There's friction between Canucks star players and rest of team: report

Oct 19 2022, 7:09 pm

Something’s not right with the Vancouver Canucks.

That’s becoming increasingly clear watching them on the ice this season. They’ve lost all of their first four games to start the season for the first time in franchise history. They’ve blown multi-goal leads in all four of them — the first time in NHL history that has happened.

But on-ice troubles aren’t the only thing troubling this team according to a report out of Chicago.

In an appearance with Frank Seravalli on Daily Faceoff Live, former NHL player and current Blackhawks television analyst Colby Cohen said there’s trouble in the dressing room also.

“I’ve heard there’s a lot of friction in that dressing room between some of the star players and then the rest of the team,” Cohen said. “It’s real cliquey in that dressing room. The way that they’re promoting players, particularly on their social media channels, and just everything that I hear coming out of that dressing room… It seems really dysfunctional at the moment.”

This isn’t the first time the Canucks’ culture has been under fire.

Back in June, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos described the Canucks’ dressing room as a “country club.”

All the good vibes from last season under Bruce Boudreau appear to be gone in just four games.

J.T. Miller was vocal in his disappointment with his own game on Saturday, noting post-game in Philadelphia that he had “been on for all eight fucking goals” scored against the Canucks to that point.

Boudreau described his club as “mentally weak” following Monday’s loss. There was a players-only meeting.

The team made some lineup changes for Tuesday’s game in Columbus, which saw Tyler Myers and Ilya Mikheyev make their season debuts.

Conor Garland was a surprise healthy scratch to make room for Mikheyev, to which Cohen believes was not a popular move among the players.

“[Garland] is the one guy that you would never want to take out of the lineup because he plays the right way,” said Cohen. “When you watch him, he doesn’t cheat. He stops on pucks. He goes to the net. He plays bigger than he is. He really does put it all on the line. And you can’t necessarily say that about every player there in Vancouver right now. Did not make sense to me.

“I think that decision… rubs players the wrong way. Other players take that personally, and not in a way to rev them up, but almost in a way that you would get pissed off at your coach and your management team for making that decision.”

Just where the Canucks go from here is anybody’s guess. They’re 0-3-1, with one game left on their road trip, Thursday in Minnesota.

Vancouver’s home opener is set for Saturday at Rogers Arena, against the Buffalo Sabres.

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