Upon returning home from their quick successful trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, the Abbotsford Canucks returned home to continue on their celebration after their Calder Cup victory.
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But not before one last meeting with the media at the Abbotsford Centre to discuss their big night and reflect on the postseason as a whole.
CanucksArmy met with AHL leading goal- and point-scorer Linus Karlsson, Canucks leading regular season scorer Arshdeep Bains, Captain Chase Wouters, playoff MVP Arturs Silovs and head coach Manny Malhotra. First, asking the group to take us through those last few seconds of the game and what happened following the final buzzer:
&#8220;Yeah, I&#8217;d be crazy if I told you I wasn&#8217;t nervous, to be honest,&#8221; said Wouters. &#8220;But no, as soon as the buzzer goes, you almost black out. There&#8217;s so much excitement; so many emotions to look around and see your teammates going through it too. It&#8217;s a pretty special feeling to see and to see all the guys come that weren&#8217;t playing to come onto the ice. Everyone&#8217;s a part of this.&#8221;
&#8220;Six seconds left, you see the guy who was most likely gonna shoot, and when I saw he missed like five feet wide, and [now there&#8217;s] three seconds, two seconds, and you like, black out for a second,&#8221; Silovs said. &#8220;Honestly, I couldn&#8217;t even remember the last four seconds. I was like, &#8216;What just happened?&#8217; Then the celebration, the joy, the hard work paid off, and I&#8217;m so proud of this group.&#8221;
&#8220;I blacked out,&#8221; Malhotra laughed. &#8220;No, it was one of those situations where we feel comfortable in those situations because of the personnel we have. So I was confident being able to roll those six guys out there. We had four centres on the ice at all times, so it wasn&#8217;t a concern of if we were to ice the puck, and just the level of compete we had on some of those loose puck battles, keeping pucks pinned in the corner, eating some some valuable minutes. We had opportunities to clear it, and it would have been much more comfortable game had we gotten those pucks out. But again, it&#8217;s it&#8217;s a credit to our guys for for staying with that right to the end.&#8221;
After such a devastating loss on home ice in Game 5, the Canucks had to make the long flight out to Charlotte, still with two chance to win the Cup. But the word the players and coaches would always use to define themselves was resilient. They never let one loss deter them from the job at hand, and they finished the postseason a perfect 8-0 following a loss, even when the Calder Cup was on the line.
&#8220;That was a tough loss in [Game 5], to be honest,&#8221; Karlsson said. &#8220;We had to go back to Charlotte, a long flight and everything. But we stuck together, and we handled that really well. Everything we do, we have such a tight group, so we did that together, and we found a way to win.&#8221;
&#8220;In Game 5, we wanted to win it here in front of our fans,&#8221; Bains shared. &#8220;But it&#8217;s a tough task to win in five games in the finals; it&#8217;s competitive. When we got down to Charlotte, we knew that it&#8217;s just the guys in that room that&#8217;s there that want to win one for us. The coaches did a good job getting our minds right, all the trainers and everyone, and it was just so special to be able to just go and find a way.&#8221;
&#8220;I think that stat speaks more to our focus and our ability to compartmentalize things,&#8221; Malhotra said. &#8220;Obviously, the emotions of playoffs can get very high and very low, and it started right from our first series with Tucson, where you get Game 1, lose Game 2, and all of a sudden, you&#8217;re in a do-or-die game in the first series. That built up that belief that we talked about playing in those situations where, again, it&#8217;s a do-or-die situation, and guys showed up. Obviously, keep talking about Arty [Silovs], his play in those games after a loss was outstanding. But for our group, just to understand that whatever happens, win or loss, we turn the page and we move on to the next one. I think that level of focus is what allowed us to have that stat throughout the playoffs.&#8221;
Following the Game 5 overtime loss, Malhotra said postgame, &#8220;That was our storybook ending, but we&#8217;re not a storybook team.&#8221; Well, they found a way to get their storybook ending in Game 6 despite trailing 2-0 early, putting their resiliency on display.
