The Vancouver Canucks’ five-game losing streak has dragged them down to the bottom of the Western Conference standings with the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames. That team-wide slide isn’t shocking. What has stood out, though, is how a handful of players have opened the 2026-27 season by pushing well past the expectations attached to them.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki is at the front of that list. His training camp didn’t inspire much confidence, with hesitation showing up especially in battle drills after shoulder surgery. Even in the preseason, when he led the Canucks with four assists in three games, the production came with a catch: most of those helpers were secondary assists, and he still looked like he was fighting through contact.
That’s why his early-season breakout has been such a lift. The 22-year-old winger has five points in eight games and has settled onto the top line with Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson.
The bigger development is how much more assertive he looks in traffic, finding pockets of space to use both his passing and his shot. Against the New York Islanders, he was one of Vancouver’s best players, creating a point-blank chance for Pettersson and later clanging a wrist shot off the underside of the crossbar on the power play.
He’s made himself at home in the Canucks’ top six and is starting to look like a real NHL player.
Elias “D-Petey” Pettersson has been just as important, only on the back end. Last season’s sophomore slump was ugly enough that it barely got its due while the Canucks were dealing with other problems, and the fit in Adam Foote’s system never really seemed to click.
This year has been different from the jump. Pettersson has arguably been Vancouver’s best defenceman so far, especially at 5-on-5, and his play earned him a bump to the top pairing in the last game against the Islanders.
The numbers back up the eye test. Pettersson leads the Canucks in Corsi at 57.3 per cent, and no other Vancouver skater is over 50 per cent.
That’s even more impressive considering how often he starts in his own end: 42 defensive-zone faceoffs at 5-on-5, compared with just 18 offensive-zone starts. He’s also chipped in offense, with two goals already - one at 4-on-4 and one shorthanded.
After a rocky 2025-26, he looks like a defender who has sorted out his game and settled into it with real confidence.
The other Elias Pettersson - the forward - has also been far better than expected, even if the bar was sitting somewhere underground after a couple of rough seasons. He has nine points in eight games and is on pace for 95 points.
Beyond the scoring, he’s logging huge minutes in every situation, throwing meaningful hits, drawing penalties and taking faceoffs at a clip nobody in the league has matched. He still could stand to shoot more, and he hasn’t scored a 5-on-5 goal yet this season, but the gap between this version of Pettersson and last year’s version is obvious.
Paul Cotter rounds out the group, and he may have been the least likely of all to make this kind of impression. Vancouver’s expectations for him were modest when they brought him in on free agency: provide some pace on the fourth line and maybe add a few goals in a depth role. Instead, he erupted for four goals and six points in his first four games.
He’s cooled off since then, but the overall pace is still eye-opening. Cotter is on track for 42 goals and 63 points, which is a massive leap from his previous career highs of 16 goals and 25 points.
And he’s brought more than production. His energy has carried over into the locker room, where he’s become the Canucks’ DJ and handles the pre-game and post-game playlists.
Even if the scoring settles down, he has already delivered more than anyone reasonably expected.
In Other News...
Canucks Loss Still Put A Few Young Players In Focus
Even in a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders, there were a few reasons the Canucks could come away with a clearer picture of some of the younger names in the lineup. The game leaned more toward a performance review than a simple final score recap, with several players drawing attention for the way they handled bigger minutes and more pressure than usual.
Leevi Merilinen kept Vancouver afloat with a series of important stops, while Max Sasson supplied the early offense and Liam hgren helped swing momentum by drawing a penalty that eventually led to the tying goal. For a team looking for signs of progress in the depth chart, nights like this can matter almost as much as the result, even if the finish still leaves something to be desired. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Suddenly Have A Real Battle For Bigger Roles
Vancouvers early-season results have not exactly matched the flashes the club has seen, but there are enough encouraging signs to make the next stretch interesting. Leevi Merilinen has given the Canucks steady goaltending in recent games, and that has added a little edge to a crease picture that also includes Lankinen. At the same time, the organization is continuing to give looks to younger players such as Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Lekkerimki while trying to sort out who can handle bigger responsibilities.
Jonathan Lekkerimkis role is one of the more intriguing parts of that evaluation, especially as the Canucks keep testing how their young forwards and defensemen fit into the longer-term plan. Vancouver is not just chasing short-term stability, it is also trying to find out which prospects can move from promising pieces to real building blocks. In that sense, the battle for minutes has started to matter almost as much as the results, and the next decisions should say plenty about where the team sees its future coming from. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Loss Showed The Same Problem Fans Are Already Tired Of
Vancouver went into UBS Arena looking to steady itself, but instead saw the same kind of game slip away in a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders. The Canucks had the edge early, then watched the Islanders keep pressing behind Kyle Palmieri and Matias Maccelli, with Palmieri finding the net twice and Maccelli scoring his first goal since joining the club. It was the kind of result that leaves Vancouver trying to sort out what went wrong before the frustration starts to feel familiar.
The Islanders, now 3-3-0, got a needed lift from a night in which Palmieri ended his scoring drought and provided the kind of finishing touch they have been chasing. Vancouver, meanwhile, leaves with another reminder that a lead alone does not always tell the full story. The Canucks will want a faster answer the next time they are in position to control a game, because these are the moments that can linger in October and shape how a fan base sees the team early. [Read more 🡒]