Article content

In honour of the long weekend, here are the always laboured musings and meditations on the world of sports.

— Here’s a happy exercise. Take out a pencil and sketch out the forwards who figure to make the Vancouver Canucks out of training camp.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Willes' Musings: Canucks fans don't want to cheer on average veterans Back to video

Assuming they sign Bo Horvat before their season-opener, you can find 15 forwards the Canucks have under contract before you get to Brock Boeser, Jake Virtanen or Nikolay Goldobin. That group includes the Sedin twins, who turn 37 at the end of this month, 33-year-old Thomas Vanek, 32-year-old Loui Eriksson, 28-year-old Sam Gagner and 28-year-old Brandon Sutter, who all figure to play key roles with the team.

Of the projected top nine, only three are 25-and-under: Horvat, Sven Baertschi and Markus Granlund.

And this is a team that is trying to sell a rebuild.

Photo by Rich Lam / Getty Images

Look, we understand this season can go a number of ways and, by February, Boeser, Virtanen and Goldobin might be regulars in the Canucks’ lineup. But this is also an organization which is trying to keep its fan base engaged and it’s hard to see where the Canucks’ opening-day lineup is going to do that.