&#8220;We discussed it last night. It almost seemed more fitting for us to do it on the road and just go out and grind another game out,&#8221; Malhotra said. &#8220;Again, we found ourselves in a situation where we were two goals down. We had seen that a number of times throughout the playoffs, not a situation that we wanted to be in, but the fact that we were able to claw back – obviously, special teams were a huge part of last night, getting us one on the power play and then the [penalty] kill just shutting things down. It was just a very us game, and a very fitting end to our season.&#8221;
To be a resilient team, you need to be comfortable in close games. Eight of the Canucks&#8217; 16 postseason wins came in one-score games, often times having to come from behind as well.
&#8220;Yeah, I think we&#8217;re a tough team to play against when we&#8217;re up, and we&#8217;re also tough when we&#8217;re down,&#8221; Bains expressed. &#8220;We like those competitive matches. I know we really just trust the process of what our team&#8217;s built on. We don&#8217;t really worry about the score too much, but when it comes down to it, we&#8217;re confident in each other. A one-goal lead is good enough for us, and we find a way to win games.&#8221;
The first signing in Abbotsford Canucks history was Chase Wouters. He&#8217;s been around for all four years of the ups and downs, but he knew early on that his group they had was different.
&#8220;Obviously, that [13-game] winning streak was huge, but there was a belief right from day one when we showed up here. I mean, when you look around the room, there&#8217;s a lot of great hockey players, and a lot of great humans, and that&#8217;s what builds a culture, that&#8217;s what builds a great team. We were able to put the pieces together and get it done.&#8221;
Another long-tenured Canuck is John Stevens. He&#8217;s been here with Wouters since the beginning, but an injury in February held him out for the rest of the regular season and all of the playoffs. Despite not playing in the playoffs, Stevens was the first to receive the Cup after Wouters took his lap with the hardware.
&#8220;John&#8217;s been here; he&#8217;s meant so much to the team, that&#8217;s the main thing,&#8221; Wouters praised. &#8220;He unfortunately had that injury that put him out. But just the way he is every day at the rink; the way he prepares himself, the way he&#8217;s a pro, the way he treats everyone, that&#8217;s what&#8217;s so special about John, and that&#8217;s why that&#8217;s who I went to. He&#8217;s another main reason that we&#8217;re able to do this as a group, even though he wasn&#8217;t playing.&#8221;
Following the players taking their lap with the Cup, the coaches had their chance to lift the trophy. And while the team was loud and cheering on the players they went to battle with each and every night, the group was just as (if not more) vocal when the coaching staff and management lifted the trophy over their heads. Which says a lot about the culture they&#8217;ve built within the locker room.
&#8220;It&#8217;s the culture that the guys have built for themselves,&#8221; Malhotra noted. &#8220;It&#8217;s amazing to watch how they are the ones dictating the intensity, what is accepted and what is not accepted in the way we play and the way we carry ourselves. It&#8217;s amazing to see that they took ownership of that. But yeah, I think the celebration speaks to the fact that we have a very selfless group in here that played for one another and were happy when other people were getting their successes. So they really just played into who we are as a group.&#8221;
While there were so many storylines from this postseason run, you don&#8217;t have to look much further than the play of playoff MVP Arturs Silovs.
The Latvian netminder won all 16 games for Abbotsford on their run, finishing with a 2.01 goals against average, a .931 save percentage and five shutouts – three coming in elimination games.
Silovs first reflected on the postseason run as a whole, also acknowledging his impact on the team, delivering when the stakes were the highest, and his team needed him the most.
&#8220;It was special. So many guys grew up together. It was a special group, special chemistry, like just seeing guys fighting for every inch of the ice; blocking shots, doing everything in their power to win these games. And, you know, it doesn&#8217;t matter if we win or lose; we managed to bounce back every single game, and I think that&#8217;s what it takes to win. We didn&#8217;t get two losses in a row, we came back straight away, and we just found the willpower out of them.
&#8220;You want to play your best when things matter, right? Like, you can be a regular season champion, but it doesn&#8217;t matter if you don&#8217;t win something in the playoffs. I think it just puts extra pressure; it builds the fan base to be much louder than it usually is during the season. I think that&#8217;s like where I gained energy, too. Like you hear [the crowd] calling your name, and it means so much. You love to play for a crowd like that. You love to perform; you love to win for them, and you&#8217;re going to do everything just to make them happy as well.&#8221;
