Irf’s monthly Canucks musings: Sherwood’s next contract, the hunt for a centre, and more

Happy hockey season, everyone!

Hope you all enjoyed a great summer, had some laughs, took some long walks and did whatever you needed to do to get yourself ready for 82-plus (maybe) games of Vancouver Canucks Hockey.

The summer I got to goalie

I don’t care if you’re on Team Demko or Team Lankinen, Team Canucks is the only thing that matters when looking at the goaltending situation for Vancouver. The biggest and what might be the most important thing is Thatcher Demko came into camp healthy. He had a FULL summer of work. He worked out on and off the ice at his own pace and did everything that he needed to do to find himself looking and feeling like himself again this past summer. I wonder how much load management is going to come into play this season. It’s no secret that it is going to be on the back of everyone’s minds who makes the decision on how many games is too many for Thatcher Demko or when to make a switch if he or Kevin Lankinen goes on a run. I would put the number around 50 starts for Demko.

Keifer $herwood.

Our NHL insider David Pagnotta and I discussed Sherwood in the inaugural episode of DFO Rundown Insider Edition on Wednesday. There have been talks, but no negotiations between the Canucks and the Sherwood camp. Sherwood is in the final season of a deal that pays him $1.5 million dollars and he’s due for a raise. It’s going to be at least double what his current salary is, to start. Sherwood had 40 points last season to go along with an NHL record 462 hits. No one hit more people that Sherwood, but there was no one else as effective and doing it the way he did. He wasn’t just running around on the ice. He was impacting the game in a positive way each night. For me, the most intriguing thing will be how long before the two sides really start to have open dialogue about an extension and where the Canucks are in the standings around the trade deadline. There are for sure a few teams that have Sherwood on their radar If in fact he becomes available.

C You Later.

Elias Pettersson, Filip Chytill, Braeden Cootes and Aatu Raty.

Those are the four centres the Vancouver Canucks are going to start the season with. Those are the four centres publicly the Canucks say they are comfortable with. Cootes has earned his spot on this team. At 18-years old he is mature well beyond his years and deserves to be starting in the NHL. There were a few people in some NHL circles when the Canucks picked him 15th overall in the 2025 draft that said the kid is going to be a start. It won’t take him long to make the NHL team. Well, they were right. For Filip Chytill health will be the biggest question mark. Raty is interesting because the Canucks need him. He can win faceoffs. There was a question from some who thought that he shouldn’t start with the team.

Well, he would need waivers to go to Abbotsford and they are thin at the centre ice position. In my mind there is no one with more pressure heading into a season on them than Elias Pettersson. Everyone in the organization has said all the right things, he’s said all the right things and now it’s a matter of going out every night and leading by example. Where I want to see Elias Pettersson be at his best is on a mid-November or mid-January game in the middle of the week when maybe your teammates don’t have it that night he takes over the game. Impose his will and lead his team to a win. Much like Quinn Hughes has done, Thatcher Demko has done, Bo Horvat and JT Miller as well. This is the EP40 Canuck fans want to see. This is the EP40 that the NHL wants to see. Now let’s see if he can make that happen.

There’s no secret the Canucks will want to try and improve their team at centre ice, but it’s going to take some time. Moves for top centres don’t just happen. Teams aren’t willing to part ways with players early in the season. And to be honest, no one really wants to make a move right now. For a top centre the Canucks would probably have to give up one of Jonathan Lekkerimaki, (D) Elias Pettersson and or Tom Willander. None of which I think they want to do. When the Marco Rossi conversation was going on, apparently the Wild wanted Willander, and that didn’t happen. Then, someone told me it was 15th overall, Aatu Raty, and Arturs Silovs for Rossi, which the Canucks also said no to. Good for them, there would have been no Braeden Cootes had that deal gone through. In the end, the Canucks have what they have now and will be keeping a close eye on looking to improve. And if history is any indication of anything, this management group isn’t afraid of making moves.

Finally, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading, watching, and following along. This is going to be a fun year. I’m going to be doing the majority of the RinkWide post-game shows with my man Jeff Paterson, as well as DFO Rundown Insider Edition with David Pagnotta. Those episodes will drop every Wednesday at Noon pacific time. Watch the first one below!

Until then, peace and love.
Irf