Welcome back to the little series on our site where we highlight Vancouver Canucks stories you might have missed! Okay, really, it’s an excuse for me to blog casually instead of having to be a Big J Journalist all the time. Anyway, you know it, you (hopefully) love it, so let’s dive in.

Did anyone hear Paul Cotter’s media availability earlier this week before the Canucks embarked on their current road trip? We mentioned it a couple of days ago, but in case you missed it, here is what Cotter first said after the Canucks’ 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights:

“For a team that everybody in the world has said is going to be last in the league, I’m pretty happy with how we’ve been doing.”

Asked again on Tuesday about the people doubting the Canucks, Cotter said:

“At the end of the day, it’s about the guys in this room as well as the coaching staff, the organization as a whole. I tend to stay off social media as much as I can, but I’d be dumb if I didn’t hear or see some things about, whatever, just people talking about how terrible we were going to be. I think every [post] that I saw, I saved just to have some receipts. I mean, that’s the type of stuff that motivates you along the way, you know, if you’re the biggest underdog in the league. We had high expectations coming into this. I’m happy with how we’ve started; obviously there’s a lot of things to clean up with where we want to be. But yeah, if no one has confidence in us, then it’s on us to prove them wrong.”

We had a few people in the live chat of our show West Coast Conversation (find it wherever you get your podcasts and watch it live on YouTube at 2 PM PT) who were troubled by Cotter’s comments because they want the Canucks to finish 32nd. And to that, I said let’s see where the Canucks are in the standings 20 games in. How does the picture look in December?

We always remind people that the onus for a tanking/rebuilding effort to be successful is on the management group building the roster. In fact, in a rebuild, you want players to play with the sort of never-say-die attitude the Canucks have played with for the first four games of the season. You want to keep signing UFAs like Paul Cotter, who can push the pace and be good in your room, while also being perfect trade chips to flip for assets that get you closer to building a true Cup contender.

And as much as I agree (and have been banging the drum for a long time about) that the Canucks likely need at least two or three top-five picks to pull this rebuild off right — to not “rebuild” into being yet another mushy middle team — could you imagine the field day Paul Cotter would have when it’s time to cash in on those receipts? I want to somehow see that happen, but also see the Canucks’ select 1st, 2nd, or 3rd overall in the 2027 NHL Draft. Yes, yes, I know we likely can’t have both things.

Normally, a player having fun wouldn’t make the headlines.

But for Canucks fans, Elias Pettersson “having a lot of fun” is great news.

Pettersson has been on a heater to start the new season. He’s got two goals and four assists through four games this season, and has been playing with a level of swagger and excitement that we just haven’t really seen from him over the past two seasons.

Here is the quote from Pettersson, courtesy of Thomas Drance of The Athletic:

We’ve cautioned against big proclamations that Pettersson is “back” to the player we saw put up 102 points in 2022-23 and enjoyed three consecutive seasons with 30+ goals. It’s only been four games, after all.

But dammit, it sure does make Canucks hockey a lot more enjoyable when we’re watching this version of Pettersson again.

That version, of course, is the one whose level of fun having is both infectious and obvious.