Karlsson was another standout performer this postseason. He led the entire AHL in goals (14) and points (26), including scoring the eventual Calder Cup-winning goal. And when the pressure got to its highest in the Finals, Karlsson only elevated his game, finishing with five goals and nine points through six games of the series. The Swedish forward was proud of the way he was able to produce when the games mattered most.
&#8220;Of course, I&#8217;m really proud of that,&#8221; Karlsson shared. &#8220;It is hard going up and down, resent down and up; it&#8217;s been a little bit of a roller coaster year. I was injured at the beginning of the year, and then came back and tried to get my confidence back. I&#8217;m really proud of how I handle everything. Of course, it&#8217;s fun to score and stuff, but yeah, this is a win we&#8217;re never going to forget.&#8221;
After such a successful run, it&#8217;s hard not to start to wonder about some of these players&#8217; futures within the organization. Silovs winning playoff MVP and Karlsson leading the league in postseason points surely had to have turned heads from the higher-ups within the organization and could have earned themselves a strong case for why they deserve a promotion to the big club.
&#8220;Yeah, I hope so,&#8221; Karlsson said about whether he made it a tough decision for a roster spot in the NHL next season. &#8220;That&#8217;s why everyone&#8217;s been battling for a path up there [to the NHL]. So, of course, hopefully we did that. That&#8217;s the purpose. We&#8217;ll see what happens.
&#8220;I think even the last couple of years we played in the playoffs have helped me to handle things this year. So for sure that&#8217;s gonna help me. I mean, not everyone has a chance to win, and we won something, and it&#8217;s something. We&#8217;re gonna be winners forever.&#8221;
Silovs shared the same sentiment about sending a message to be in the NHL next season, including how he was able to handle the workload of playing 14 straight games, which bodes well for him being able to translate to that next level.
&#8220;I think it is a great way,&#8221; Silovs exclaimed. &#8220;You&#8217;re finishing, let&#8217;s say, this point of your career with a milestone like winning the Championship? Not everyone can say they won the Calder Cup, right? I think it&#8217;s really special, as a springboard to come from, and it&#8217;s gonna help a lot in the future.
&#8220;I felt good [with the workload]. I maybe managed my game a little bit. I tried to do less tiring things, and we practice much less too. So it was more like a play a game, recover, play a game. So found the routine down there and found a way to recover the best way I can.&#8221;
Even Malhotra spoke on the job his players did this postseason and how they made it a difficult decision for the organization, after some promotion-like performances.
&#8220;Yeah, that&#8217;s a great problem to have, and for me, that&#8217;s a sign of a healthy organization. When you&#8217;re young, prospects are challenging for spots at the next level. They&#8217;ve done a great job in their development over the course of the year. That&#8217;s what your hope is going into training camp, that people are going to put people are going to push, push for spots and improve the level of play.&#8221;
Coming back to an organization you used to play for as a coach and bringing a championship to the fan base must be a fantastic feeling. But how about bringing a championship to the Lower Mainland as a Surrey native?
&#8220;Yeah, it&#8217;s great when you say like that,&#8221; Bains grinned. &#8220;I think a lot of kids dream about winning at home and playing at home and everything at home. So it&#8217;s just something that I get to tick off the box, that I got to win in front of my family, and the crowd, and everybody that came out to support me. There&#8217;s a lot of people that came that I haven&#8217;t talked to in years, or buddies and stuff like that. So it was awesome that a lot of things happened this year.&#8221;
Bains finished the postseason just two points behind Karlsson for the AHL lead, with seven goals and 17 assists in 24 games. While he was still contributing on the scoresheet and various other ways, Bains went 16 games without a goal. That&#8217;s a long stretch without scoring while having double-digit assists. Bains shared what that goalless drought was like.
