Rebuilds need veterans.

The Vancouver Canucks need to add more prospects and youth as they aim for long-term success. That’s the exciting part of a rebuild: seeing young players take their first steps toward becoming future stars.

The Canucks have too few future stars at the moment, but they’ll hopefully be adding one with their guaranteed top-three pick at this year’s NHL Entry Draft, and can hope for a couple more with some savvy selections with their other picks.

But those young players are going to need the help of a few veteran mentors.

The Canucks have talked a lot about culture in recent months, admitting that it was a major problem in the past. Jim Rutherford flat-out stated that the culture was “really bad” and that players had to worry about other players “barking at them in practice or picking on them in the room.”

Rutherford also stated, however, that the culture is now “the best it’s been.” Part of that is the dynamic created by the positive energy of young players like Zeev Buium and Liam Öhgren, but part of the credit goes to the veteran players who stepped into the leadership void left after the trade deadline.

One of those veterans was Teddy Blueger, who made a strong case over the back half of the season for a new contract as a culture carrier and leader.

Blueger missed almost all of the first half of the season due to a leg injury and multiple setbacks during his rehab. When he returned, Blueger didn’t mince words about the team, speaking publicly about his frustrations with how the team was playing, presumably a message he’d already delivered in private inside the room.

It wasn’t that the team was losing or in last place, but how the team was competing despite those circumstances.

“You’ve got to have some respect and appreciation to be in this league, some respect for your teammates to play hard every night regardless of the standings,” said Blueger to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre after one loss in early February. “I think we’ve got to find some character in our group. I know we have some good guys that want to win and know how to win and to compete and play hard, but I think we’ve got to find it as a team…not just go through the motions because we’re last in the league.”

That was one of several occasions where Blueger called on his Canucks teammates to come together and play for each other, something they clearly weren’t doing enough of earlier in the season.

“Our job is to show up and compete and work as hard as we can every day to try to win every game,” he said just before returning from injury. “It’s your job to compete and play for your teammates. And fans pay a lot of money to come watch us play, so they deserve an honest effort.”

Blueger didn’t just talk the talk.

On the ice, Blueger put in the work, logging heavy minutes against quality competition while scoring 9 goals and 17 points in 35 games — a 21-goal pace over 82 games. He also helped rescue the Canucks’ penalty kill from being historically bad, as one of the few penalty killers who didn’t get caved in.

It’s noteworthy, too, that Blueger’s most frequent linemates were two rookies — Linus Karlsson and Liam Öhgren — and one near-rookie in Max Sasson. Blueger was already in the position of a veteran mentor.

He also stepped up in other ways on the ice, such as dropping the gloves in defence of his young teammates. He took on Colton Sissons out of a scrum started by a hit on Linus Karlsson, then challenged Radko Gudas after the Anaheim Ducks defenceman laid a heavy hit on Liam Öhgren.

That did not go unnoticed, with head coach Adam Foote noting those fights as part of the group coming together more as a team.

But it wasn’t just what Blueger did on the ice that made him an important leader for the Canucks. It’s what he did off the ice.

Blueger was one of the players who stepped into the leadership void after all of the trades took place. Despite his emotion on the ice, he’s always been a quieter person off the ice, but he knew he needed to step up.

“Since guys like Mysie and Gar have gotten traded, you really take a different perspective on the team,” said Blueger to Izzy Cheung of the Hockey News. “All of a sudden, you look around, and I’m the second oldest on the team.

“I think you take into account team dynamics more. Just making sure we’re all on the same page, making sure everyone feels a part of it, and addressing the things that we feel like we need to improve as a group, some details, accountability, things like that, and trying to build on a certain set of values by which we all abide by.

“So I think you take a wider angle view of not just taking care of yourself, but I think you have to involve everyone in team activities, make sure guys are being heard when something’s going on, and trying to mesh everyone together a little bit.”

Blueger has plenty of experience to draw on as a leader. He’s won a Stanley Cup, albeit as a depth player for the Vegas Golden Knights. He’s played at the Olympics and in multiple other tournaments for Latvia. He’s also learned from one of the best leaders in the game: Sidney Crosby with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I think back on some of the good teams I’ve been on, there’s certain things that you take for granted,” said Blueger. “The habits, the details off the ice, the professionalism of timeliness, dress code, respect of the training staff — I was really lucky when I came into Pittsburgh, all those things were in place, and those were just the expectations. And that discipline carries over on the ice.”

Now Blueger wants to be part of building that type of culture in Vancouver.

“You want to do it the right way: everyone understanding their role, but also everyone being a part of it and wanting to buy in,” said Blueger. “It’s not just getting along in the room, but making sure there’s a healthy respect for each other. You don’t have to be best friends, but you’ve got to be willing to give up some of your own ego and wants for the team to benefit.”

Again, it wasn’t just talk for Blueger. He led by example on and off the ice and played an active role in bringing the team together in the wake of a chaotic season. When Rutherford praised the culture in the room by the end of the season, Blueger played at least some small role in that.

Now the question is whether Blueger will get a chance to continue in that role next season.

Blueger is a pending unrestricted free agent, but he’s made it clear that he wants to stay in Vancouver.

“To have an opportunity to see it through and come out on the other side, on top, and be able to compete for something and be a part of a playoff run here again, would be very, very special,” he said to The Hockey News. “That playoff run we had a couple of years ago, it was an incredible time. I think throughout the city, you just felt the energy and felt the people behind you. That’s something I think you don’t get everywhere.”

Blueger also seems like a player the Canucks should want to keep. It has become very clear that you can never have enough centres, and Blueger fits the bill as a bottom-six, do-the-little-things centre who can match up against tough opponents, kill penalties, and mentor young wingers.

As a bonus, Blueger shouldn’t break the bank, unlike some other centres who might be available on the free agent market.

A veteran leader who isn’t afraid to speak up when things go awry, and takes an active role in building the team’s culture off the ice, all while playing solid two-way hockey on the ice? Re-signing Blueger simply makes too much sense.