For the first time in a long while, the Vancouver Canucks may be heading into a season without the usual playoff chatter coming from management. That alone changes the feel of things around the team, and it also leaves Manny Malhotra and his staff with a roster full of decisions and not much star power to lean on.
There isn’t a true top-line forward in the group, and there’s only one defenceman who looks like a lock for a top-four role on a playoff team. So the question becomes less about who the Canucks can build around and more about how they piece together what they have.
Up front, Marco Rossi looks like the clear candidate to open as Vancouver’s number one centre. After an injury-hit start to his Canucks tenure, he finished the 2025-26 season as the club’s best centre and found real chemistry with Brock Boeser. Liam Ohgren also fit there to a lesser extent, especially given his history with Rossi in Minnesota, so that trio makes the most sense to start the year.
The second line would put Jake DeBrusk with Elias Pettersson and Linus Karlsson. Karlsson was Vancouver’s most productive five-on-five forward last season, leading the team with 24 points at even strength despite ranking 15th among regular forwards in ice time.
That kind of production earns a look in the top six. DeBrusk’s five-on-five results with Pettersson haven’t been strong, but the Canucks could still keep him there in hopes of boosting his trade value.
One reason that trio gets a look: DeBrusk, Pettersson and Karlsson controlled 60.6 per cent of expected goals together last season.
The third line brings a different kind of identity. Paul Cotter and Aatu Räty were the team’s most willing hitters based on last season’s numbers, while Drew O’Connor may have been the hardest forechecker on the roster. It’s not a line built around playmaking, but that’s not exactly a luxury the Canucks have much of anyway.
If Filip Chytil is not ready, the fourth-line centre job likely falls to Max Sasson or Ilya Safonov. Sasson played centre for Malhotra in Abbotsford, though he looked more comfortable on the wing last season. Brendan Gallagher slots in on the wing in this projection, even if his current place on the depth chart probably shouldn’t be ahead of Boeser, Karlsson or O’Connor.
Chytil has been working out this offseason, but putting him in the lineup now feels premature until he proves he can stay healthy. The comparison to the Tucker Poolman situation from years ago hangs over that kind of optimism.
This version of the lineup leaves out Braeden Cootes and Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Both have a real shot to make the team, but there’s also a case for both spending big minutes in Abbotsford.
Lekkerimaki may not need that runway as much as Cootes, though his shoulder surgery in February means camp will be important for him. If Chytil can’t go, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Arshdeep Bains, Mackenzie MacEachern, Akil Thomas and Ty Mueller are among the forwards who would be in the mix for an NHL job.
On defence, Zeev Buium and Filip Hronek look like the top pair. Buium spent nearly half of his five-on-five minutes with Hronek last season, and while they benefited from plenty of offensive-zone starts, they still controlled 53.1 per cent of shot attempts together.
Jamie Oleksiak is projected to take on a top-four role, even if he doesn’t bring the same defensive profile Marcus Pettersson did. Tom Willander also did enough last season to justify more minutes in that range, though he struggled when paired with either Buium or Elias Pettersson.
The bottom pair of Elias Pettersson and Luke Schenn won’t move the puck much, but it does at least bring some mobility. D-Petey is the more physical, stay-at-home type, yet he’s also surprisingly quick for his size; his top skating speed last season ranked in the 84th percentile among NHLers.
Victor Mancini is the wild card on the blue line. His NHL defending was messy last season, but he played the best hockey of his career under Malhotra and Jordan Smith in Abbotsford.
In goal, Thatcher Demko is still the headliner. He believes he has found the answer to his injury problems, and if he stays healthy, the Canucks can use him as a workhorse starter. He remains the most talented goalie in the organization and one of the NHL’s best when right.
Kevin Lankinen enters after a rough season following his strong start to life in Vancouver in 2024-25. He also dealt with undisclosed personal matters that sent him away from the team temporarily last November. Even with the defensive chaos in front of him, he was still outplayed by rookie Nikita Tolopilo.
That makes a three-goalie setup look sensible, especially with Tolopilo waiver-eligible. Vancouver could keep all three on the NHL roster as insurance and also to see whether any of them can build enough value for the trade market. If Tolopilo were lost on waivers and Demko got hurt again, the next options would be Ty Young and Aku Koskenvuo.
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