The definition of toughness in the National Hockey League is always evolving, and the Vancouver Canucks are doing their best to stay ahead of the curve.
When current Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet played the game, toughness mostly revolved around dropping the mitts and chucking knuckles. But as time has passed in the NHL, the definition of toughness does not only revolve around fighting. Playing the man, chipping the body, boxing out and an aggressive in-your-face forecheck are the things that matter most these days.
There’s also been a focus on mental toughness, and that is something that many in the locker room believe is critical to continued success.
A pretty tough player in his day, Tocchet believes that teams are intimidating from the way they play instead of how the players act. In 2024, the Canucks bench boss sees toughness as strength in numbers and not in how many punches you can throw.
“Sometimes, you're going to get hit and sometimes you might not get your way but it's the next man up. It’s what you are going to do on the next shift to show the other team that you're not going to shy away from physicality. That's what I really like,” said Tocchet.
One of the Canucks’ keywords this season has been pressure and that requires toughness. Consistency is a part of toughness because it’s easy to slack for a split second or on one of your shifts, but this team is committed to being consistent on every shift and sticking to their structure so that they can hold onto the puck for long stretches.
“Being able to continue to play in waves just keep pressuring, pressuring, pressuring and pressuring, it's really hard for a team to feel confident and feel good and get on the offensive when we have the puck the whole time and bring pressure when we're hanging on to it. We can kind of dictate the game and determine where the game goes,” said Ian Cole.
Toughness can be viewed in so many different ways but one thing that was most consistent from speaking with the players was the ‘pack mentality’. J.T. Miller spoke about how important it is for each player to know that the guy beside them has their back. Whether it’s Nikita Zadorov dropping the gloves after a hit or Noah Juulsen pushing opposing players away from the crease after a cover, this support from teammates is huge and players will be asked to be even more physical in the coming months.
“It's infectious,” said Tocchet about his team playing with a pack mentality. “It gives our team juice knowing that we have people that are going to back each other up. I think it's terrific.”
Veteran defencemanTyler Myers admitted that having tough coaches like Adam Foote, Mike Yeo and Rick Tocchet makes being tough something that is essentially mixed into your DNA. The style that the coaching staff is asking from the players requires them to be tough.
Myers views it as the team maturing and growing together as a group as well as the new faces in the room helping establish a winning culture. Players like Ian Cole and Teddy Blueger have Stanley Cup rings in their possession and were big parts of the depth that a Stanley Cup contender requires.
“Guys that have been here in the last four or five years, we've gone through a lot, and coming into this year, we added a lot of really good new faces to the room -- a lot of really good new voices, guys that have been through it,” said Myers. “We're just gelling right now as a group. We have a really good room, and all the guys play for each other in here.”
As the team gels, players are beginning to build comfortability in their roles. Dakota Joshua has been one player who is finding his spot in the lineup and thriving in his role. Joshua is one of the most physical players on the Canucks and a lot of that is because of how his line forechecks and protects the guts of the ice.
Joshua heads into the All-Star break with the second-most hits in the NHL. He’s totaled up 143 hits through 48 games and his head coach has said repeatedly that playing that type of game is going to be the way that Joshua pays his mortgage for a long time.
Another showcase of toughness is shot-blocking. Knowing that what you’re about to do will hurt does something to your brain but through those thoughts, Canucks players are protecting the net and sacrificing their body to help their goalie. Ian Cole leads the team with 99 blocked shots this season and Tyler Myers comes in with 93. This puts both Cole and Myers in the top-30 league-wide for blocked shots.
Myers spoke about toughness being more than just dropping the gloves, blocking shots or throwing big hits. He likes the way that this team has grown and remains mentally tough no matter the circumstance.
“I look at toughness a little bit differently," said Myers. "I think our mental toughness as a group is a lot better than in years past. Obviously, we have more size on the back end. I think physically, we've just come together as a team in that sense. We're sticking up for each other. We play for each other. We battle for each other. I’ve liked our mental toughness, and the way we handled different situations that are thrown at us. I think we're showing a lot more maturity that way.”
Mental toughness can be burying emotion at times or just being smart with your stick as well.
12 players on the Canucks’ roster have drawn more penalties than they’ve taken this season.
Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland have been the best in that regard. Pettersson has drawn 16 penalties and only taken two of his own while Garland has drawn 14 and taken four.
Toughness and intelligence are going to be critical for this team as they progress.
Though those two words won’t go hand-in-hand that often, the team will need to be intelligent with their toughness as they continue to play this new brand of Canucks hockey. We know that this team is at their best when they are sticking to the coaching staff’s structure and that structure requires an equal amount of toughness and intelligence.
This is NHL toughness in 2024 and the Canucks will continue to build on developing a winning culture off of the pillars that they are establishing this season.
As witnessed coming out of training camp, it’s pretty clear that these players have each other’s back. Not only do they have the size to back it up, but they also have the mindset, mentality, and motivation to play a tough brand of hockey.
A Canucks brand of hockey.
An identity they will continue to follow and build upon as things get tougher down the stretch.
It’s not all about dropping the gloves. There’s a new way to intimidate, and it’s being built in the Canucks’ locker room.