&#8220;It&#8217;s something I was thinking about for sure,&#8221; Bains confirmed. &#8220;But when the team&#8217;s winning, it wasn&#8217;t something like &#8216;I&#8217;m letting our group down.&#8217; But it felt like I had the chances and the looks and they just weren&#8217;t going in, and then the first one goes in and, you know, kind of just how roles they start coming in bunches. I was able to kind of help out in that aspect as well, but it wasn&#8217;t something I was too worried about. I&#8217;m glad that I was able to, overall, come back and help out the team.&#8221;
We&#8217;ll leave you with one question CanucksArmy asked every player, and some ending words from the first-year Calder Cup-winning head coach:
Q: It took you 24 games to get your 16 wins. Now that you can look back on the playoff run, outside of lifting the Cup, what was your favourite moment?
Karlsson: &#8220;I haven&#8217;t really thought about that yet. Just to do this with these guys is probably going to be a memory for a long time. But, of course, the last seconds yesterday, when we jumped over the boards and threw the helmet off, that&#8217;s something you gotta remember for a long time.&#8221;
Bains: &#8220;I think just the ups and downs. I know when you&#8217;re in the moment, it&#8217;s tough to go through those emotions. But when you look back at it now, it makes it a lot sweeter that we had to fight for everything we got. We had to play five rounds, and we had to win and lose games, and by the end of it, we truly gave it our all. It&#8217;s such an unbelievable feeling that we get to go home winners.&#8221;
Wouters: &#8220;I mean, besides lifting the cup, you just think back to all the games where our backs were against the wall. You think about that Game 3 against Tucson, Game 5 against Colorado, those are games that you dream about. Those are the moments that, every day, you think about those moments. So, I guess those games. I mean, obviously, playing in front of the crowd here in Abbotsford was amazing. The Finals were crazy; I mean, you guys experienced it. You&#8217;re going out there, and you get goose bumps just from skating on the ice, and it&#8217;s a pretty special, special run and special to be a part of.&#8221;
Silovs: &#8220;Just being in a moment. Winning each round game by game and just enjoying that process. We won the first round; it was a tough round. It was a physical team. We got more physical as well, and I think it helped us a lot down the road. Playing Coachella, winning at home, boosted us, gaining that energy, gaining that willpower more and more. Every sudden death game was so, so fun to play. Part of it is fun to have that pressure; fun to be playing in the time when it matters.&#8221;
Malhotra: &#8220;Oh, there&#8217;s too many, too many to say. I think that my takeaway throughout the course of the playoffs was seeing different guys step up in different moments. I said it time and time again, we never rode one line or one guy, and we&#8217;re expecting them to get their points every night – obviously, Karly [Linus Karlsson], Bainsy [Arshdeep Bains] and Sammy [Blais] had great point totals throughout the playoffs – but I think the scoring by committee, for me, is a big factor in our in our success, and just watching different guys in different points of a game make big plays, either scoring a goal or blocking shots or doing those little things that are required to win. That&#8217;s the biggest takeaway, and the biggest memory I have is the group contributions.&#8221;
Q: If someone told you one year ago when you were doing your first development camp with the Canucks, that you were going to win a Calder Cup, what would you have said?
&#8220;I would have said, &#8216;Thank you,'&#8221; Malhotra chuckled. &#8220;No, it&#8217;s always been a long journey over the course of the season, and looking back at where we were to where we are now, obviously, I take a lot of pride in the growth of the group and how they came together the way they did through the course of the years, is pretty special.&#8221;
Q: Years down the road, when you look back on this championship-winning team, how will you remember them?
&#8220;Very fondly, very fondly. We have an incredible group of people, first and foremost, a lot of different characters, and I&#8217;ll leave it at that, but we had a lot of fun. We came to the rink every day and had a lot of fun. We competed in practice and just created an incredible environment of fun hockey environment to be a part of.&#8221;
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Upon returning home from their quick successful trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, the Abbotsford Canucks returned home to continue on their celebration after their Calder Cup victory.
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But not before one last meeting with the media at the Abbotsford Centre to discuss their big night and reflect on the postseason as a whole.

