As Canucks look to off-season, Horvat, Boeser remind us of human side of sports

VANCOUVER – The only good thing about Bo Horvat’s fractured tibia is that it made it easier for him to be present for the birth of his daughter on Saturday.

Of course, holding baby Tulsa was complicated by the crutches the Vancouver Canucks captain requires while his lower leg is immobilized in a walking boot. But at least Horvat had time to support his wife, Holly, and look after their not-quite-two-year-old son, Gunnar, when the Canucks were finishing their season Friday in Edmonton by missing the playoffs for the sixth time in Bo’s eight years in the National Hockey League.

Horvat was still wearing his hospital bracelet when Canuck players did their year-end media availability on Sunday.

“It’s funny how things work out,” Horvat said at Rogers Arena. “I mean, she went into labour the day these guys went out to Edmonton, so if I was playing, I would have had to fly back to make the birth. We’re obviously thrilled to have our little girl in the world now. Both mom and baby are doing great.”

And if Horvat’s baby announcement wasn’t reminder enough that hockey players are not performer-machines but human beings, as hopeful and vulnerable as the rest of us, his group was followed to the interview podium by winger Brock Boeser, who broke down in tears when asked by a reporter about the ongoing health challenges of his father, Duke.

“He's not doing well,” Boeser said. “He has pretty bad dementia right now. It's onset and it has gotten pretty bad this year. And it's really hit me hard.”

When Elias Pettersson tried to speak about Boeser after his teammate left the interview room, he, too, was halted by emotion.

Another of their teammate-friends, defenceman Quinn Hughes, eventually told reporters: “We can't comprehend what he's going through. It's tough for him. All we can do is try to be there for him. I don't want to speak too much about his situation, but hopefully, we can be the best support system for him.”

This is a team.

These glimpses of humanity just make the Canucks more genuine, more real.

Despite a 92-point season that ended with a 32-15-10 charge to competitive relevance under coach Bruce Boudreau, the Canucks are without playoff hockey for the sixth time in seven years. The off-season challenge for the new management team, headed by president Jim Rutherford and GM Patrik Allvin, is to find not only the right players but the right people while navigating an unyielding salary cap.

“Culture” and “leadership” have become focal points for the organization since Rutherford replaced Jim Benning in December as head of hockey operations.

Horvat has been captain for three seasons, all of them made more difficult by the pandemic. J.T. Miller may be more like the racing heart of the Canucks, but Horvat is their conscience – the selfless leader who can be depended on to do the right thing and, during crisis or controversy, says the right thing as a leader, too.

The broken shin he suffered blocking a shot in an April 14 game against the Arizona Coyotes was really the final blow to the Canucks, who won their next game against Dallas but then lost three straight and were eliminated from playoff contention during Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Kraken.

It also hurt immensely that goalie Thatcher Demko, the team’s MVP, played most of the final month of the season with an injury that finally took him out of the lineup last week. After playing 64 games in his first full season as a starter, Demko said Sunday that it hasn’t been determined if his undisclosed injury will require a surgical remedy.

Given Demko’s vital importance to the Canucks, that uncertainty is at least a little disconcerting, although he has more than five months to be ready for next season.

Horvat said the recovery time for his fractured leg, which did not require surgery, is 6-8 weeks. The clarity the organization seeks with regard to him is what the captain wants to do, and how much he will cost, when his six-year contract expires after next season. Horvat is eligible in July to sign an extension, but his contract situation feels less urgent than settling the status of Miller and Boeser.

Miller is also eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2023. But at 29, he is two years older than Horvat and, coming off a marvelous 99-point season, will be more expensive to re-sign. Boeser, 25, becomes a restricted free agent on July 13. But the bigger deadline is two days earlier when the Canucks must submit a $7.5-million-US qualifying offer to retain the winger’s rights.

All of these guys want to win. Horvat expressed Sunday how badly he wants to stay and win with the Canucks.

“Every single year, I feel like at the year-end press conference we're talking about the same thing: how we're going to be better next year,” Horvat told Sportsnet after his televised availability. “It is frustrating; I'm not going to lie. Eight years (in Vancouver)... I want to make the playoffs. I want to be playing for a Stanley Cup. But I want to do it with this organization so bad. I just think it would be unbelievable to bring a Cup here to Vancouver. The organization deserves it, the fans deserve it, and I want to be the one to do it. I'm going to talk to management and see what their plans are, but as for me, I'm a Vancouver Canuck and I want to stay that way.”

There is no ambiguity in Horvat’s declaration, but the NHL is still a business with finite spending limits.

“Coming from the playoff bubble (in Edmonton two years ago), where we were playing some of our best hockey, having that core and that team together, and then everything kind of, not falling apart, but pieces left," he said. "I think that was kind of frustrating going into last year. But I think we made another step this year where we're really excited about what we have here, and obviously showed that down the stretch. I'm confident they (management) want to win, and that's definitely what I want to do as well.”

Rutherford and Allvin speak to the media on Tuesday.

Boudreau’s press conference is Monday.