2025-2026 NHL team preview: Vancouver Canucks

LAST SEASON

Bad drafting, short-sighted roster building, and incompetent ownership consistently stymied what little optimism the Vancouver Canucks could muster in the decade after Alain Vigneault’s firing. That made it somewhat remarkable when the team managed to win the Pacific Division in 2023-24 around a core of players assembled by maligned former GM Jim Benning. Star centers J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, Vezina runner-up Thatcher Demko, and Norris-winning captain Quinn Hughes looked the part of a group that a Cup winner could be built upon during a competitive second-round loss to the Edmonton Oilers. 

Unfortunately, the good feelings in BC were dead and buried within six months of the loss to Edmonton. First, Demko’s frustrating injury history got an odd addendum when he missed camp and the beginning of the season with a knee injury no one had ever heard of. Kevin Lankinen admirably stepped up to stabilize the crease, but he couldn’t stop long-simmering tensions between the slumping Pettersson and fiery Miller from derailing the season.

If winning had kept things cordial between the occasionally brilliant centers in 2023-24, there were no such on-ice distractions to keep their mutual dislike from becoming a sideshow during the Canucks’ woeful December (4-5-4), not least of all after level-headed captain Hughes went down with a hand injury after Christmas. Team president Jim Rutherford finally pulled the plug on the fiasco by sending Miller back to the New York Rangers on Jan. 31, but only after repeatedly pouring gasoline onto the drawn-out feud in the media.

Even amid the off-ice silliness, lengthy absences for Hughes, Demko, and Pettersson, and Miller’s cross-continent banishment, the ‘Nucks notched 90 points and stayed in the playoff hunt until April. Could a respectable finish during a season when everything went wrong mean Vancouver still has the bones of a contender? Or was the troubled 2024-25 campaign proof that the Canucks, who got dumped by coach Rick Tocchet over the summer, just can’t have nice things? 

KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES

Additions

Evander Kane, LW
P-O Joseph, D

Departures

Noah Juulsen, D (PHI)
Pius Suter, C (STL)

OFFENSE

In the summer of 2024, the Canucks aggressively pursued wingers to shore up their depth at the position beyond sniper Brock Boeser and find potential matches for Pettersson. Rutherford and GM Patrick Allvin’s success in that department should not be overshadowed by an otherwise rotten season.

Whether or not the streaky Jake DeBrusk can keep up his elite power-play productivity (14 G, T-3rd most), it’s hard to gripe with a team-leading, 28-goal debut. Fellow free agent acquisition Kiefer Sherwood chipped in 19 tallies while rewriting the single-season record for hits (462). Among returning players, two-way speedster Conor Garland notched his second 50-point season despite abysmal puck luck (6.42 on S%, fifth-worst, min. 1000 minutes), and the plodding Boeser chipped in another 25 goals before signing a surprise seven-year extension.

Polarizing 300-goal power forward Evander Kane also joined the fold out wide, and the question marks for Vancouver have shifted to the center position with Miller and Pius Suter gone. Though Pettersson is a 100-point Selke contender with a blast for a one-timer when he’s on, he hasn’t been “on” since signing the extension that gave him the eighth-highest AAV ($11.6 million) in the NHL. His 18-goal and 59-point, 82-game pace in 97 games since then is frighteningly bad value. New coach Adam Foote could stick Pettersson between DeBrusk and Boeser on a line that saw action in 15 contests last season and hope something shakes loose for the Swede.  

“Petey” isn’t the only wild card down the middle. Speedy Czech Filip Chytil, acquired in the Miller deal, has never scored at a second-line clip (career-high of 45 P) and might be another head injury away from having a long think about life after hockey. Aatu Raty’s respectable production (7 G, 11 P in 33 GP) in limited ice time (10:39 ATOI) as a rookie might get him a look as a bottom-six pivot behind Pettersson and Chytil, but his skating needs work if he’s going to stick there.

While the Canucks’ forward group looks worse on paper than it did 12 months ago, Vancouver’s most dangerous player lines up on the blue line. Hughes notched 17 goals and 92 points when he won the Norris and produced at a near-identical pace in a dinged-up 68-game season last year. With Roman Josi aging out of his prime, the list of defensemen who can pile up points at that rate is down to Hughes and Cale Makar.