CanucksArmy met with AHL leading goal- and point-scorer Linus Karlsson, Canucks leading regular season scorer Arshdeep Bains, Captain Chase Wouters, playoff MVP Arturs Silovs and head coach Manny Malhotra. First, asking the group to take us through those last few seconds of the game and what happened following the final buzzer:

"Yeah, I'd be crazy if I told you I wasn't nervous, to be honest," said Wouters. "But no, as soon as the buzzer goes, you almost black out. There's so much excitement; so many emotions to look around and see your teammates going through it too. It's a pretty special feeling to see and to see all the guys come that weren't playing to come onto the ice. Everyone's a part of this."

"Six seconds left, you see the guy who was most likely gonna shoot, and when I saw he missed like five feet wide, and [now there's] three seconds, two seconds, and you like, black out for a second," Silovs said. "Honestly, I couldn't even remember the last four seconds. I was like, 'What just happened?' Then the celebration, the joy, the hard work paid off, and I'm so proud of this group."

"I blacked out," Malhotra laughed. "No, it was one of those situations where we feel comfortable in those situations because of the personnel we have. So I was confident being able to roll those six guys out there. We had four centres on the ice at all times, so it wasn't a concern of if we were to ice the puck, and just the level of compete we had on some of those loose puck battles, keeping pucks pinned in the corner, eating some some valuable minutes. We had opportunities to clear it, and it would have been much more comfortable game had we gotten those pucks out. But again, it's it's a credit to our guys for for staying with that right to the end."

After such a devastating loss on home ice in Game 5, the Canucks had to make the long flight out to Charlotte, still with two chance to win the Cup. But the word the players and coaches would always use to define themselves was resilient. They never let one loss deter them from the job at hand, and they finished the postseason a perfect 8-0 following a loss, even when the Calder Cup was on the line.

"That was a tough loss in [Game 5], to be honest," Karlsson said. "We had to go back to Charlotte, a long flight and everything. But we stuck together, and we handled that really well. Everything we do, we have such a tight group, so we did that together, and we found a way to win."

"In Game 5, we wanted to win it here in front of our fans," Bains shared. "But it's a tough task to win in five games in the finals; it's competitive. When we got down to Charlotte, we knew that it's just the guys in that room that's there that want to win one for us. The coaches did a good job getting our minds right, all the trainers and everyone, and it was just so special to be able to just go and find a way."

"I think that stat speaks more to our focus and our ability to compartmentalize things," Malhotra said. "Obviously, the emotions of playoffs can get very high and very low, and it started right from our first series with Tucson, where you get Game 1, lose Game 2, and all of a sudden, you're in a do-or-die game in the first series. That built up that belief that we talked about playing in those situations where, again, it's a do-or-die situation, and guys showed up. Obviously, keep talking about Arty [Silovs], his play in those games after a loss was outstanding. But for our group, just to understand that whatever happens, win or loss, we turn the page and we move on to the next one. I think that level of focus is what allowed us to have that stat throughout the playoffs."

Following the Game 5 overtime loss, Malhotra said postgame, "That was our storybook ending, but we're not a storybook team." Well, they found a way to get their storybook ending in Game 6 despite trailing 2-0 early, putting their resiliency on display.

"We discussed it last night. It almost seemed more fitting for us to do it on the road and just go out and grind another game out," Malhotra said. "Again, we found ourselves in a situation where we were two goals down. We had seen that a number of times throughout the playoffs, not a situation that we wanted to be in, but the fact that we were able to claw back – obviously, special teams were a huge part of last night, getting us one on the power play and then the [penalty] kill just shutting things down. It was just a very us game, and a very fitting end to our season."

To be a resilient team, you need to be comfortable in close games. Eight of the Canucks' 16 postseason wins came in one-score games, often times having to come from behind as well.

"Yeah, I think we're a tough team to play against when we're up, and we're also tough when we're down," Bains expressed. "We like those competitive matches. I know we really just trust the process of what our team's built on. We don't really worry about the score too much, but when it comes down to it, we're confident in each other. A one-goal lead is good enough for us, and we find a way to win games."

The first signing in Abbotsford Canucks history was Chase Wouters. He's been around for all four years of the ups and downs, but he knew early on that his group they had was different.

"Obviously, that [13-game] winning streak was huge, but there was a belief right from day one when we showed up here. I mean, when you look around the room, there's a lot of great hockey players, and a lot of great humans, and that's what builds a culture, that's what builds a great team. We were able to put the pieces together and get it done."

Another long-tenured Canuck is John Stevens. He's been here with Wouters since the beginning, but an injury in February held him out for the rest of the regular season and all of the playoffs. Despite not playing in the playoffs, Stevens was the first to receive the Cup after Wouters took his lap with the hardware.

"John's been here; he's meant so much to the team, that's the main thing," Wouters praised. "He unfortunately had that injury that put him out. But just the way he is every day at the rink; the way he prepares himself, the way he's a pro, the way he treats everyone, that's what's so special about John, and that's why that's who I went to. He's another main reason that we're able to do this as a group, even though he wasn't playing."

