A photo on Brock Boeser’s Instagram story became the unlikely flashpoint of the week in Canucks circles. The former Vancouver Canucks winger, now an unrestricted free agent after seven seasons with the club, was spotted in the stands at a Colorado Avalanche playoff game against the Minnesota Wild in a group photo, visibly supporting the Avs.
For a section of Canucks fans, the optics were easy to misread. Boeser cheering against Minnesota, the team captained by his former teammate Quinn Hughes, looked like a pointed statement.
Thomas Drance Defends Brock Boeser After Canucks Fans Claim IG Story Was a Shot at Quinn Hughes
The Athletic’s senior NHL writer Thomas Drance moved quickly to shut that narrative down. Drance, one of the most plugged-in voices covering the Vancouver Canucks, was direct in his response on X.
“Supporting a close friend since high school in their playoff debut is not a shot at your former teammate, caman.”
So after Boeser scheduled his wedding during the playoffs (Quinn couldn’t attend), he’s now being pictured rooting for the team about to eliminate Quinn’s team 😭 pic.twitter.com/xM3lizdqU8
— 𝗜𝗮𝗻𝘄 🇨🇦 (@ianwcanucks) May 13, 2026
The friend in question is Jack Ahcan, the 28-year-old defenseman from Savage, Minnesota, who was recalled by the Colorado Avalanche ahead of Game 4 of their second-round series against the Wild and made his NHL playoff debut in that very game.
Ahcan and Boeser go back further than most hockey friendships do. Both grew up in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul suburbs, attended Burnsville High School together, played hockey and baseball together as kids, lived together in Minnesota during the offseasons, and have been publicly close friends for over a decade.
Multiple interviews with both players over the years confirm the depth of that friendship, with Ahcan describing Boeser as one of his closest friends in the sport and Boeser referencing Ahcan as part of his core group of Minnesota friends going back to childhood.
Ahcan’s path to that Game 4 playoff debut was one of the most grinding stories in professional hockey. An undrafted defenseman out of St. Cloud State, where he captained the team in his senior season, Ahcan spent six years in the AHL before finally earning a foothold with Colorado.
He posted 50 points in 61 games with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles in 2025-26, a career year, and had appeared in 11 regular-season games with the Avalanche before being reassigned to the Eagles as Josh Manson nursed an upper-body injury.
When Manson’s return from injury opened a spot on the playoff roster, Ahcan was recalled and inserted directly into Game 4 in his home state of Minnesota, making his postseason debut in front of friends and family.
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Boeser being in the building for that moment was entirely consistent with who he is and the friendship the two share. The Reddit thread that surfaced the Instagram story drew predictable speculation from a section of Canucks fans, with some commenters suggesting it was a sign of locker room division or a passive shot at Hughes.
Others in the thread pushed back immediately, pointing out that Ahcan is Boeser’s best friend from high school and that the connection to the Avalanche had nothing to do with Minnesota or Quinn Hughes.
Drance’s response reflected that same reality. Hughes and Boeser spent six seasons as teammates in Vancouver and by all accounts maintained a professional and respectful relationship throughout. Reading a lifelong friend’s playoff debut appearance as some kind of proxy rivalry is a stretch; the facts do not support it.
As for Ahcan, the timing of his debut could not have been more poetic. Colorado leads the series 3-1 heading into Game 5, with the Avalanche one win from advancing. For Boeser, watching a friend grind through six AHL seasons to finally play meaningful playoff hockey in his home state was worth showing up for. That is the whole story.
