The Canucks are staring at a leadership decision that could go a few different ways in 2026-27, but the shape of the group is starting to come into focus.
Vancouver has now gone six months without a captain after the trade of Quinn Hughes, its longest stretch without one since Henrik Sedin retired. Whether that changes before next season is still up in the air. If the Canucks don’t name anyone by then, it would be only the second captain-less season in franchise history, after the 2018-19 campaign that followed Sedin’s retirement.
For now, the club’s permanent alternate captains coming out of 2025-26 are Filip Hronek, Brock Boeser, and Elias Pettersson, with Marcus Pettersson among the players who filled in when needed. If Vancouver does go back to a captaincy, Hronek looks like the clear front-runner. There’s some question about whether he wants the public-facing part of the job, but in terms of what happens on the ice, he stands out as the obvious choice.
Boeser has been floated as a possibility, but that feels highly unlikely given the reality of his latest contract extension and what followed afterward.
The easiest path would be to keep the current setup intact: Hronek as captain, with Boeser and Pettersson staying on as alternates. But after the last couple of rough seasons, that doesn’t feel like a requirement so much as an option.
Hronek is going to wear a letter either way. If he doesn’t get the ‘C,’ he’s still the top ‘A.’
Boeser, as the veteran presence on the roster, also looks like a strong bet to keep his letter for continuity’s sake. The organization appears to view both players as longer-term mentorship pieces.
Pettersson is the more interesting case. His current ‘A’ could be the one that changes this offseason, especially if the Canucks want to ease some pressure and let him focus entirely on getting his game back on track.
But this is Vancouver, where nothing like that stays quiet for long. The moment a letter comes off, the questions would start flying about Pettersson being “stripped” of it, which would undercut the whole point.
Unless Pettersson himself says, “I’d rather give this up myself to allow my attention to be elsewhere,” the safer move seems to be leaving him as is.
If Vancouver keeps Hronek, Boeser, and Pettersson in the leadership mix, it could simply add more voices around them. That might mean rotating alternates, with two at home and two on the road, something the Canucks have done before. If Hronek remains an alternate instead of becoming captain, the team could even go with four or five different players wearing an ‘A’ at different times.
There aren’t many obvious internal candidates beyond that core. Jake DeBrusk doesn’t really fit the role and may not be around much longer.
Drew O’Connor is likely a deadline trade candidate. Marco Rossi feels a bit too inexperienced.
Filip Chytil’s injury history makes him a tough sell.
Linus Karlsson is at least worth a look. He’s been in the organization for four seasons, which is more than most, and he has the kind of habits and presence teams usually want younger players to see.
If another returning player were to pick up a letter, Karlsson would be the best guess. Still, he never wore one in Abbotsford, and asking him to step into that role in what would technically be his NHL sophomore season might be a stretch.
Zeev Buium is another name to watch. He emerged as a vocal leader late last season and looked like a face of the positive shift around the team.
There’s already been plenty of talk about him eventually taking on a bigger leadership role, and that could begin as soon as 2026-27. Even so, with other short-term options in play, he may be better off waiting another year or two.
That brings the conversation to the new veterans Vancouver added this offseason. Jamie Oleksiak and Paul Cotter are in the mix, but the bigger leadership names are Luke Schenn and Brendan Gallagher.
Both have worn letters before. Schenn wore an ‘A’ with the Toronto Maple Leafs and has filled in elsewhere, including briefly in Vancouver.
Gallagher was captain of the Vancouver Giants and has worn an ‘A’ in Montreal since the 2015-16 season. Just as important, both bring the kind of edge and personality the Canucks want around the room.
Because of Schenn’s past with the Canucks and Gallagher’s long run as a leader, either one could easily wear an ‘A’ despite being new to the roster. In fact, either might fit the captaincy better than Boeser or Pettersson. But the cleaner solution may be to let them support the existing group rather than replace it.
If Hronek isn’t ready or willing to take the captain’s job, there’s even a case for making Schenn or Gallagher a temporary, one-year captain. That doesn’t seem like the likeliest outcome, but it would be a workable one.
For now, the most plausible leadership group for 2026-27 looks like Hronek, Boeser, Pettersson, Schenn, and Gallagher. Whether that ends up meaning one captain and four alternates, a different captain with four alternates, or no official captain at all, those are the names most likely to define the room.
And further down the line, the picture will keep changing as the rebuild moves forward. Buium, Braeden Cootes, and Caleb Malhotra are names that figure to enter the conversation eventually.
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