DEFENSE

Hughes’s active poke check and elite skating make him capable of actively defending, but his greatest asset for keeping the puck out of the Canucks’ net is the fact that it’s usually found on his stick; few players at any position are as adept at weaving through traffic. The problems start for Vancouver in the 35 minutes or so per night when Hughes isn’t on the ice. I’ll paraphrase my colleague Matt Larkin, who outlined the Canucks’ dependence on Hughes while making his preseason MVP case: the scoring chances were 995 to 599 for Vancouver with Hughes on the ice last season, while the bad guys won the chance battle 1,545-1,108 when he sat.

Hard-shooting righty Filip Hronek will likely remain glued to Hughes’s hip on the top pair. Their tied five-on-five game score (31-31) was dragged down by nagging injuries and an unimpressive .872 on-ice save percentage, but the duo still controls the pace as well as any in the NHL. That means the burden of fixing Vancouver’s ugly numbers sans Hughes will fall primarily to Marcus Petersson, acquired from Pittsburgh last season, and towering veteran Tyler Myers. 

Pettersson might not have popped in his 31-game maiden voyage with the Canucks, but his game is all about competent anonymity. The Canucks actually won their non-Hughes minutes at five-on-five by two goals after the no-nonsense Swede debuted. Myers has never fully realized his potential as a 6-foot-8 right shot who can absolutely fly, but has quietly become a reliable crease clearer and penalty killer under Foote. If he’s Vancouver’s No. 4 D-man, then Rutherford and Allvin have built the deepest Canucks’ blue line since Sami Salo skipped town.

Third-pair grinder Derek Forbort’s veteran, shot-blocking presence was invaluable to the Canucks’ third-ranked PK. Forbort went down for the year after suffering a broken orbital bone during a scrap, but shouldn’t have any issues reestablishing himself after averaging over 17 minutes of ice time for a defense run by Foote.

Among the forwards, Teddy Blueger led returning Canucks in ice time on the kill. His utility in matchup minutes and D-zone starts will only be more important next season sans Suter and Miller. Tocchet often used lines featuring Blueger and Garland to seize momentum during his time in charge, and Sherwood could be a sensible stand-in for the since-traded Dakota Joshua on the latter’s off-wing.

GOALTENDING

Another injury-hit season for Demko opened the door for Lankinen to take on a starter’s workload for the first time in his career. The Finnish netminder, a career backup who started 49 games despite going unsigned until Sep. 21, did remarkably well under the circumstances. While a 2.62 GAA and .902 SV% might not stand out as dominant, they are workable numbers in the modern NHL, where the league-average SV% sagged to an even .900 last season.

When Allvin rewarded Lankinen’s poise with a hefty $4.5-million AAV extension, it seemed the Canucks brass finally gave up on Demko. The big, mobile American had long interspersed dominant stretches with time on the mend, which reached a new high last season as three seemingly unrelated injuries limited him to 23 largely ineffective starts (2.89 GAA, .889 SV%). 

After Demko got an extension of his own months later, the Lankinen deal still makes sense as an insurance policy, albeit an exorbitant one. With Demko set to get 1A money ($8.5 million AAV) starting in 2026-27, Rutherford and Allvin have a lot riding on his ability to stay fresh and healthy in a 60/40 split with Lankinen. If Demko’s body can hold up into the playoffs, the Canucks chances at a first Stanley Cup will get a serious boost. They missed him badly in 2024 when rookie Artur Silovs ran out of steam against Edmonton.

COACHING

Tocchet’s dump-and-chase sensibilities didn’t always make game night at Rogers Arena appointment viewing, but his recent Jack Adams win nonetheless made his decision to walk out on Vancouver a damaging PR blow. Tocchet’s rapport with Hughes, who grew from top-tier puckmover to franchise player under his tutelage, was particularly valuable to Vancouver and would have strengthened the club’s chances to extend its captain next summer. Rutherford and Allvin weren’t willing to risk Hughes’s position coach Foote following “Toc” to Philadelphia, so they promoted him to the big chair ahead of AHL Abbotsford’s Calder Cup-winning head coach Manny Malhotra. 

Foote can coach a player. Hughes loves him, and it shows in his results since the Tocchet staff, including Foote, messily took over for Bruce Boudreau. Foote’s guidance has also had an apparent effect on the once-chaotic Myers, now the elder statesman of the ‘Nucks back line, and Hronek, who needed just half a season of working with Foote to secure a top-four payday. Can the Avs’ legend coach a team? He’s only tried once, in a forgettable season in charge of his son Nolan’s WHL Kelowna Rockets. Foote will only end up on Hughes’s “Pros” list if he can lead the Canucks to on-ice success, regardless of their personal relationship.

