At the risk of sounding cliché: We are SO back.
At an informal skate Thursday at the University of British Columbia, the Vancouver Canucks ran through drills with Canucks new skills coach Jason Krog and Marko Torenius.
Last season, the Canucks filtered back to Vancouver early and had a strong start to the season as they were 6-3 in regular season play in the month of October. It always helps when a team starts off on the right foot and Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy says they want to give themselves every opportunity to be successful.
Soucy said they’ve already had some up-tempo skates in the last week and the level of competition is high. In his second season with the Canucks, it wasn’t long ago that he was the newcomer to the team, and he knows the value of coming to Vancouver early to be able to spend more time with new teammates before the season.
“I think it's just big for the new guys in getting that familiarity with the group. Thinking about myself last year, by the time that opening game, or even training camp comes, you're pretty comfortable with the guys,” said Soucy. “That's just nice as we get four or five new guys pretty much every year, coming to a new team. I think it's good for those guys, just getting in and getting to know the guys. And it's been good so far, just kind of get the group together, get the vibes going.”
Soucy and his family came back to the same house this season which also makes it an easier transition from summer back to full-fledged hockey.
“Coming back makes it just easy, and you're excited to come back, knowing that you're excited to see some of the group that you battled with last year. That's always exciting to come in and we’re just kind of chomping at the bit to get going,” he said.
The 6-foot-5 defenceman enjoyed Krog’s balance of flow competition drills.
“They’ve been good. I think it's important to get lots of touches and just continually ramp [up] where we're not jumping right into training camp skates right now, but every skate’s got a little competitiveness, but also lots of puck touches and lots of good skating,” Soucy said.
The 30-year-old focuses on strength in the summer and putting on a bit of muscle. He worked on his edgework, getting in and out of turns seamlessly and there's always puck work in his summer regimen.
When he wasn’t in the gym or the rink this summer, Soucy spent some time at the lake with his family and says his twin girls Blake and Briar – who are almost a year old – are really active and are keeping him and his wife on their toes.
“They like the water, so we got them floaties, so we can walk with them in the shallow water. There was a lot of lake time, and we went camping for July long which was fun. It’s been busy [with the twins] you’ve got to watch out, they're just trying to put everything in their mouth, and now they're walking,” said Soucy.
Just like Soucy last year, forward Daniel Sprong is one of the newly signed players that came to Vancouver early to get some extra reps in with the team.
“It’s been a good move-in so far, the boys have been good. [It’s a] nice city, weather’s been good so far, so it’s been an easy transition and getting some skates in it's been good to be with the guys,” said Sprong.
He feels comfortable in Vancouver already, having known Canucks Head Coach Rick Tocchet, President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford, and General Manager Patrik Allvin from Pittsburgh and he’s also friends with Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson.
Sprong wants to grow his game and is excited about the forward group being able to push each other and make each other better.
“Hopefully I can play in the top six, but I know the last few years I’ve done a really good job playing in that depth role and those numbers show for that, but I think there’s more to my game and hopefully I can bring it out here,” Sprong said.
The season is just 34 days away and training camp is exactly two weeks away, taking place in Penticton September 19-22. For more information on training camp visit: https://www.nhl.com/canucks/news/canucks-announce-training-camp-tickets-go-on-sale-september-4
