For the Canucks, the late-summer question is a pretty simple one: which outcome feels more realistic by season’s end, Kevin Lankinen reaching 20 wins or Aatu Räty getting to 30 points?
The answer depends on how the season unfolds around them, because both players are tied tightly to bigger team realities. Lankinen is coming off a rough year.
He went 11-29-3 in 43 starts and finished with a 3.70 GAA and an .875 save percentage, all while dealing with a family matter that led to a brief leave from the team last November. He had to absorb a lot behind a defense that didn’t do him many favors, and he simply wasn’t able to steady things the way the Canucks needed.
The path to 20 wins, though, isn’t really about Lankinen alone. It runs through Thatcher Demko.
If Demko is fully recovered from hip surgery and ready to go, he jumps ahead of Lankinen on the depth chart. If that happens, Lankinen’s chances of piling up enough starts to reach 20 victories take a hit.
Still, there is at least a precedent for better days. Two years ago, in his first season in Vancouver, Lankinen won 25 of 49 starts.
So the workload and the opportunity have been there before.
Räty’s case is different. He’s not being asked to be a scorer first, but if he’s going to line up as the Canucks’ third-line centre, some offensive production has to come with it.
Last season, he posted four goals and 14 points in 66 games, which fell short. Even so, the offensive track record in Abbotsford suggests there’s something to work with: 40 points in 43 games two seasons ago, and 52 points the year before that.
The challenge now is turning that AHL production into NHL consistency while still handling the other jobs that matter, especially faceoffs and penalty killing.
That’s why the 30-point line feels reachable for Räty, even if it won’t come easily. The Canucks had only five forwards reach that mark last season, and the team may again have trouble generating offence as a group. But Räty should have a real chance to play every night, and that gives him a shot to build toward something like 10 goals and 20 assists if he gets the kind of usage he’s looking for under Manny Malhotra.
So if you’re picking one, Räty is the safer bet. Lankinen getting to 20 wins likely requires Demko to miss time again, and that’s a narrow road. Räty reaching 30 points still looks difficult, but it feels more plausible than Lankinen carrying the goaltending load all the way to 20 victories.
In Other News...
Canucks May Finally Have A Real Shot At Elite Free Agents
Cale Makars new eight-year, $163.2 million deal with Colorado is the kind of contract that reshapes the market, and it also helps clarify whats coming next around the NHL. For Vancouver, the bigger takeaway is the timing: the Canucks are set to enter 2027-28 with significant salary-cap room and roster flexibility, a rare position for a team trying to move from rebuilding to contending.
With 17 contracts already on the books and more than $50 million in space, the Canucks could finally be in position to chase elite free agents instead of hoping they emerge through the draft and development pipeline alone. The opportunity is obvious, but so is the challenge, because turning that cap room into meaningful progress will depend on smart planning from general manager Ryan Johnson and ownership long before those players ever reach the market. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Suddenly Have A Penalty Kill Problem To Solve
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For Vancouver, the ripple effect is worth watching because any change in the Pacific Division race tends to reshape the market around it. The Canucks are already being linked to a rebuild with names such as Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser in the mix, while Montreal prospect Adam Engstrom has also drawn trade interest, which adds another layer to a league that can shift fast once teams start looking for short-term fixes and longer-term answers. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Rebuild Hinges On A Risk Manny Malhotra Has To Take
Filip Hronek has quietly become the Canucks most dependable defenseman, which is part of the problem as much as it is a compliment. In a rebuilding season, Vancouver has to sort out more than line combinations and nightly matchups. It has to find out what it really has on the back end, and that means giving younger players like Zeev Buium and Tom Willander enough meaningful ice time to be evaluated properly.
That creates a difficult call for Manny Malhotra, who has to weigh the short-term pull of leaning on Hronek against the long-term need to see whether the kids can handle real NHL minutes. The Canucks cant learn much if their most established defenseman absorbs too much of the load, but they also cant ignore the pressure to stay competitive. How Malhotra balances those competing goals may end up shaping the rebuild more than any single game. [Read more 🡒]