The Canucks added a familiar face on Tuesday, bringing Luke Schenn back to Vancouver on a one-year contract worth $2.25 million against the cap.
General manager Ryan Johnson made the announcement after what was already his second signing of the day, and the move gives the club another veteran option on the back end. Schenn, who is 36, spent last season with the Winnipeg Jets and Buffalo Sabres before landing back in Vancouver.
In Winnipeg, the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native averaged 13:44 of ice time across 46 games and produced one goal and six assists for seven points. At the trade deadline, he was dealt to Buffalo with fellow defenceman Logan Stanley in a package that sent Isak Rosén, Jacob Bryson, a 2027 second-round pick and a conditional 2026 fourth-round pick (Zach Wooten) the other way.
This is Schenn’s third go-around with the Canucks. Vancouver first brought him in during 2019 in a deal that sent Michael Del Zotto to the Anaheim Ducks and returned Schenn plus a 2020 seventh-round pick (Viktor Persson). He left after that season for Tampa Bay on a one-year, $700,000 contract and later won a Stanley Cup with the Lightning.
Schenn returned to the Canucks in 2021 on a two-year deal with an $850,000 AAV, and that stretch gave Vancouver exactly what it was looking for: reliable defensive minutes. He spent much of that time paired with Quinn Hughes, helping provide the kind of steady support that let Hughes flourish as one of the league’s top offensive defencemen. Vancouver eventually moved Schenn to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2023 third-round pick (Sawyer Mynio).
A former fifth overall pick in 2008, Schenn has built a long NHL résumé. He has played 1,122 regular-season games, collecting 45 goals and 167 assists for 212 points. His playoff track record includes eight runs, 60 games, three goals and five assists for eight points.
Over an 18-year career, Schenn has suited up for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, Arizona Coyotes, Anaheim Ducks, Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets and Buffalo Sabres.
With Schenn added, Vancouver’s projected blueline now includes Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson, Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson, Victor Mancini and Schenn. The Canucks are bringing him in for the same kind of role he filled in his previous stints in Vancouver, along with a solid locker room presence. He joins Paul Cotter.
In Other News...
Former Canucks Center Moves On With A Parting Shot That Stings
Teddy Blueger is on the move again after a productive but injury-affected season in Vancouver, landing back in a familiar kind of role as he looks to carve out a spot in a crowded center mix. The veteran pivot had helped the Canucks in a depth capacity before health issues interrupted his rhythm, and now he gets a fresh chance to settle into a bottom-six job elsewhere.
For Vancouver, his exit closes the book on a player the club had reason to keep around, especially after it could not find a trade partner at the deadline and had interest in bringing him back. Instead, Blueger heads into a new competition for minutes, while the Canucks are left to absorb the sting of a departure that might have been preventable. [Read more 🡒]
Two Former Canucks Just Made Free Agency A Lot More Complicated
A pair of former Canucks found new homes in free agency, and both moves add another layer to Vancouvers offseason ledger. Vincent Desharnais, whose path since leaving the Canucks has already included stops in Pittsburgh and San Jose after Vancouver moved him in the Marcus Pettersson-Drew OConnor cap-dump deal, has now landed with Washington, while Danila Klimovich is headed to Philadelphia after spending last season in Abbotsford.
Klimovichs departure is the one that will matter most to Canucks followers, because Vancouver chose not to qualify his contract and opened the door for him to reach unrestricted free agency. The 22-year-old prospect had shown enough in the AHL to stay on the radar, but now he gets a fresh start elsewhere, leaving the Canucks with one more former piece circulating through the league and one more decision to answer for in the months ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Fans Wont Love What This Marcus Pettersson Move Suggests
Marcus Petterssons latest movement is the kind of update Canucks fans were always going to track closely, because it reaches back to a decision Vancouver made only months ago when it brought him in as part of the J.T. Miller return. Pettersson arrived as a long-term blue-line piece, and the fact that he is under contract through 2030-31 gave the move real weight for a team still trying to stabilize its defense and build around it.
Now the wrinkle is that Pettersson had to waive his no-movement clause to make the deal happen, which is a sign of how far this has progressed. The return is not expected to include NHL players, so for Vancouver the focus shifts less to who is coming back and more to what it says about the organizations plans for a player it had penciled in as part of the future. [Read more 🡒]