On the eve of the 2026-27 Vancouver Canucks training camp, General Manager Ryan Johnson, Head Coach Manny Malhotra, and Co-Presidents of Hockey Operations Henrik and Daniel Sedin met with the media to mark the unofficial start of the upcoming season.

Under this new Canucks management regime, the message since they took charge has been that players will not be evaluated based on wins and losses, and that it’s more about development, growth, and building an environment. However, all athletes are naturally competitive. So how will Malhotra balance not validating the players based on wins and losses? He answered that question on Wednesday morning:

“Well, it’s something that I’ve thought about over the course of the summer, and for me, there’s a very big difference between losing games, which is inevitable; every team is going to do it, and playing losing hockey,” Malhotra said. “The measure of our group will be on playing the right way, doing the things that we’re talking about, having details to your game, which is going to give us an opportunity to win. Those are the measures that, when you look back on a game, did we check the boxes? That’s where the pride or the joy will come from: knowing that we are learning, we’re doing the things that we’re asked, and it’s getting better.

“But for us to ride the wave of the course of a season, of the highs and lows – we won a game; it’s great; we lost a game; it’s bad – is going to be no longer. It’s going to be about maintaining the focus of what we’re trying to do, and the daily improvements we’ve talked about over the course of summer. Just getting better every day, creating an environment where guys feel confident and strong, and want to come to the rink is going to be where we measure our group.”

Now in a full-blown rebuild, losing is expected for the 2026-27 Canucks. However, as long as players keep improving as the year goes on and accomplish the small day-to-day goals this management group is continuously preaching, that will make it a successful season for each Canucks player. Co-Presidents Daniel and Henrik Sedin relayed that message:

“I think we want to see a team that plays for each other,” Henrik said. “The fans walk into the building and they see a group that fight for each other. You see a foundation, you see a plan in everything they do, and some of them are going to take steps this year. There’s going to be some of them who might not take the step this year, but at least you see that foundation in place, and that’s all we’re going to ask for. And we’re not going to talk about wins or losses. It’s a process, like Manny said, and we’ll take it day-by-day.”

“And I think with our prospects too, playing around the world, I think we want to see the same from them,” Daniel added. “Have a great development team here, and they have a lot of work to do. I think to be successful in the long run, we need to draft the players, we need to develop them, and that means success in the long run.”