VANCOUVER – For a 32nd-place team whose prospects of winning anything but another draft-lottery spot this season are dim, the Vancouver Canucks have emerged from summer with a remarkable amount of apparent positivity.

The entire roster has reported to Vancouver before Labour Day and participated this week in lively “captain’s skates”, even though the National Hockey League team is without an actual captain. And although the quick turnaround between a late Labour Day and the start of training camp in Penticton, B.C. on Sept. 17 spurred the early arrivals, players also encouraged each other to re-assemble this week.

The energy and single-minded connectedness in management that was obvious last spring with the hiring of new general manager Ryan Johnson and co-presidents Henrik and Daniel Sedin has grown with a handful of key staff additions that include assistant GM Rich Seeley, player development director Daren Hermiston, director of hockey strategy Ryan Stewart and minor-league coach Ryan Papaioannou.

Obviously, that uniform energy and harmony also apply to new head coach Manny Malhotra and the NHL staff he has hired, headlined by top assistant Ryan Mougenel.

After two dark, miserable seasons, which led to all these changes and tilted the Canucks into a full rebuild, they aren’t behaving like the worst team in hockey.

Of course, they’re still undefeated.

“Exactly,” Henrik Sedin chuckled Friday in an interview. “For now.

“I think we're most excited about how the team is coming together.........

© Sportsnet