The Vancouver Canucks had a near-disastrous season last year. They missed the playoffs by 9 points, as well as being hit by the COVID-19 during the season. They will be looking to get back to winning ways this year, considering all the changes Jim Benning has made.
Bo Horvat, the Canucks captain and leader, has put a lot of pressure on his team heading into the 2021-2022 season. According to him, missing the playoffs is simply not an option, like a true competitor.
I've been on the team, this will be my eighth year coming up, which is crazy. And I want to be in the playoffs," Horvat told The Athletic's Thomas Drance.
"I don't want to go through the motions in the regular season and be done in April," he added. "I want to be playing in the playoffs, it's the best time to play, it's when I find I take my game to the next level.
"And I think we have the team here to get there. We just have to prove it now. Enough is enough, we can talk all we want, at the end of the day we have to go out there and prove it on the ice."
With the additions of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jason Dickinson, Conor Garland, Tucker Poolman and Nate Schmidt, the BC organization will be looking for success and a return to the playoffs. The team will have a whole new dynamic with them this year, along with a very talented core including Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Quinn Hughes and Bo Horvat himself.
