Back in May of 2024, the Vancouver Canucks had what was supposed to be their great first act of a rise to Stanley Cup contention.

Fast forward to now, and they’ve returned to the familiar desert of mediocrity.

The Canucks’ hopes of a second straight to the postseason officially came to an end this week, putting a cap on one of the most chaotic seasons in franchise history. The no-longer-defending Pacific Division champions have made just two playoff appearances in the past decade, and while last season was a success in nearly every way, 2024-25 felt a lot more in line with the eight before it.

How do we contextualize everything that this season became? Practically everything that could go wrong did, including a lot of self-inflicted issues. The Canucks spent far too long waiting for Elias Pettersson and JT Miller’s issues to sort themselves out, only for Miller to take a leave of absence midway through the year and end up being dealt before the deadline.

Rick Tocchet’s team went from one of the league’s best scoring teams in 2023-24 to one that struggled to put the puck in the net this time. Their 235 goals is a near 50-goal drop-off from their 279 last season, and that difference is why they’ll be watching the playoffs from home.

The Canucks were extremely clutch at points this season; their incredible comeback against Dallas in early April provided more than enough proof. But they also blew a lot of leads and dropped a lot of crucial points. Their 14 overtime losses currently put them in a tie for the first most in the NHL with the Calgary Flames. Had they won even half of those, they’d have clinched a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.

After starting the season without Thatcher Demko, Kevin Lankinen stepped into the spotlight and kept the Canucks afloat through a lack of scoring in the first half. But the injuries piled up in the second; Quinn Hughes missed 14 games during an MVP-calibre season, Filip Hronek missed over 20, and Pettersson missed the final 12 games of the season after being shut down.

Brock Boeser is talking like a player who knows his days are numbered in Vancouver. The Canucks elected not to trade him at the trade deadline, citing the lack of quality offers. Now they’re on the verge of losing the pending UFA for nothing, with undoubtedly bad blood to sort through after Allvin’s comments about his lack of value.

The Canucks are already making clear their expectation for Elias Pettersson to remain in Vancouver for work outs during the offseason. But most teams would have their players work out at their practice facility or performance centre, something the Canucks are no closer to building than they were when Jim Rutherford began his tenure as president of hockey ops.

Rutherford and Patrik Allvin have dug themselves a big hole to climb out of, and the road back to competitiveness is far from easy. The team will need to not only need to improve their forwards corps while attempting to replicate Boeser’s output if he leaves. They also need to earn back the trust of the fanbase, who bought into a renaissance during last year’s playoff run only to watch the team crumble as the franchise raised season ticket prices upwards of 20% in one year.

The goodwill built up from 2024 has already run dry for both the front office and team ownership. Next season won’t leave any room for mistakes, and if the Canucks don’t show an immediate return to the playoff picture, it will cement the broken promises from this one.

The Canucks have one offseason to fix the team’s long term future, or risk losing another generation’s worth of fans and wasting a decade’s worth of wandering.