NHL News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Pius Suter, St. Louis Blues (Sergei Belski-Imagn Images)

Canucks Are Really Missing Pius Suter This Season

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Matthew Zator | Last updated Nov 16, 2025 4:40 PM ET

Shortly after Filip Chytil was acquired from the New York Rangers in the trade for JT Miller, he went down with a concussion and ended up missing the rest of the season. Then, Elias Pettersson was also injured, leaving the Vancouver Canucks with Pius Suter, Aatu Raty, Teddy Blueger and Max Sasson as their four centres. By default, Suter became the top-line centre and thrived in the role, often playing over 20 minutes a night in all situations, while taking key draws in both the offensive and defensive zones.

Suter finished the season with a career-high 25 goals and 46 points, and for some reason, the Canucks felt the Swiss Army knife wasn’t essential enough to re-sign in the offseason. With reportedly lowball offers sent his way by the Canucks front office, he decided to take his versatility and two-way game to the St. Louis Blues.

Suter’s 2024-25 Season Doesn’t Appear to Be a Flash in the Pan

Re-signing Suter to a lucrative contract was always going to be a gamble after his career-best season across the board. While he was remarkably consistent, hitting 14 or 15 goals every season since his debut with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2020-21, no one confused him for a top-six centre worth $4.125 million average annual value (AAV). Everyone wondered if 2024-25 was just a flash in the pan, boosted by opportunity in the top-six and increased ice time in every situation. After a pretty big sample size of four seasons with moderate production, it was fair to be skeptical about whether he could do it again.

Well, fast-forward 19 games into the 2025-26 season, and Suter is seemingly proving that it wasn’t. While his ice time has dropped back down to his career average, he’s still producing at a high rate, along with being his usual elite two-way self. He’s tied for second on the Blues in goals with five, and tied for fourth in points with 10. He’s also their top option on the penalty kill, leading all forwards in shorthanded ice time with an average of 1:24 per game. Basically, he’s doing everything he did last season, just in the Blue Note instead of the Orca, something I’m sure general manager Patrik Allvin is regretting right now.

Canucks Missing Suter on the PK

Last season, the Canucks’ penalty kill was one of their strengths, finishing third in the NHL at 82.6 percent. The duo that led the way in shorthanded ice time were Suter and Blueger at 185:24 (2:17 per game) and 172:50 (2:06 per game), respectively. This season, they are dead last at a lowly 66.1 percent, a drop of 16.5 percentage points. While two players don’t make a successful penalty kill, the fact that Blueger has only played two games and 5:45 on the PK and Suter is no longer on the roster, and the Canucks are languishing in the basement 19 games into the season, is no coincidence.

Suter and Blueger were one of the best penalty-killing duos in the league last season, and Canucks management should have considered that when deciding whether to bring Suter back or not. Not having it as an option this season has really hurt their PK and might be why they miss the playoffs. Suter’s penalty-killing skills alone should have been worth the money he got in free agency.

Canucks Could Really Use Suter in the Top 6 Right Now

Before signing David Kampf to a one-year contract on Saturday, the Canucks’ centre depth included Pettersson, Lukas Reichel (who’s not a natural centre), Raty, and Sasson. With Blueger and Chytil injured, it was one of the thinnest groups in the NHL. While Kampf will help the bottom-six and penalty kill, he isn’t much of a scorer and likely won’t move the needle offensively.

Even if Suter were still on the roster, the Canucks probably would have signed Kampf anyway, but their top six would have looked much better. Suter is still producing like a top-six forward in St. Louis and playing the role of second-line centre, something Allvin has been looking for on the trade market all season. The thing is, he had one in his grasp before Suter hit the free agent market on July 1.

Pius Suter, Vancouver Canucks (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

While president Jim Rutherford revealed in a recent interview that Suter wanted to come back, the term and money apparently weren’t enough for him to turn down the Blues’ offer. He cited “miscommunication on term,” saying they were willing to go beyond the two years he got in St. Louis, but that “it didn’t work out.”

Regardless, Allvin and Rutherford should have made him a priority before another team could offer him anything. They had control over negotiations way before July 1, but seemingly didn’t feel he was valuable enough to really dig in and get something done. So far this season, that has turned into a massive misstep on their part.

Canucks Hope Kampf Can Help Fill Suter’s Shoes

As mentioned, Kampf should help fill the void Suter left on the PK and defensively, but not in the goals and points department. His career high is 11 goals, set in 2021-22, and that was the only season he has hit double digits. His production is comparable to Blueger’s – bottom-six numbers. Other than that, though, Kampf is pretty much like Suter, a versatile Swiss Army knife that is good defensively with a high hockey IQ and work ethic. Who knows, he might surprise us and do more offensively than we think.

However, that doesn’t negate the fact that the Canucks made a mistake not re-signing Suter. With him in the lineup – even with all the injuries – they might be well above .500, given his ability to kill penalties and generate offence. The struggling penalty kill has been a reason for a lot of losses this season already, and the Canucks underestimated how valuable he was, not only to the PK, but to the rest of the team as well.