Following the players taking their lap with the Cup, the coaches had their chance to lift the trophy. And while the team was loud and cheering on the players they went to battle with each and every night, the group was just as (if not more) vocal when the coaching staff and management lifted the trophy over their heads. Which says a lot about the culture they've built within the locker room.

"It's the culture that the guys have built for themselves," Malhotra noted. "It's amazing to watch how they are the ones dictating the intensity, what is accepted and what is not accepted in the way we play and the way we carry ourselves. It's amazing to see that they took ownership of that. But yeah, I think the celebration speaks to the fact that we have a very selfless group in here that played for one another and were happy when other people were getting their successes. So they really just played into who we are as a group."

While there were so many storylines from this postseason run, you don't have to look much further than the play of playoff MVP Arturs Silovs.

The Latvian netminder won all 16 games for Abbotsford on their run, finishing with a 2.01 goals against average, a .931 save percentage and five shutouts – three coming in elimination games.

Silovs first reflected on the postseason run as a whole, also acknowledging his impact on the team, delivering when the stakes were the highest, and his team needed him the most.

"It was special. So many guys grew up together. It was a special group, special chemistry, like just seeing guys fighting for every inch of the ice; blocking shots, doing everything in their power to win these games. And, you know, it doesn't matter if we win or lose; we managed to bounce back every single game, and I think that's what it takes to win. We didn't get two losses in a row, we came back straight away, and we just found the willpower out of them.

"You want to play your best when things matter, right? Like, you can be a regular season champion, but it doesn't matter if you don't win something in the playoffs. I think it just puts extra pressure; it builds the fan base to be much louder than it usually is during the season. I think that's like where I gained energy, too. Like you hear [the crowd] calling your name, and it means so much. You love to play for a crowd like that. You love to perform; you love to win for them, and you're going to do everything just to make them happy as well."

Karlsson was another standout performer this postseason. He led the entire AHL in goals (14) and points (26), including scoring the eventual Calder Cup-winning goal. And when the pressure got to its highest in the Finals, Karlsson only elevated his game, finishing with five goals and nine points through six games of the series. The Swedish forward was proud of the way he was able to produce when the games mattered most.

"Of course, I'm really proud of that," Karlsson shared. "It is hard going up and down, resent down and up; it's been a little bit of a roller coaster year. I was injured at the beginning of the year, and then came back and tried to get my confidence back. I'm really proud of how I handle everything. Of course, it's fun to score and stuff, but yeah, this is a win we're never going to forget."

After such a successful run, it's hard not to start to wonder about some of these players' futures within the organization. Silovs winning playoff MVP and Karlsson leading the league in postseason points surely had to have turned heads from the higher-ups within the organization and could have earned themselves a strong case for why they deserve a promotion to the big club.

"Yeah, I hope so," Karlsson said about whether he made it a tough decision for a roster spot in the NHL next season. "That's why everyone's been battling for a path up there [to the NHL]. So, of course, hopefully we did that. That's the purpose. We'll see what happens.

"I think even the last couple of years we played in the playoffs have helped me to handle things this year. So for sure that's gonna help me. I mean, not everyone has a chance to win, and we won something, and it's something. We're gonna be winners forever."

Silovs shared the same sentiment about sending a message to be in the NHL next season, including how he was able to handle the workload of playing 14 straight games, which bodes well for him being able to translate to that next level.

"I think it is a great way," Silovs exclaimed. "You're finishing, let's say, this point of your career with a milestone like winning the Championship? Not everyone can say they won the Calder Cup, right? I think it's really special, as a springboard to come from, and it's gonna help a lot in the future.

"I felt good [with the workload]. I maybe managed my game a little bit. I tried to do less tiring things, and we practice much less too. So it was more like a play a game, recover, play a game. So found the routine down there and found a way to recover the best way I can."

Even Malhotra spoke on the job his players did this postseason and how they made it a difficult decision for the organization, after some promotion-like performances.

"Yeah, that's a great problem to have, and for me, that's a sign of a healthy organization. When you're young, prospects are challenging for spots at the next level. They've done a great job in their development over the course of the year. That's what your hope is going into training camp, that people are going to put people are going to push, push for spots and improve the level of play."

