Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet that’s on summer vacation and still publishing at the exact same time.

Speaking of summer, to say it’s been an inactive one for the Vancouver Canucks would be a mistruth.

Several exciting prospects with potential were added to the organization via the 2022 Entry Draft.

The Free Agent Frenzy brought several new veterans in, including sure-fire roster players Ilya Mikheyev and Curtis Lazar, along with the intriguing Andrey Kuzmenko.

The coaching staff has been updated, the off-ice staff has seen widespread change, and there’s even a new jersey in the mix.

Still, yet, Canucks fans are restless. Impatient, in some instances. Antsy, in others. They’re waiting…for something. But what?

A trade, obviously.

Despite a flurry of rumours, the 2022 Trade Deadline came and went with little fanfare. Surely, then, those expected transactions were being held back until the high-octane month of July. Right?

Wrong!

July has come and gone, and now we’re well into August with no trades of note having occurred.

So, since we have no actual swaps to write about, why don’t we see what our trusty readers can come up with?

This week, we’re asking you to:

Post it in the comment section.

You answered below!

Every other middling team that is stuck in NHL purgatory.

The Canucks don’t really have a stereotypical rival. They have been a rather poor team for too long for any of their past rivalries to still be relevant. Rivalries generate from playoff battles and physical, edgy players build their intensity. Could be two or three years before there is a real rivalry.

For me it would be both Calgary and Edmonton. These games are tough and the points mean so much towards the standings. Mostly a rivalry to me, because I do not like those two teams what so ever. I would rather cheer for an American team if it came down to the finals and either Calgary or Edmonton were playing, but not much danger of that happening.

Canucks’ biggest rival right now is the CAP.

Unfortunately, and it’s the sad reality of being hot garbage for so long, they have no true rivalries right now. Rivalries are made in the playoffs. No playoffs = no bad blood. The top of the Pacific is starting to morph into four or five very competitive teams, over the next couple of seasons something should emerge. My guess will be Vegas. I’d love the Canucks and Knights to go full on Vancouver/Chicago, circa 2009-2011.

I don’t think the Canucks have really had a true long standing rivalry in the same sense as Cal/Edm, NYR/NYI, or that others have had over the years. At times Calgary, Chicago, and maybe Colorado have produced some intense stretches, but nothing truly epic. Maybe Seattle will be that if we match up in the playoffs and have some long, physical series.

Rivalries are built in the playoffs and since we have not been a playoff team, we don’t have one. Over the years it has been Toronto (when they played in the Western cCnference), Boston, Chicago, Edmonton, Calgary. Meeting Chicago when we were on the cusp in the first round three years in a row until we “slayed the dragon” built a fantastic rivalry. Boston with the Rat pointing to his ring finger in 2012 in front of the fans at Rogers Arena, The famous Roxy flu and picture of Kane drunk and hanging out of a Limo sunroof the day before the game. All these stories are built in the playoffs. The Wild for many years viewed us as their biggest rival, and we barely knew more than three guys on the team by name. Unfortunately, without playoff success and disappointment, we just do not have one right now. Looking forward to Seattle and Vancouver both being good at the same time and enjoying our own battle down the I5. Sadly, that is years away it seems.

The Bakersfield Condors.

Biggest rivalry is internal: Rutherford vs Boudreau.

Canucks biggest rival is themselves. How many times have they beaten themselves, both on and off the ice?

Last great Canucks rival was Jim Benning, but now…???

Well, it’s probably safe to say that no other team considers Vancouver their biggest rival, save maybe Seattle. I don’t see that being reciprocal just yet, as Seattle hasn’t proven themselves good enough to really challenge Vancouver. From Vancouver’s point of view, it will likely be Calgary first, partially due to the exodus of Markstrom and Tanev a few seasons ago and the semi-resurgence of Gudbranson there last season; followed by Edmonton, Toronto, and Boston in that order.

But for me it’s Vegas, a team that Vancouver had not been able to beat in regulation for so long. I personally dislike the GKs due to their flagrant “cheating” (or manipulation if you prefer) of the cap system in order to be ready to ice a team clearly millions over the cap come playoff time (a la Tampa), and they appeared to have some of the most beneficial LTIR injuries at just the right time. I was thrilled when the Canucks put the boots to them late last season and won their last two games against Vegas, as it helped somewhat in eliminating the GKs from the playoffs and helped to atone for the egregious delay of game penalty against Demko (2021-11-13). This was certainly in addition to the seven-game series that Demko nearly stole on his own in 2020.

No one. Rivalries denote mutual feelings towards each other, and irrelevance does not inspire strong feelings that any other team cares about.

Pre-Benning-firing, I would have said Seattle for the Cascadia Toilet Bowl. Now, *crickets*

Aquilini’s retool playoff race vs Rutherford and Senior Management’s vision for the Canucks.

The Canucks do not have a natural rival. Natural rivalries are usually based on geographical proximity (e.g. Calgary-Edmonton; Pittsburgh-Philadelphia) or a lengthy history (e.g. Toronto-Montreal). Hopefully, one day, Seattle will settle in to be the Canucks’ biggest rival on an ongoing basis, based on geographical proximity. Some Canucks’ rivals emerge from time to time based on playoff history, but they are temporary. Calgary, Chicago, and Boston were once rivals on that basis, but they are rivals no more.

It is long enough since the Canucks enjoyed meaningful success that, other than possibly developing a future rivalry with Seattle based on geography, they won’t have any real rivals until they’re good enough to challenge for at least a division title.

They should just make Colorado their most hated team from now on…because they have to beat them on the way, anyhow. Since 2015, Canucks are 12W and 8L against them, and the games are usually good.

Without a doubt, their biggest rivalry are themselves, and the inability to structure a competitive team around a flat cap scenario.

Hopefully, that’ll change going forward, but Allvin and Rutherford have A LOT of work ahead.

In most cases, rivalries require a degree of physicality by both teams.

Until the Canucks become hard to play against, they will have no rivals.

Calgary is the Canucks’ biggest rival. Goes back decades. Otto and Linden battling in the face off circle. Bure scoring and eliminating the Flames was great. Even Torts disliked the Flames!

Biggest historic rivalry has to be Boston, the Avalanche (remember the cheers after the bertuzzi incident?), and Calgary.

But for rivalry GAMES, it’s Toronto, Edmonton, and Boston. Always feels like we’re outnumbered in our own barn.

Rivalries? None really for what is a perpetual non-playoff club. Do love when the Leafs come to town, but are in the East. SEA are not good enough presently to consider, despite their geographic location right now, and the disgraced CHI Hawks look more like the California Seals every day.

I’ve always thought of Calgary and Edmonton as Vancouver’s biggest rivals, though they don’t return the sentiment.

Historical rivals have been Chicago, Avalanche, and Detroit, since they have been responsible for knocking Canucks out of the playoffs many times in the past when we’ve fielded our best teams.

I don’t really consider Boston a rival, since we don’t play them much, but I definitely do not like Boston because of what went down in 2011.

I guess we can now consider the Kraken as our main rival, and they will eventually become the Canucks’ biggest rival in the future. But currently, I only feel pity for the Kraken and it will take several years to make them a proper rival.