Carson Soucy | #7 | LD/RD

[filthy animal]

On 1/31/2024 at 10:46 AM, Rip The Mesh said:

For those who like numbers: These are pretty good!

 

Yup they do but you don't need numbers to back it up, you can see the difference when Soucy is in the lineup. All the turbulence in our season has come when Soucy was injured

[dannydog]

18 hours ago, filthy animal said:

 

Yup they do but you don't need numbers to back it up, you can see the difference when Soucy is in the lineup. All the turbulence in our season has come when Soucy was injured

Unfortunately , the injury bug has eaten up a lot of this season for him. I hope when he’s back we will see much less Myers . Much less

[Wilbur]

Canucks currently 18-3-2 with Soucy in the lineup, this is crazy.  Even crazier, is 2 of the 3 regulation losses were his 1st 2 games as a Canuck way back in October against Phily and Tampa.  Keep this guy in bubble wrap!

[Rip The Mesh]

ByChris Faber

11:00 AM / March 17th 2024.

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.

-----------------------------

Receiving that confidence from a coaching staff is huge for a defenceman like Soucy.

He has averaged 16:24 of ice time per game throughout his six-year career but is averaging 17:34 this season and is averaging 15:13 of five-on-five ice time per game which is a career-high for Soucy.

“The coaches here, they have a little more confidence in me than other coaches before, which is obviously great, but I still want to earn that confidence,” said Soucy. “The way we have played as a group this year has made it easier to get a couple more minutes. We've played a lot of good hockey, we have had some leads late and when we have those, we don’t have to rely on Quinn Hughes and Fil Hronek as much – which is good because it lets them save that for down the stretch.”

Soucy has battled a pair of injuries this season but is now fully healthy and looking forward to finishing the season strong and heading into the playoffs. He gives a lot of credit to skills coach Yogi Svejkovsky for the help in his return to play. Soucy called Svejkovsky a “pace car” during his on-ice workouts in preparation for returning to the lineup.

The two were able to focus on skating while also using game-like situations in drills so that Soucy had the reps before he got back into the Canucks’ lineup.

“I just wanted to get back,” said Soucy. “These guys have been grinding and they know the pace has been elevated. So, I just want to get as many games in as I can and hopefully be playing my best hockey for the playoffs.”

Now, with the NHL playoffs just seven weeks away, the Canucks are continuing to iron out the execution of their system and a healthy Carson Soucy brings depth and experience to the defence corps as the team continues its preparation and progression to postseason hockey.

Edited March 17 by Rip The Mesh