Coming back to an organization you used to play for as a coach and bringing a championship to the fan base must be a fantastic feeling. But how about bringing a championship to the Lower Mainland as a Surrey native?

"Yeah, it's great when you say like that," Bains grinned. "I think a lot of kids dream about winning at home and playing at home and everything at home. So it's just something that I get to tick off the box, that I got to win in front of my family, and the crowd, and everybody that came out to support me. There's a lot of people that came that I haven't talked to in years, or buddies and stuff like that. So it was awesome that a lot of things happened this year."

Bains finished the postseason just two points behind Karlsson for the AHL lead, with seven goals and 17 assists in 24 games. While he was still contributing on the scoresheet and various other ways, Bains went 16 games without a goal. That's a long stretch without scoring while having double-digit assists. Bains shared what that goalless drought was like.

"It's something I was thinking about for sure," Bains confirmed. "But when the team's winning, it wasn't something like 'I'm letting our group down.' But it felt like I had the chances and the looks and they just weren't going in, and then the first one goes in and, you know, kind of just how roles they start coming in bunches. I was able to kind of help out in that aspect as well, but it wasn't something I was too worried about. I'm glad that I was able to, overall, come back and help out the team."

We'll leave you with one question CanucksArmy asked every player, and some ending words from the first-year Calder Cup-winning head coach:

Q: It took you 24 games to get your 16 wins. Now that you can look back on the playoff run, outside of lifting the Cup, what was your favourite moment?

Karlsson: "I haven't really thought about that yet. Just to do this with these guys is probably going to be a memory for a long time. But, of course, the last seconds yesterday, when we jumped over the boards and threw the helmet off, that's something you gotta remember for a long time."

Bains: "I think just the ups and downs. I know when you're in the moment, it's tough to go through those emotions. But when you look back at it now, it makes it a lot sweeter that we had to fight for everything we got. We had to play five rounds, and we had to win and lose games, and by the end of it, we truly gave it our all. It's such an unbelievable feeling that we get to go home winners."

Wouters: "I mean, besides lifting the cup, you just think back to all the games where our backs were against the wall. You think about that Game 3 against Tucson, Game 5 against Colorado, those are games that you dream about. Those are the moments that, every day, you think about those moments. So, I guess those games. I mean, obviously, playing in front of the crowd here in Abbotsford was amazing. The Finals were crazy; I mean, you guys experienced it. You're going out there, and you get goose bumps just from skating on the ice, and it's a pretty special, special run and special to be a part of."

Silovs: "Just being in a moment. Winning each round game by game and just enjoying that process. We won the first round; it was a tough round. It was a physical team. We got more physical as well, and I think it helped us a lot down the road. Playing Coachella, winning at home, boosted us, gaining that energy, gaining that willpower more and more. Every sudden death game was so, so fun to play. Part of it is fun to have that pressure; fun to be playing in the time when it matters."

Malhotra: "Oh, there's too many, too many to say. I think that my takeaway throughout the course of the playoffs was seeing different guys step up in different moments. I said it time and time again, we never rode one line or one guy, and we're expecting them to get their points every night – obviously, Karly [Linus Karlsson], Bainsy [Arshdeep Bains] and Sammy [Blais] had great point totals throughout the playoffs – but I think the scoring by committee, for me, is a big factor in our in our success, and just watching different guys in different points of a game make big plays, either scoring a goal or blocking shots or doing those little things that are required to win. That's the biggest takeaway, and the biggest memory I have is the group contributions."

Q: If someone told you one year ago when you were doing your first development camp with the Canucks, that you were going to win a Calder Cup, what would you have said?

"I would have said, 'Thank you,'" Malhotra chuckled. "No, it's always been a long journey over the course of the season, and looking back at where we were to where we are now, obviously, I take a lot of pride in the growth of the group and how they came together the way they did through the course of the years, is pretty special."

Q: Years down the road, when you look back on this championship-winning team, how will you remember them?

"Very fondly, very fondly. We have an incredible group of people, first and foremost, a lot of different characters, and I'll leave it at that, but we had a lot of fun. We came to the rink every day and had a lot of fun. We competed in practice and just created an incredible environment of fun hockey environment to be a part of."

Your Abbotsford Canucks are 2025 Calder Cup Champions!

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