The 2013–14 Vancouver Canucks season was the franchise's 44th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Canucks missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2007–08 season, ending their five-year playoff streak. In addition, the team recorded its worst regular season since the 1999–2000 season. Head coach John Tortorella, who had been hired in the pre-season, was fired.
In addition to hiring Tortorella in the off-season, for financial reasons the decision was made to retain goaltender Roberto Luongo instead of Cory Schneider. As a result, along with a reduced salary cap, the team was unable to pursue top free agents signing a number of restricted and unrestricted free agents instead.
The team had won their division five years in a row previously, and had finished first in the entire league twice in the last three seasons. With the addition of a new head coach, and players such as Brad Richardson, both management and fans were optimistic that the team could be a Stanley Cup contender.
The team was inconsistent, playing well in October and December, but badly in November. In January the team's situation worsened. Tortorella's bombastic approach began to wear on team members, and top performers like Alex Burrows, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin were failing to score goals. Things deteriorated as the year progressed. Goaltender Roberto Luongo became disgruntled with a lack of playing time and forced a trade in March, while the team continued to fall in the standings. General manager Mike Gillis was fired in April. Vancouver ended the season finishing sixth last overall out of thirty teams. This finish allowed the team to select sixth overall at the 2014 Entry Draft, the lowest the Canucks had selected since 1999 when the team selected second and third overall.
Off-season
Vancouver's off-season began after they were eliminated in the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs by the San Jose Sharks. Two weeks later, on May 22, 2013, the Canucks fired head coach Alain Vigneault, as well as assistant coaches Rick Bowness and Newell Brown. Following Vigneault's departure, general manager Mike Gillis conducted head coach interviews with John Stevens, Glen Gulutzan, Dallas Eakins, Scott Arniel, and John Tortorella. There was speculation that former New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella would be hired by the Canucks after he was spotted arriving at the Vancouver Airport on June 21. His hiring was confirmed on June 25, when he was formally introduced to Vancouver media. Coincidentally, a few days earlier, the Rangers had hired Vigneault to become Tortorella's successor as head coach of the Rangers. Glen Gulutzan was later hired as an assistant coach, as was Mike Sullivan who had been an assistant under Tortorella with the Rangers.
Another major off-season issue was the goaltending situation. Given that the salary cap for the 2013–14 season would be reduced by $6 million from the 2012–13 season, there was speculation that the Canucks would be unable to hold onto both goaltenders Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider. Trade rumours centred around the 34-year-old Luongo, despite the fact that his contract carried an annual cap hit of $5.33 million, and was set to expire at the end of the 2021–22 season. In the end, Luongo's contract made him too expensive to trade. Schneider left Vancouver in a deal with the New Jersey Devils, in exchange for their first-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft which was used to select Bo Horvat.
With a shrinking salary cap the Canucks had limited funds to sign new players. Vancouver could not afford to pursue top end free agents like Jarome Iginla or Nathan Horton. Instead they signed less costly restricted free agents Dale Weise, Jordan Schroeder, Kellan Lain and Christopher Tanev, as well as unrestricted free agent players Brad Richardson, Yannick Weber and Mike Santorelli. The Canucks also signed unrestricted free agent Andrew Alberts, after his previous contract with the Canucks had expired at the end of the 2012–13 season. Richardson was brought on as center for one of the bottom two lines in a checking role, and to provide the team with another reliable face-off man. Alberts and Weber were competing in the pre-season for the sixth defenceman spot. Weber was also seen as a possible power play contributor as a right-handed defenceman with a hard shot, potentially playing a role similar to that of former Canuck Sami Salo. Santorelli was not expected to make the team initially, but would add depth to the Canucks new American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Utica Comets instead.
Training camp
At the start of training camp Tortorella promised to make changes to the way the Canucks played. He wanted to make the team tougher to play against. Some of the techniques he felt would accomplish this were hard forechecking, protecting the puck, being strong along the boards, and increasing shot blocking. The Canucks finished the 2012–13 season as the 27th ranked team in blocked shots while the Rangers finished sixth. Tortorella also said that he would use the Sedin twins to kill penalties. The Sedins had asked Vigneault to be used on the penalty kill, but he opted to keep them rested for their offensive role instead. Upon learning that they would be killing penalties Henrik Sedin said: "It's something that I think is a big part of becoming a great player. You have to be on the ice for all situations. For us, we were counted upon to score goals, and if we didn't, then we were terrible. I think you grow as players when you play all situations." Tortorella put the Canucks through a physically demanding training camp. Players were asked to run two miles in 12 minutes and were put through a series of intense skating drills. Tortorella believed he could learn about his players when they were exhausted and asked them to give a little more.
