The Canucks are heading east with a little more juice than anyone might have expected after four games.
At 2-2-0, Vancouver has split its opening week and left the first impression of a team that can at least hang around. The weekend brought two very different tests: an impressive win over the Calgary Flames and a competitive loss to last season’s Western Conference champions, the Vegas Golden Knights. After a couple of practice days, the Canucks now move on to a six-game trip that stays entirely on the East Coast and includes the last three Stanley Cup champs along with the trio of New York-area teams.
That’s a brutal run, but the early returns have given the Canucks something to work with. The Athletic has them in the bottom five of its early league rankings, but not dead last, and the outlet’s assessment pointed to one especially encouraging development: Elias Pettersson the forward has looked dangerous again.
That matters because Pettersson is quickly becoming one of the season’s biggest Canucks storylines. If he gets anywhere near his early-career form, Vancouver suddenly has a high-end offensive player at a price that looks more manageable in a league where salaries keep climbing. If he keeps building value, the other possibility comes back into play too: sell high and try to turn that rebound into assets.
For now, the bigger point is that people around the league are noticing signs of life in EP40.
Pettersson looked like the old version of himself at times against Vegas, even without a point. He finished with eight hits, drew a penalty and hit a post, a busy night that had him involved all over the ice. That kind of presence is exactly what had been missing.
Not long ago, many figured that version of Pettersson was gone. He reached 100 points only a few seasons back, but he has not come close to that level since.
Over the past two seasons, the 27-year-old put up 45 and 51 points while finishing a combined minus-40. His confidence looked broken, and the idea that Vancouver might eventually move him for future assets seemed to fade.
This start has reopened that conversation, at least a little, because a desperate team could still decide Pettersson is worth chasing.
If he keeps this up, the attention will only get louder. The Canucks also have $16 million in cap space to work with, and if they ever do make a move involving Pettersson, the return would likely be draft picks.
The other early-season name drawing real buzz is Paul Cotter.
Cotter has been one of the Canucks’ best stories so far, and maybe the most impactful newcomer on the roster. He opened his Vancouver tenure with a four-game point streak and now leads the team with four goals and six points in four games. That production earned him a spot on the second line with Liam Ohgren and Brock Boeser, plus first-unit power play time.
He has brought a physical edge and a quick chemistry that showed up immediately. Through four games, Cotter has added 12 hits and a plus-4 rating. That’s a huge start compared with his 2024-25 numbers for New Jersey, where he had nine goals and 15 points in 79 games.
His hot start has also put him into the Canucks record book. According to Sportsnet Stats, Cotter is the seventh player in franchise history to score four goals in his first four games as a member of the Pacific Division club. He notched his fourth of the season in Vancouver’s most recent game against Vegas.
If Cotter keeps scoring and Pettersson keeps flashing the old skill set, this trip east might tell a lot more about the Canucks than their record alone does right now.
In Other News...
Flames Suddenly Have A Young Forward Decision Fans Didn't Expect
The Flames made a notable young-forward shuffle this week, parting with former first-round pick Connor Zary after placing him on waivers. The move sent a ripple through a Calgary roster that has been leaning on internal competition for depth, and it also opened the door for two more prospects to get a look with the NHL club as the schedule tightens.
Aydar Suniev and Jonathan Castagna have both been brought up from the Wranglers, giving Calgary a chance to see what each can add in a forward group that needs energy and production. Suniev has flashed offensive upside in preseason and AHL play, while Castagna has earned his way into the conversation with strong work in the minors, making this one of those early-season decisions that could quietly shape the teams depth chart. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Already Face An Early Roster Decision With Scoring At Stake
The Flames are already facing an early test of roster balance, with scoring depth suddenly at the center of the discussion. With the club looking for help up front, the next move is expected to come from the Calgary Wranglers, where a few forwards have put themselves on the radar with recent play and fit the kind of need Calgary is trying to address.
Aydar Suniev, Tyson Gross, Jonathan Castagna, Alex Nylander and Rory Kerins are all being viewed as possible options for an NHL promotion, and the teams decision could say plenty about how it wants to handle its forward group in the short term. Nothing has been made official yet, but the anticipation alone underscores how quickly the Flames may need to sort through their options if they want to keep enough offense in the lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Scoring Problem Puts One Veteran Option In Focus
Three games into the 2026-27 season, the Flames are already facing an offense that has produced just three goals, and that has naturally pushed help-seeking conversations into the open. On TSNs Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun reported that Calgary has at least discussed the idea of adding veteran winger Patrik Laine, a free agent who is still recovering from injury and would bring instant name value to a lineup that has struggled to find it early.
For now, though, the focus appears to be internal, with the team inclined to see what its young options can provide before making a bigger move. Aydar Suniev, Rory Kerins and Alex Nylander are among the Wranglers players the Flames want to evaluate, which leaves Laine as a potential fix rather than an immediate one. The interest is there, but the urgency to act on it does not seem to be. [Read more 🡒]