And so, as the Vancouver Canucks lose a game in which they probably deserved better, falling 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers in regulation, we begin a new season and launch a new version of The Athletic Vancouver’s Canucks postgamer.



The format will feel familiar, but obviously, tragically, the voice behind it will be different.



The Athletties were Jason Botchford’s singular masterpiece. It was the Vancouver hockey zeitgeist, self-contained and electric.



It can’t be replaced. It can never be recreated.



That’s the thing about a towering achievement of hockey reporting and entertainment like The Athletties — it deserves to be remembered as such.



It also deserves to be retired: to remain Jason’s forevermore.



And yet we’ve committed to carrying on the type of obsessive, unique, irreverent, fun, collectivist postgame content experience the VIPs demand and expect from The Athletic...