Abbotsford Canucks: The journey really was the adventure to capture 2025 Calder Cup crown
Playing the long development got the organization to a better place. There are 10 players who could step into the big team's lineup next season and not look out of place. That's coaching and commitment. Five new guys doing a first-rate job in a new environment was impressive.
Article content
Article content
'I have to give Manny a lot of credit,' added Johnson. 'He has playing and coaching experience at the NHL level, but the AHL is a different animal. He has adapted very quickly. One of the biggest challenges when you have inconsistency is consistency.'
Article content
Green had Malhotra as an assistant for three seasons in Vancouver and knew he had the potential and dedication to run his own bench one day.
Article content
'Manny is obviously doing a hell of a job,' Green told Postmedia. 'He doesn't need any advice from me. The AHL is not always an easy place to coach. You've got injuries, call-ups, and some teams are just based on playing young guys.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Winger Linus Karlsson, 25, was challenged by Malhotra to become more of a leader in his third season. He responded with 23 goals in 32 regular-season games and led playoff scoring with 26 points (14-12) in 24 games to take another step to becoming an NHL mainstay with the Canucks. He's not waiver exempt next season.
Article content
'He (Malhotra) pushed me more and that's helping my game,' said Karlsson. 'Make sure I'm on guys, set screens, be around the net and be good defensively.'
Article content
Goaltender Arturs Silovs, 24, started slow this NHL the season, gathered his game in the AHL, and finished fast to fall one short of the league record for post-season shutouts at six. His playoff numbers were spectacular and not being waiver exempt next season could create a crowded NHL crease.
Article content
Forwards Arshdeep Bains, 24, and Max Sasson, 24, found another level of productivity when it mattered most, which was not lost on the parent Canucks. Bains had 24 points (5-19) in 24 games and Sasson 14 points (5-9) in the same amount of games.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Irritating and invigorating veteran grinder Sammy Blais, 29, who turned a failed NHL professional training-camp tryout with the Canucks into a turn of playoff force, led the post-season with 77 penalty minutes and put up 19 points (6-13) in 23 games.
Article content
Above all, it was the sum of the parts that got Abbotsford to this memorable place.
Article content
The leadership of captain Chase Wouters, 25, the fast maturation of centre Ty Mueller, 22, along with defencemen Victor Mancini, 23, and Kirill Kudryavtsev, 21, were pieces that fit the playoff puzzle.
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
29 minutes ago
- CTV News
WDRA Canadian Nationals in Grand Bend
The Grand Bend Motorplex celebrated the 25th WDRA Canadian Nationals over the Civic Holiday weekend. CTV London's Brent Lale was there.
CBC
30 minutes ago
- CBC
'Slow cooking': Jerome Blake enjoying journey to become Canada's fastest sprinter
Jerome Blake's rise to becoming Canada's fastest man this season has been a matter of "slow cooking." The sprinter from Kelowna, B.C., has enjoyed a career year, in which he's added another layer to with his first national title on Sunday in Ottawa. Blake, who turns 30 on Aug. 18, set a new meet record of 19.95 seconds, the first time he's gone sub-20 across 200 metres. He also went sub-10 in the 100 for the first time in his career on June 21, running 9.97 in Germany. Blake, who was disqualified for a false start in the 100 semis at the Canadian track and field championships, also owns a win over 2023 world bronze medallist in the 100, Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, on July 15 in Italy. "What a lot of people don't seem to understand is, yeah, I'm turning 30 [on Aug. 18] but in theory, I've only been training for five or six years as a professional," Blake said. "Because before that I was running club track. And club track is like, you start in October, you finish in July or early August and that's it. "Most of the time during club track, I would only train three days a week, two days a week. The rest of the time I'm spending on a film set or doing model shoots, so I never really took it very serious." Blake's move to Florida in 2020 to work with famed coach Dennis Mitchell turned things around. "Moving to Florida really gave me an experience," Blake said. "Going training with Dennis Mitchell and understand that there's a different level of training and understanding that it's going to take more than just two days a week training. "And now, I'm in a place where I'm very happy, and I understand the type of work we need to do to get to where I need to get. I call it … slow cooking. It's been good." Much of Blake's time in the limelight until this year has come from his contributions to the Canadian men's 4x100 relay team that won world championship gold in 2022 and Olympic gold in 2024 alongside Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney. He joined the quartet in 2019, with the other three having been together since 2015. In proper race environment Blake says a change of environment and good health have helped him put together the season he has had. He's currently in his second season training with coaches Ryan Freckleton, Ryan Thomas and Rana Reider in Florida. "As an athlete, you need to be in an environment where you're wanted, seen, understood, right? For instance, my previous coach was a tremendous coach. ... But in a sense, it wasn't the right environment for me," he said. "Sprinting is one of those things where you start relearning smaller details, your body doesn't move the same, you don't recruit the same muscles as you used to with the previous coach, you don't do things the same way anymore. So, for me, it took a while for that to click and then now, I'm finding it's working for me." Winning a national title was "a bit of a hump" to get over for Blake. He says he's learned to be patient and not rush his races, adding "wanting to win can sometimes mess with you." Blake has qualified for the 100 and 200 at the Sept. 13-21 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. He isn't placing any pressure on himself when visualizing that moment in time. "The aim is to make the finals. And once you're in the finals, then you go from there," he said. "It's not to put pressure on myself to go out there and say, I have to do anything. But for me, it's just one run at a time, one race at a time, and just take it from there. "I'm not going to allow the fact that I've run nine seconds and 19 seconds force me to think that I must do anything because that's not how sports work. It's one of those things where anything can happen in a day." But that's not to say he doesn't think there's room to grow.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
‘I felt like I won the gold medal': Jewel detective reunites B.C. Olympian with lost Cartier bracelet
Olympian Madison Mailey sought a metal detector specialist after losing her Cartier bracelet, bought to celebrate her team's 2020 gold win, in Stanley Park.