For the second consecutive year, goaltending was a focus of training camp. After choosing to keep Luongo, the team did not hear from him. He had fired his longtime agent, and hired new representation. This development set off speculation that Luongo would not report to training camp and would try to force a trade. Shortly after the change in representation, his new agents announced that Luongo would attend training camp. In his first interview following the Schneider trade, Luongo stated that he had looked into voiding his contract, but he planned to honor it, and wanted to re-establish himself as an elite goaltender.
The Canucks had two competitors for the back-up goaltender position, Eddie Lack and Joacim Eriksson. Lack had been seen as the heir apparent for the back-up role, but following a season-ending injury after playing only 12 games in the AHL, his future was called into question. Eriksson was signed to a two-year, two-way, entry-level contract with the Canucks in the off-season after helping Skellefteå AIK to the Swedish Hockey League championship. Though neither player had any NHL experience, Lack was seen as the front runner because of his one-way contract, which paid him the same at the NHL or AHL level.
Preseason At the start of preseason, Vancouver hoped to add six young rookies to the team. While the goaltending situation almost assured that one rookie would be added, forwards Hunter Shinkaruk, Brendan Gaunce, Nicklas Jensen, and Horvat were also attempting to make the team. Defenceman Frank Corrado was looking to secure a regular spot after he played the final three regular season, and four playoff games for the Canucks in 2012–13. When asked about adding youngsters to the line-up Tortorella stated: "We're not going to force it, but we need to get some kids in our lineup." In Vancouver's first preseason game Shinkaruk and Gaunce scored goals, while Lack stopped 25 of 27 shots in two periods of work. Vancouver lost the game 3–2 to San Jose as the Sharks out shot the Canucks 42–15.
Two games later, they played the Edmonton Oilers. Winger David Booth was scheduled to return to the line-up for the first time since an ankle injury ended his previous season in March. During the morning practice he suffered a groin injury but returned for the game. Jordan Schroeder became the first casualty of shot blocking suffering a hairline fracture in his foot after being struck by a Nail Yakupov shot. Jensen was checked hard into the boards and sustained a shoulder injury. Dale Weise delivered a check to Taylor Hall striking the Oilers' forward in the head. Hall later said that the hit was "probably a mistake on both parts" and "I have to have my head up". Hall was uninjured on the play and stayed in the game. The hit was reviewed by the NHL's Senior Vice President, and disciplinarian, Brendan Shanahan who suspended Weise for the remaining three games of the preseason. Later in the game Zack Kassian attempted to deliver a body check to Sam Gagner, who made a hard stop to avoid contact. Kassian began a spin move while swinging his stick towards Gagner, lost his balance so that it hit Gagner's head. He suffered a broken jaw, eventually missing the first 13 games of the season. Kassian was assessed a double minor penalty for high sticking. In a post game interview, Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins called the action "a disturbing play by a disturbing player". During his disciplinary review of the play, Shanahan said that he accepted Kassian's claim that he did not intend to strike Gagner in the head, but that he was responsible for his actions. He suspended Kassian for eight games – the remaining three pre-season, and five regular season games.
With one week remaining in the pre-season, Vancouver assigned Eriksson to the Comets, giving Lack the back-up goaltender job. Eriksson made only one appearance in the preseason and stopped all nine shots. The move was seen as a way for Eriksson to have more playing time while adjusting to the smaller ice surface in North American rinks. In the battle for the sixth defenceman spot, Alberts struggled in the preseason. In four games he registered 17 minutes in penalties, and was on the ice for eight goals against. Weber was inconsistent. In his first, third, and fifth games he combined for one goal and three assists, with a +4 rating (positive impact), while in his second and fourth games he recorded 1 assist and a −4 rating (negative impact). The duo struggled in the second to last preseason game against San Jose, combining for a −6 rating. Though Corrado had played well enough to be considered among the team's top eight defencemen, he was assigned to Utica to allow him more, varied ice time to help his development.