With the clock ticking down on the Vancouver Canucks’ season—and possibly on his time with the team—Brock Boeser isn’t letting his thoughts drift too far into the future.
“I’m finally back to my game,” Boeser says, his voice carrying both pride and quiet determination. “I’ve been playing well lately. Since just before the road trip, I’ve been confident, I’ve been back to myself.”
It couldn’t come at a more uncertain moment. The 27-year-old winger is headed toward unrestricted free agency this summer, and the final 10 days of the season could be the last he spends wearing the Canucks crest. But rather than get caught up in speculation, Boeser is choosing to zero in on the only thing he can control—his play.
And right now, that play is looking like the Boeser of old.
The Canucks’ path to the playoffs is steep and filled with elite competition. Sunday’s home matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights kicks off a gauntlet of games, including a season-closing rematch with Vegas, plus road tilts in Dallas and Colorado. To make the postseason, they’ll likely need to win out. It’s a Herculean task—but not one Boeser is ready to back down from.
“We’re still not officially out,” he says. “We’ve got to have that mindset.”
The season has been anything but smooth. Injuries piled up. On-ice consistency vanished at key moments. And off the ice, distractions swirled—none more disruptive than the much-discussed rift between stars Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller.
Boeser doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the turmoil.
“It’s been a tough, difficult year,” he admits. “I think back to the middle part of the season. We were healthy for a stretch before Christmas. It felt like we were finding something.”
They were. In mid-December, Miller returned to the lineup and Vancouver promptly shut out Florida 4-0. Just days later, they toppled the mighty Avalanche. But momentum was fleeting. A blowout loss to Boston followed, then a trio of losses before a win against the lowly Sharks provided a sliver of hope.
That stretch coincided with growing rumors about discord between Pettersson and Miller, rumors that soon burst into public view.
“It just felt like every time we started to put something together, something would knock us back down,” Boeser reflects.
Still, even in a season filled with missed opportunities and unanswered questions, Boeser’s late resurgence is one of the bright spots. His production is up, his confidence restored. He looks, once again, like a top-six winger with something to prove.
And maybe he does.
Whether these final games are the last chapter of his Canucks story or the prelude to a new contract in Vancouver or elsewhere, Boeser is determined to finish strong.
“I’m just focused on helping us win right now,” he says. “Everything else will take care of itself.”
For now, that’s enough.
Leave a Reply