On day one of the Vancouver Canucks’ training camp, Carson Soucy felt right at home with the honesty, consistency, and belief he received from his new organization.
The Soucy family has enjoyed their time as Vancouverites, and the potential for it to become home began during his conversations on July 1st. The 6’5” defenceman signed a three-year deal with the Canucks and was set to make a new west coast city his home after spending the last two seasons in Seattle.
“It started during free agency, even those first couple of calls with the team. They just showed that they had confidence in me and that is one of the main reasons I wanted to come here,” he said.
On top of the confidence, another big reason for wanting to come to Vancouver was the coaching staff. At first, it was about the names on the staff; the Hall of Famers, the Stanley Cup champions, some of the best position and skill coaches in the world.
However, he began to deeply appreciate the group once they introduced the pillars and structure that this organization would be operating under.
“The staff and their history speak for itself,” said Soucy. “We are learning from some top NHLers with so much experience. It’s huge, and the attitude that they bring to the rink every day, they are very businesslike. They are just so good around the guys, but they balance the fact that they need to be coaches sometimes. They are very personable and very easy to learn from.”
Day one of training camp cemented Soucy’s excitement for the 2023-24 season.
Following a brief introduction, the coaches emphasized their pillars of success and how they wanted to establish a culture where players would be able to slot in and know their job no matter what play was to come next.
It was not just the NHL players who heard this on day one. Soucy appreciated how the organization's message was as much for the star players as it was for the 18-year-olds who were heading back to junior hockey in a couple of weeks.
“I think that helps when it’s not just this roster as a part of those meetings, but the whole group with the young guys and the Abbotsford guys,” he said. “They all know what to expect and they know that we have a structure and pillars to fall back on.”
All year long, we have heard from players and head coach Rick Tocchet about the team sticking to their structure and needing to be accountable for playing their role.
Tocchet sees his team learning the system and structure that they need to play in the defensive zone. Some of it comes from the players feeling more comfortable in the system as the season progresses and some of it comes from their schedule gearing down after being the busiest team through the first five months of the season.
“You're going to make a mistake, but it seems like we are covering up for each other a lot better,” said Tocchet. “I think it's because it seems like our minds are fresher.”
The head coach likes how Soucy can play with calmness and use positioning along with a long reach to disrupt plays in his own zone.
The head coach spoke highly about Soucy being a defenceman who can calm down the play and Tocchet likes to have Soucy out on the ice when protecting a lead.
