He and his teammates are frustrated, sure, he admitted. But they’re also fortunate to play a wonderful game they love.

“That’s what I’ve learned as I get old,” he said.  “You really have to get up and look at today as a new day, to not get caught up in what went wrong the day before. Of course you have to learn from those days, but you also can’t let yourself think too long about it. You look forward.”

His scoring is great, but the team needs to win above all else. He’s played so well he’s going back to the Olympics and is excited to help Sweden chase gold — and then he’ll be back with the Leafs and they know they have to buckle down for a desperate playoff chase. Fun will help them get there — focused fun.

And that, in the end, is the wisdom the young Canucks are in search of. Have fun. Yesterday was fun. But yesterday can also be bad. Learn from the bad, learn from the fun, and press forward.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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