Are the Canucks the only NHL team actively tanking?

The Vancouver Canucks, and more importantly, the front office of the Vancouver Canucks, admitted twice this past weekend that the team is, indeed, committed to a rebuild. And this time, there was no need to add a ‘hybrid’ qualifier to the concept.

In a sit-down with former CanucksArmy star Chris Faber, GM Patrik Allvin said, “We still want to continue to acquire young players and draft picks in order to continue to build our roster… I think it’s important for us to continue to do so in our rebuild here, but it is also important to have veteran players in our lineup to help and support the younger players learning how to be a pro, and I think that’s how you grow as a team.”

Then, in an interview with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, POHO Jim Rutherford was even more explicit, saying, “We already made the decision that we were going to go with younger players… And those players are going to get a chance to play. Based on the circumstances with this team, this is the year to do it. The fact of the matter is we’re in a rebuild.”

Glory be. And while you’ll never hear an NHL team officially confirm it, it sure sounds as though the Canucks are not just committed to the rebuild, but are also committed to the tank – at least as far as the 2025-26 season is concerned. It’s right there when Rutherford says, “Based on the circumstances with this team, this is the year to do it.” The Canucks are no longer making any pretenses about being concerned with their current record. Losing is the best path forward toward acquiring a truly difference-making young player in the 2026 Entry Draft, and the Canucks are already several steps down that path.

So far, so good on that front. As of this Monday morning writing, the Canucks are once again in sole possession of last place in the NHL, with just 37 points through 44 games and a John Shorthouse-inspired .420 point-percentage. They’re two points behind the Winnipeg Jets, at least five points behind everyone else in the Western Conference, and at least eight points behind everyone in the East.

But tanking is traditionally an inexact science at best, and there are at least two things that can go wrong with it as a plan. The first is the existence of a draft lottery. Even a team that finishes in dead last can only ever achieve a 25.5% chance of getting the first overall draft pick with their own selection, which is barely more than a one-in-four chance. In fact, the team that finishes last overall actually has a higher chance of drafting at third overall than anything, and there’s nothing anyone can do about that.

All the Canucks can really do is finish as low as possible and hope the odds are in their favour.

But the second thing that can typically go wrong with a tanking season is something that the Canucks might be very, very fortunate to avoid in 2025-26, and that’s the presence – and competition – of other tanking teams.

In most NHL seasons, there is as much of a race for the bottom of the standings as there is for the top. In fact, oftentimes the battle for the bottom is tighter than the fight for division crowns. This has been the case for the last three seasons running, with the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, and Anaheim Ducks all in the running for last place each year.

But it really does not seem to be the case in this current 2025-26 season.

The entire Eastern Conference is a bit of a wagon right now. Every single team in the conference is within seven points of a playoff spot at minimum, and all of them have designs on one. Of the eight teams currently on the outside looking in, we have the Boston Bruins (still determined to compete with a David Pastrnak-led core), the Toronto Maple Leafs (desperate not to miss the postseason), the Pittsburgh Penguins (trying to make the most of Sidney Crosby’s last years), the Florida Panthers (defending Champs), the New Jersey Devils (who came into the season as projected contenders), the New York Rangers (who are hunting for forward acquisitions like Kiefer Sherwood), the Ottawa Senators (a mess on and off the ice, but done with their rebuild for now), and the Columbus Blue Jackets (who are buying players, not selling.)

One can look at that group and see that not a one of them is trying to do anything other than get back into a playoff position. That might change eventually, but these standings are going to remain tight for the foreseeable future, and probably for the roughly four weeks of remaining active regular season play left before the Trade Deadline. There are no tankers to be found in the Eastern Conference.

The West is set up similarly, although to a slightly less paritary degree. Here, we find six of the non-playoff teams within six points of a playoff spot, and only the Jets and the Canucks further out of it.

If we look at our eight current non-playoff Western teams, we find the Utah Mammoth (team on the rise), the Nashville Predators (making their third consecutive mid-season comeback), the Chicago Blackhawks (still rebuilding, but no long actively trying to lose), the Anaheim Ducks (on a huge losing streak, but former divisions leaders), the Calgary Flames (firmly in no-man’s land), the St. Louis Blues, the Jets, and the Canucks.

We believe, from this set, that at least the Mammoth, the Predators, and the Ducks are going to continue pushing for the playoffs. So, too, may the Blackhawks, though they’re still early enough in their rebuild and have enough veteran pieces to consider selling, that they might head in a different direction if the losing continues.

Given that they’ve achieved some turnaround already and are laden with veterans they don’t want to sell, like Nazem Kadri, we think the Flames will also continue to try to escape the basement.

The toughest team to call is the St. Louis Blues, who were expected to return to the playoffs after barely making it last year but have performed dreadfully all season. They’ve yet to commit to trading any of their own veterans and may just try to ride out this bad year.

Even the Winnipeg Jets, the only other team truly in the basement with the Canucks, are unlikely to truly embrace the tank this year. They came into the season with an expectation of being borderline contenders, and they’ve got the majority of their veteran core locked up to expensive long-term deals. They can’t really afford to do anything other than attempt to salvage their season, even as that looks increasingly unlikely.

This is not to say that, as we approach the end of the regular season, everyone’s attempts to achieve competitiveness will be successful. Ultimately, someone has to fail. But here, two calendar months away from the deadline and only a month away in terms of actual play, the Canucks stand out as the only team that has fully embraced the way of the loss.

And that’s not something that can be expected to be the case in most other years.

It’s true that, no matter what, all the Canucks’ tanking can get them is a 25.5% shot at first overall. But that’s true in any given season. The key difference here is that, although it’s still a lottery ticket, at least it’s a lottery ticket that only the Canucks are currently gunning for.

When Rutherford said “this is the year” to embrace the rebuild, he probably wasn’t talking exclusively about tanking. But when it comes to tanking, this is undoubtedly the year, and the Canucks’ year exclusively.