VANCOUVER – All it took were the complications of a global pandemic for veteran Jay Beagle to get the best training camp he has ever attended.
The 34-year-old Vancouver Canucks centre didn’t just like the extraordinary two-week summer camp that ended Saturday, but loved hockey in July. He can’t wait for hockey in August in Edmonton and the start of the NHL’s Stanley Cup tournament.
“The pace was good, the pace was high and the guys all look good and ready and healthy,” Beagle said. “It’s been awesome. I think this has been one of the best training camps I’ve actually ever been a part of.
“We just had a great training camp. Really pushing our limits and making sure we had the best training camp we can. We did that and we’re ready to go. We’re excited.”
We can’t speak to all 13 NHL training camps Beagle has attended – the first 10 of them with the Washington Capitals – but it is hard to imagine Vancouver’s camp going any better.
Young stars Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson looked physically stronger after training during the NHL’s four-month shutdown, Brock Boeser looked fitter and faster, the veterans are all healthy, goalie Jacob Markstrom got noticeably sharper in the second week of camp and minor-league defencemen Olli Juolevi and Jalen Chatfield climbed the depth chart to give coach Travis Green some injury insurance.
“I’m happy with camp; it’s been a good camp,” Green said. “Our guys really committed. At some points, it was hard. But they also understood that we needed it. And we also. . . had a lot of rest as well so we could maximize our time on the ice. It felt like we got a lot of productive work done. But I can tell with our group that they’re ready to get to Edmonton.”
The Canucks travel to the Western Conference hub city on Sunday and have an exhibition game Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets. They open their Stanley Cup qualifying series against the Minnesota Wild on Aug 2.
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BIG MAC ATTACK
Rookie Zack MacEwen, who, like so many young Canucks appeared to progress during the shutdown, was unable to practise on Saturday. Green said he expected MacEwen to travel with the Canucks to Edmonton, which means his absence is not COVID-19-related. He is believed to have a day-to-day injury.
VIRTANEN STILL ON OUTSIDE
Having lost a spot in the top four lines during the first week of camp, winger Jake Virtanen still looks to be an extra forward. Unless he has a strong exhibition game on Wednesday, the 18-goal scorer could be a healthy scratch against the Wild.
Virtanen was simply outplayed by others, including MacEwen and Micheal Ferland, and his lack of penalty-killing experience won’t help when Green selects the bottom of his lineup.
At the end of camp, this is how Sportsnet projects the Canucks’ lineup:
Forwards: J.T. Miller-Elias Pettersson-Tyler Toffoli; Tanner Pearson-Bo Horvat-Brock Boeser; Antoine Roussel-Adam Gaudette-Micheal Ferland; Tyler Motte-Jay Beagle-Brandon Sutter.
Defencemen: Quinn Hughes-Chris Tanev; Alex Edler-Troy Stecher; Oscar Fanteberg-Tyler Myers.
Goalies: Jacob Markstrom and Thatcher Demko.
BACK FROM OBLIVION
The biggest surprise of camp was the successful return of Ferland, the robust winger who played only four NHL periods after suffering a concussion on Oct. 30 and twice aborted comeback attempts during the regular season.
When training camp ended Saturday with aggressive games of two-on-two inside the faceoff circle, Ferland was one of the most physical competitors. He still has to play an actual game, but Ferland is starting to look like the wrecking-ball winger who used to terrorize opponents on the forecheck and cost the Canucks $14 million over four years on a free-agent contract signed last summer.
“I knew to recover, I needed a training camp,” the 28-year-old from Swan River, Man., said. “It’s hard to do that during the year because each game means so much to us. I knew this was a perfect opportunity to get myself ready.
“Going home (during the shutdown), we didn’t have ice for two months and I think that was probably the best thing for me. (During the season), I kept getting back on the ice and pushing it and pushing it, wanting to get back bad, and I just wasn’t giving myself the time to rest. Going home and having the two months off is what I needed.”
Ferland said he feels “normal” again, and promised his game will be, too, if he makes the lineup.
“Once the game starts, I’m going to be hitting and I’m going to be hitting hard,” he said.
NO RESPECT
The only thing tougher than games during the playoffs is the jockeying by teams to position themselves as underdogs. But the Canucks, on pace for a 93-point season and playoff spot when the NHL halted in March, have some legitimacy to this claim even if their series against the Wild looks even on paper.
We’re going to let coach Green explain and play us out of training camp.
“One thing about playing in a Canadian market is it’s hard to not hear things,” he said. “It’s no secret that no one really picked us to be in the playoffs at the beginning of the year. And I think our group has had a lot of belief in themselves right from Day 1, and they definitely do now.
“We’ve talked about this, really, it feels like since I came here – that things don’t happen overnight. It takes a little bit of time. We wanted to be in this spot right now. We wanted to be in this situation to make the playoffs. A lot of people didn’t think we had a chance.
“Since you’re a little kid, everyone has watched the Stanley Cup getting raised. You spend a lifetime chasing it. When you play hockey, you love it, and at the end of the day you just want to win a Cup. Every year when you get a chance, it’s special and it’s important and you can’t take it for granted. I know our guys aren’t.
“You nailed it: Why not us?”
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