Paul Cotter isn’t hiding the fact that he’s heard the noise around the Canucks.
After Vancouver’s 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, Cotter made it clear he knows plenty of people expected the Canucks to be near the bottom of the league. Then, when asked again on Tuesday about the doubters, he doubled down and said he’s even been saving posts he’s seen online.
“For a team that everybody in the world has said is going to be last in the league, I’m pretty happy with how we’ve been doing.”
“At the end of the day, it’s about the guys in this room as well as the coaching staff, the organization as a whole. I tend to stay off social media as much as I can, but I’d be dumb if I didn’t hear or see some things about, whatever, just people talking about how terrible we were going to be.
I think every [post] that I saw, I saved just to have some receipts. I mean, that’s the type of stuff that motivates you along the way, you know, if you’re the biggest underdog in the league.
We had high expectations coming into this. I’m happy with how we’ve started; obviously there’s a lot of things to clean up with where we want to be.
But yeah, if no one has confidence in us, then it’s on us to prove them wrong.”
That kind of talk is exactly why some fans who want a full teardown were bristling at the comments. But the bigger point is the same one that always comes up when a team is trying to rebuild: the front office has to build the thing properly. If the Canucks are going to go through a real reset, they still need players who compete hard, keep the pace up, and can eventually become useful trade pieces.
And Cotter fits that mold. He’s the kind of UFA signing who can help in the room now and still matter later when the organization is looking for assets. If the Canucks are serious about building toward something bigger, those kinds of moves matter.
There’s also the uncomfortable truth that a real rebuild usually needs premium draft capital to work. The argument has been made plenty of times that Vancouver likely needs at least two or three top-five picks to avoid getting stuck in the middle again.
So yes, it’s easy to imagine Cotter cashing in on those receipts down the road while the Canucks are trying to land a major draft haul. Both things can feel true at once, even if they don’t neatly fit together.
The other Canucks note worth circling is Elias Pettersson, who is off to a strong start and sounds like a player enjoying himself again.
Through four games, Pettersson has two goals and four assists, and he’s looked sharper, looser, and more dangerous than he did over the past two seasons. After a big win against the Calgary Flames that featured a hit he threw at Zayne Parekh in the third period, he was asked whether he was having fun.
“Are you having fun?” I asked Pettersson on Saturday, fresh off a big victory against the Calgary Flames that turned on a hit he threw at Zayne Parekh in the third period.
“’I’m having a lot of fun,’ Pettersson answered without hesitation. We should take whatever joy we can find, whenever we can find it.
I’m just trying to get back to, or, get back to playing my hockey and doing what I do best,” Pettersson continued. “I still think I have more to give.”
Nobody is ready to crown him fully “back” after four games, and that caution makes sense. Still, it’s hard to ignore how much better the Canucks look when Pettersson is playing with this kind of swagger.
That version of him is easier to watch, easier to believe in, and, as it turns out, a whole lot more fun.
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For Vancouver, the deal was built around a third-round pick in the 2029 NHL Entry Draft, a return that was always going to be judged over time. But when a player moved for future value starts producing immediately in a new sweater, it naturally invites second-guessing, especially for a Canucks team that could have used more finish from the winger spot. The early returns in Nashville are small in sample size, but they have been loud enough to keep the conversation alive. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Face One Road Problem Fans Know Too Well
The Canucks issues away from home were hard to miss last season, and the numbers painted a frustrating picture for a team that expected more on the road. Vancouvers power play still managed to click at a respectable 24 percent away from Rogers Arena, but the overall results never followed, leaving the club searching for consistency whenever it left home ice.
Vancouver now gets an early chance to start changing that story. The first long road trip of the 2026-27 season begins Oct. 8, with stops against teams such as the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers, a stretch that should quickly show whether the Canucks have actually solved one of the problems fans know far too well. [Read more 🡒]