This wasn't supposed to be how the 2024-25 season ended for the Vancouver Canucks.
Heading into the season, the Canucks weren't exactly favourites to win the Stanley Cup, but they were at least supposed to be a solid playoff team with potential to be a contender. Pundits, statisticians, and oddsmakers all had the Canucks as a top-three team in the Pacific Division.
Instead, the Canucks will finish fifth in the Pacific and at least four points out of a playoff spot.
Wednesday night's game against the first-place team in the Pacific, the Vegas Golden Knights, could be the last in a Canucks jersey for two pending free agents: Pius Suter and Brock Boeser.
The latter is the longest-tenured Canuck still on the roster. Boeser made his Canucks debut on March 25, 2017 against the Minnesota Wild, scoring a goal in his very first game. He went on to score over 200 more goals as a Canuck and currently sits eighth all-time in franchise goalscoring.
Just like this wasn't the way the Canuck's season was supposed to end, this wasn't the way Boeser's time as a Canuck was supposed to end. When he scored 29 goals in 62 games in his rookie season, he looked like he was going to someday be a 50-goal scorer for the Canucks, their first since Pavel Bure. Along with Bo Horvat, Thatcher Demko, and Elias Pettersson, Boeser was supposed to help take the Canucks back to playoff success, perhaps even a Stanley Cup.
Instead, playing most of his tenure under one of the worst general managers in the NHL, Boeser made the playoffs just twice as a Canuck. He was good in the playoffs too, scoring 7 goals and 12 points in 12 games last year, only for a fluke blood clot to end both his and the Canucks' playoff run.
Now, barring Patrik Allvin bending on a new contract, Boeser's time with the Canucks will end as it began in his rookie season: with him leading the team's forwards in scoring while on the outside of the playoffs.
All that's left for the Canucks in the final game of the season is to see if a couple of players can reach some personal milestones. Jake DeBrusk needs two goals to reach 30 on the season. Quinn Hughes needs just one point to pass Alex Edler for first all-time among Canucks defencemen.
It will also be the final game for equipment manager Pat O'Neill, who is retiring after 45 years in the NHL. He started in 1980 with the Winnipeg Jets and has been with the Canucks since 1988. He has also worked with Hockey Canada numerous times, including at the 2010 Olympics.
"I think I've told everybody, no one's had more fun in their career than I have," said O'Neill. "I've been very fortunate because this is the most fun anyone could have doing a job that's very demanding and fruitful."
O'Neill was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
Here are the Canucks' projected lines:
One change at forward, as Max Sasson gets back into the lineup in place of Ty Mueller between Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser.
The Canucks' starting goaltender in the final game of the season will be Kevin Lankinen, who has lost all three of his starts against the Golden Knights this season despite a very good .921 save percentage. The trouble is that the Canucks scored only four goals combined in those three games.
Vegas Golden Knights projected lines
The Golden Knights have little to play for in game 82. They can't be caught in the Pacific Division, Western Conference, or NHL standings, nor can they catch the one team ahead of them in the West, the Winnipeg Jets, or the one other team ahead of them in the NHL, the Washington Capitals. That means they have home ice sewn up throughout the playoffs unless they face the Jets or Capitals.
Accordingly, all they likely want out of Wednesday night's game is to exit it without any injuries. They rested several players on Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames, with Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, Noah Hanifin, and Adin Hill all sitting for the Golden Knights. It's likely they'll sit once again on Wednesday.
UPDATE: Or maybe not. Eichel and Pietrangelo are both back in the lineup for the Golden Knights in game 82m getting a bit of a warm-up before the playoffs. We'll see how much the two of them play.
Cole Schwindt and Jonas Rondbjerg will also come into the lineup, with Ivan Barbashev, Brandon Saad, Tomas Hertl, and Zach Whitecloud getting some rest.
Here are the Golden Knights' projected lines:
Brett Howden - Jack Eichel - Reilly Smith
Victor Olofsson - William Karlsson - Pavel Dorofeyev
Jonas Rondbjerg - Nicolas Roy - Alexander Holtz
Tanner Pearson - Cole Schwindt - Keegan Kolesar
Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague - Alex Pietrangelo
Ben Hutton - Kaedan Korczak
Akira Schmid
Ilya Samsonov
The Golden Knights' starting goaltender is likely to be Akira Schmid after Ilya Samsonov started against the Flames on Tuesday. The 24-year-old Schmid has appeared in just four games this season but has a .945 save percentage.
