The Vancouver Canucks have settled on six alternate captains to open the 2026-27 NHL regular season, splitting the group between home and road games.
At home, Filip Hronek, Linus Karlsson and Drew O’Connor will wear letters. On the road, the nod goes to Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and Zeev Buium.
That setup gives the Canucks a mix of familiar leadership and a few newer faces. Pettersson, Boeser and Hronek were the team’s most common alternate captains last season, so their inclusion comes as no surprise. Karlsson also has experience wearing a letter under new head coach Manny Malhotra from their time together with the AHL Abbotsford Canucks.
O’Connor brings another layer to the group. The 28-year-old is one of Vancouver’s more experienced players and arrived in the trade package with Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins on the same night the Canucks dealt JT Miller to the New York Rangers in 2024. Vancouver later signed O’Connor to a two-year extension worth $2.5 million annually, and he is now in the final year of that deal, with unrestricted free agency set for July 1st, 2027.
Boeser and Pettersson remain two of the longest-tenured players on the roster, and both were drafted by the club. Hronek has also become a trusted voice inside the room, with the Canucks pointing to him last season as a veteran young players, especially young defencemen, leaned on for guidance. Hronek even took prospect Adam Novotný out for multiple dinners during training camp.
The Canucks are already in action and will host the Oilers for their home opener on Thursday, October 1st.
In Other News...
Canucks Prospect Had A Wild Meltdown And The Punishment Was Massive
Basile Sansonnens night against HC Davos turned into the kind of chaotic stat line that usually gets talked about long after the final horn. The Vancouver Canucks prospect was handed 50 penalty minutes after a dangerous hit and a fight with Brendan Lemieux, with the officials stacking on multiple penalties that included boarding and fighting.
It was an unusually heavy punishment for one game, the sort of total that would stand out in any league and would have tied for eighth on the NHLs single-game penalty-minute list. For the Canucks, its the latest reminder that prospects can make headlines for all the wrong reasons when discipline slips completely out of control. [Read more 🡒]
Vancouver Just Added A Blue-Line Piece That Could Change Everything
The Vancouver PWHL club has added another notable piece to a blue line that already looked set for a competitive season, bringing in Caroline Harvey after her decorated run in international play and at the NCAA level. The move comes as the team continues to lean on the core it kept from last season, with the organization also sticking with Cara Gardner Morey behind the bench for a second year.
Harveys arrival gives Vancouver another proven defender to fold into a group that is trying to build on continuity while still raising its ceiling. With training camps set to open on Nov. 18 after the womens world championships in Denmark, the timing adds a little more intrigue to how quickly this roster can come together and what kind of impact the new blue-line addition might have right away. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Send A Clear Leadership Message With Unusual Captaincy Call
The Canucks are taking a notably different approach to their leadership structure this season, announcing six alternate captains instead of naming a single captain. Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and Zeev Buium will wear the A on the road, while Filip Hronek, Linus Karlsson and Drew OConnor will handle those duties at home, a setup that spreads responsibility across more of the roster than usual.
It is a clear signal from the organization about how it wants the room to function, with leadership shared rather than centered on one player. The unusual split also leaves the door open on what the long-term hierarchy might look like, especially with no captain in place for the season and the team leaning on different voices depending on the venue. [Read more 🡒]