Foote was able to choose his own staff after power-play coach Yogi Svejkovsky left with Tocchet. Brett McLean is back on an NHL bench to replace Svejkovsky after a tough stint as an AHL bench boss, while highly-respected defensive assistant Kevin Dean will take over Foote’s old job. 

ROOKIES

Jonathan Lekkerimaki is Vancouver’s top forward prospect thanks primarily to his shot. Lekkerimaki scored 19 goals for Abbotsford and skated in 24 NHL games with admittedly so-so results (6 P, -6 in 12:30 ATOI). Lekkerimaki isn’t fast or strong enough to thrive in a down-lineup energy role, so this camp will be important for proving his big shot can beat NHL goaltending. There isn’t a real one-time threat on the team except for the floundering Elias Pettersson, and Chytil and Kane should have more than enough size and speed between them to cover for a physically unimpressive linemate in the top six. With sparkplug Nils Hoglander out week-to-week (ankle), Lekkerimaki won’t have a better chance to make the big team out of camp.

Braden Cootes, who Vancouver picked 15th overall just three months ago, could benefit from Hoglander’s absence and the Canucks uninspiring center depth chart to make a run at the roster as an 18-year-old. Cootes’s hockey sense and competitive fire have impressed during the preseason. Still, he’d have to stick at center, a rarity for a teenager, to separate himself from two-way winger Drew O’Connor or potential waiver casualty Linus Karlsson. A nine-game tryout and a ticket back to WHL Seattle is probably the best chance for Cootes to see NHL action this season.

On the blue line, Elias Pettersson (not that one) adjusted well to the North American game while just about burning through his Calder eligibility (28 GP). Pettersson, variously known as Elias Nils Pettersson, “D-Petey,” and Elias Pettersson, the defenseman, to avoid confusion, moves well and has some bite to his game, which could help him phase out Forbort in the long term. 

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. How much of the offseason was designed to appease Hughes? The Canucks went from one Hughes confidant to another behind the bench. Excepting Miller, they unexpectedly doubled down on their 2024 Pacific Division-winning core by committing to Boeser and Demko, a public vote of confidence that the roster they’ve built around Hughes is good enough to win. Do they believe it, or was standing pat wherever possible their idea of keeping Hughes comfortable before they head to the negotiating table in nine months? Perhaps the more important question is…

2. Will it work? The media’s preoccupation with Hughes’s future seems premature, even for a superstar; he’s under contract for another two seasons and isn’t eligible for a new deal until July 1, 2026. Why the hysteria? As you may know, Hughes’s younger brothers, Jack and Luke, are also excellent players who are already teammates on the New Jersey Devils. Jim Rutherford opened a can of worms by publicly acknowledging the elder Hughes’s interest in reuniting with his brothers on the ice. Rutherford didn’t note the irony that he has nothing that would entice New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald to send Jack or Luke out west, except maybe Quinn, nor that the Devils are a playoff team that can put together a monster trade offer without gutting their roster. Quinn already seems tired of dancing around the New Jersey question, but you know what they say about smoke.

3. What’s the best-case scenario for the forward group? The Canucks’ floor up front is virtually nonexistent. Significant variables surround every top-nine forward in our projection, save perhaps for Garland and Boeser. In other words, this could all go very wrong. Maybe the opposite is also true. The Canucks look legitimately solid in the crease and on the blue line, but Pettersson’s focus, Chytil’s health, and Kane’s effectiveness after spending a year stashed on the LTIR will all help determine just how far this team can go.

PREDICTION

The Canucks are a confounding bunch. There isn’t a team that has shown to be more dependent on a single player, even if Marcus Pettersson could take some pressure off Hughes in 2025-26. There might not be another roster with this many wild cards, either. All of Elias Pettersson, Lekkerimaki, Chytil, and even Demko have a frustratingly wide array of potential outcomes. 

None of those players came close to reaching their full potential last season, Hughes’s first with a considerable injury record, and the Canucks still weren’t exactly bottom feeders. If the final playoff berth out of the Pacific (there may only be three for the second consecutive season) comes down to the ultra-conservative L.A. Kings, the talent-deficient Calgary Flames, and Vancouver, the smart play is to back the team with one of the ten best players in the world. A strong postseason performance could go a long way towards keeping him there.