NHL | Storm aftermath in Vancouver

(Vancouver) Do you remember the soap novel of Max Pacioretty’s last months in Montreal? The false rumor sending him to Los Angeles? The spectacular change of agent in the repechage? The most publicized handshake since Arafat and Rabin?

Tell yourself that at the Vancouver Canucks, we have just experienced almost all of this in barely 24 hours. It is in this tumultuous context that the team is preparing to welcome the Canadian on Monday.

It is Brock Boeser who finds himself at the heart of the tumult. Choice of 1^er turn in 2015, one of the pillars of the Vancouver attack since his arrival in the NHL in 2016, he does not know the expected departure, a problem for a player paid $ 6.5 million per season until 2025. Here is the sequence of events:

– Saturday morning: Head coach Bruce Boudreau announces that Boeser will be left out for the evening game. The decision is also buzzing because it’s Hockey Against Cancer night in Vancouver, and Boeser’s father died at age 61 after battling two cancers.

– Early Saturday evening: Boeser participates in the warm-up, while Dakota Joshua, expected in training, is absent.

–Saturday during the game: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman says the Canucks allegedly allowed Boeser’s agent to contact teams to explore possible trades for his client.

– Still during the match: Boeser scored the equalizer midway through the third period to force overtime.

– Saturday after the game: Boudreau explains that Boeser played because Joshua was unable to do so when he arrived at the arena, without specifying the causes.

Entertainment

This chapter is one more to what has been an eventful season so far. Boudreau’s future at the head of the team is constantly a source of discussion since the colorful coach is spending the last year of his contract, a rarity in this profession in the NHL. And last week, a former team employee filed a discrimination complaint against the organization.

“Looks like there’s always a headline!” “, launched striker Curtis Lazar, a bit amused.

He’s not wrong, although despite the saga, it was quiet at Rogers Arena on Sunday morning. A reporter from Sportsnet, the local correspondent for NHL.com and a representative from a blog dedicated to the Canucks were the only local reporters on site, in addition to two Montreal scribes.

“We are a family. Everyone had sympathy for Brock yesterday, Lazar continued. We all support each other, especially yesterday, because it was a special night for him.

“He gets a call, he finally finds out he’s playing, and I don’t know if he told you about his waffles and the Subway he ate before the game! But he showed up and he did his job. It’s a way to get the headlines out of the way, managing things internally and supporting each other. »

“We all know what he’s been through in recent years and what’s going on right now. That he scores a goal on what is a special night, it unites the locker room,” added defender Tyler Myers.

Nothing to see…

Boudreau didn’t seem to want to expand on the subject too much.

The story of the agent who would have the right to contact the other teams? “I have no idea what this is about,” dropped the coach.

Did he need to speak to Boeser on Sunday morning to clear up any unease? ” We’ll talk. We always talk to each other. I will speak to him when I deem most appropriate.

“There is no discomfort in chasing. All teams have players left out. It would simply have been ours yesterday. »

Before this snatch victory against the Arizona Coyotes, the Canucks had just suffered two straight 5-1 beatings at home. Boudreau wanted to send an electroshock.

The fallout from this story will be fascinating to follow. The Canucks demonstrated their desire to win quickly by signing forward J.T. Miller to a seven-year contract extension in September. But their 10-12-3 record after 25 games was clearly not part of GM Patrik Allvin’s plan.

We guess however that a winger of good size, 25 years old, who still has 15 points in 19 games even if everything is not going well, could be worth an interesting return to Allvin.

Vaseline on the leggings…

He may not be wearing a glove filled with Vaseline like Curley did, but Canucks goaltender Spencer Martin coats his pads in the oily stuff. Colleagues had noticed his scheme when the Canucks visited Montreal a month ago. “The Vaseline creates a layer of protection, so the puck marks are on the Vaseline, not on the pads. I simply have to wipe off the traces and my leggings remain beautiful. I wish I had a deeper explanation, but it’s the truth! “, explained Martin. The 27-year-old keeper will be busy over the next few weeks as the keeper n^oh 1 of the team, Thatcher Demko, is injured and will have to miss at least six weeks.