The Vancouver Canucks‘ Thursday night win over the Anaheim Ducks was fun for a whole bunch of reasons.

Obviously, they got the win in front of their home fans, which is something they’d done just five times previously this season.

Nikita Tolopilo stood on his head, and earned his first unofficial career NHL shutout, stopping all 32 shots he faced.

The Rogers Arena faithful, who have packed the barn to root on the (finally) rebuilding Canucks, even jokingly chanted “We want the Cup,” in the dying moments of Thursday night’s win. Simply put, the vibes are good after a win like that.

Fans see the organization taking the necessary step back from trying to compete in an effort to build the next great Canucks team through the NHL Draft. There’s work to be done, and it remains to be seen just how committed the Canucks will be to loading up on young assets before accelerating out of it, but things like trading Kiefer Sherwood are a great first step for the club to rebuild and re-earn some trust with their fanbase.

Another bright spot in that game was Liam Öhgren, who spent some time killing penalties for the Canucks. Foote was very complimentary of Ögren’s game, and expanded on why he felt now was the time to get him in the mix on the Canucks’ PK.

“I think he listens to detail. It’s a good question. [At] 5v5, he really tries to run the routes properly and tries to be a good F3 when it’s his turn to be the F3. We gave him some reps in practice but also did a lot of work with him. We can’t keep using the same guys moving forward. We’ve got to teach these young guys how to do it and he’s got the speed. Give him a little bit more of a role until he develops more offensively, which he’s got the tools to. He’s not going to get it right all the time, and who does? Even our veterans, it’s hard, it’s a good league. But he’s got the speed too so, teach him the right times to jump on guys on a bobbled puck and you might see him get some 2-on-1s here, some breakaways… We’ll probably see him more and more as the season goes on.”

Foote’s answer is an interesting one, and leads to an interesting follow-up about where the line is between throwing young guys into spots they’re not ready for, while also having an eye to the future and realizing that the young players will need to learn to play those roles someday, so why not now? At Friday’s Canucks practice, CanucksArmy’s Jeff Paterson asked that follow-up.

“I think that’s a good question because at what point [did] the retool — or whatever phrase you want to use — [start]? At the same time, you want to give younger guys more, but you also don’t want to put them in a position where they’re not ready. I’m not saying in this case, but in overall with all the guys, if you put them in a spot where they’re just not ready for it, it could backfire and stunt that growth in that spot. So, yeah, we want to give them more, but we want to manage it where they’re ready for those spots where they don’t lose confidence… It’s a feel thing. And we’re not just going to go, okay, ‘we’re going young’, we’re going to throw them in a spot where they’re not ready for it. That’s just not fair to them and we still want to win hockey games too, right? And so it’s a good question because it’s a fine line and we’re obviously going to play with it. We think he [Öhgren] is learning and has the ability with his speed. When you’ve seen him, when he has slight off reads, which isn’t often, he can recover with his speed. He’s very coachable. He’d be, I think, a really good penalty killer moving forward. And we have to get our younger guys getting some kill time, for sure.

Foote’s answer is an interesting one to hear from a coach who has received criticism this season for not playing his young players as much as some fans would hope. But the head coach’s comments on Thursday and Friday (and more importantly, his actions, as well) suggest that like the organization, he is beginning to turn his focus to the future and is mindful that part of the job when coaching a rebuilding team is to help young players reach their full potential.

Whether that be more ice time against tougher opponents at even strength, increased special teams duties, the Canucks have a plethora of young players to choose from who would love to take the next step in their development and prove their worth.