Expectations for the Vancouver Canucks are so low heading into next season that even a modest uptick would count as a surprise. A number of outlets have them sitting 32nd in offseason power rankings, and FanDuel has Vancouver at +50,000 to win the Stanley Cup. The next-worst team, the Calgary Flames, are listed at +35,000.
That’s the setup for a rebuilding team that’s fully back in lottery-odds territory. But the whole point of a tank is that it can go sideways in a hurry.
Last year, the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins were all buried near the bottom of the odds board. Chicago stayed there after a Connor Bedard injury, but San Jose nearly reached the playoffs and Pittsburgh shocked people by grabbing home-ice advantage in the first round.
Vancouver doesn’t look likely to follow that path. Then again, a few things could tilt this season in a direction nobody in tank-watch wants.
The first is the coaching change. The biggest move Vancouver made this offseason was behind the bench, where Manny Malhotra replaces Adam Foote.
Foote’s only season as head coach was a mess. Not all of it sat on him, but odd lineup choices, a collapsing structure and some lackadaisical practices were part of the problem.
Malhotra arrives with a reputation as a strong communicator, a solid teacher and a coach with a real pro track record.
That kind of change matters. The new-coach bump is real, and last season the Philadelphia Flyers, Anaheim Ducks and Penguins all entered the year as bottom-feeder candidates before ending up in the postseason with a new bench boss.
Another possible wrinkle is Elias Pettersson finding his game again. The Petey truthers have been waiting a long time for that version to return.
Pettersson is now more than 2.5 years removed from his blistering run of 13 goals in 14 games in January of 2024, the last time he looked like vintage Pettersson. Injuries, locker-room feuds, weaker linemates and poor coaching have all been part of the slide.
The $11.6 million question is whether Malhotra can help change that. If Pettersson bounces back, Vancouver’s standing could change fast - assuming he isn’t traded first.
There’s also the Thatcher Demko factor. The spring of 2024 changed the conversation around the Canucks.
Pettersson has never really been the same since, and Demko has barely been available after leaving a game against the Winnipeg Jets on March 9, 2024. Since then, he has started just 43 of a possible 193 games, which works out to 22.7 per cent of Vancouver’s games in that span.
Demko says he has found a way to deal with the injuries that have kept him out. And when he’s right, he’s one of the best goalies in the league.
Malhotra’s system could also help keep the whole operation from wobbling. Vancouver’s structure fell apart last season, and the work of the defencemen under Foote came under fire.
Even if Demko is healthy, Malhotra should make things easier on his goalies. The Canucks will still probably ice three or four young defencemen, so there will be mistakes.
But the system is said to have similarities to Rick Tocchet’s setup, with the defensive-zone emphasis on protecting the middle of the ice through a box-plus-one. In Abbotsford, Malhotra’s teams often used a 1-1-3 in the neutral zone, a style that can be dull but tends to cut down on chaos.
Special teams could swing things too. Vancouver’s power play finished in the top half of the league last season at 21.8 per cent, good for 14th overall.
That wasn’t just smoke and mirrors, either. The Canucks were top-10 in both shot attempts and expected goals at five-on-four.
Filip Hronek played a major role there, quietly handling the power-play quarterback job when Quinn Hughes was out. And Abbotsford’s special teams under Malhotra were sharp during the Calder Cup run, with the power play at 25.7 per cent and the penalty kill at 88.2 per cent over 24 postseason games in 2025.
A breakout from one young forward could change the tone of the season as well. Jonathan Lekkerimäki has the loudest boom-or-bust profile on the roster and has been one of the AHL’s most efficient goal scorers over the past two seasons when healthy.
If everything breaks his way, 30 goals is on the table. Liam Öhgren could take a step if he stays in a top-line role, and Linus Karlsson scored at a first-line pace while playing fourth-line minutes last season.
More ice time would only help. Even Jake DeBrusk, who was barely noticeable at five-on-five last season, posted an absurdly low 2.48 per cent shooting percentage in those situations, so some regression could be coming if he remains in Vancouver.
Then there’s the biggest wild card of all: Buium. Of anyone on the roster, his ceiling is the highest.
He showed flashes of being an elite defenceman last season, though the chaos around him made him tough to fully evaluate. It’s a big ask for a 20-year-old to take a major leap, but if he does, Vancouver could once again have a legitimate top pair with Buium and Hronek.
In Other News...
Canucks Prospects Are Creating A Roster Crunch Vancouver Can't Ignore
The Canucks youth movement is starting to come with a catch. As the organization leans harder into prospects and young depth, the roster picture is getting tighter, because several players are moving toward the point where they can no longer be tucked safely away without waiver exposure. For a team trying to stay competitive while developing its next wave, that is the sort of detail that can quickly turn a promising pipeline into a difficult numbers game.
Victor Mancini, Elias Pettersson, Liam Ohgren and Zeev Buium are among the names expected to lose waiver exemption in the seasons ahead, depending on how many NHL games they play and where they stand contractually. Others, including Tom Willander and Jonathan Lekkerimaki, still have some breathing room for now, but the list of interesting future decisions keeps growing, with Kirill Kudryavtsev and Ilya Safonov also worth tracking as waiver-eligible options down the road. For Vancouver, the challenge is no longer just finding talent, it is finding enough room to keep it. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Facing A Make Or Break Year With Three Prospects
The Canucks are staring at a pivotal stretch with a small group of college prospects whose futures in the organization are far from settled. Daimon Gardner, Matthew Perkins and Aiden Celebrini have each taken the long route through NCAA hockey, and their draft pedigree and development paths give Vancouver a decent read on what they might become if things click. For now, though, the emphasis is on progression, because all three are still trying to turn encouraging flashes into something the team can justify bringing into the pro pipeline.
What makes the situation more pressing is the clock. Each player will need to take another step soon to keep Vancouver interested enough to offer an entry-level deal, and none of the three has made the choice easy based on current performance. Gardner, Perkins and Celebrini all bring different backgrounds and skill sets, but the common thread is the same: the Canucks have to decide whether the upside is worth waiting on, or whether this is another prospect cycle that fades without ever reaching Abbotsford, let alone Vancouver. [Read more 🡒]
Luke Schenn Returns As Canucks Try To Steady Their Young Blue Line
Luke Schenn is back in Vancouver for a third stint, and the Canucks are leaning on a familiar face to help steady a blue line that is still taking shape. The veteran defenseman signed a one-year deal and is expected to fill a depth role while bringing the kind of quiet reliability and penalty-kill work that has long made him useful to contending teams and rebuilding ones alike.
For the Canucks, the appeal goes beyond minutes on the ice. Schenns previous run with the club included a strong defensive pairing and a noticeable offensive bounce in the 2022-23 season, but this return is more about guidance than production. Vancouver wants its younger defenders to keep growing, and Schenn gives them a seasoned presence in the room while the organization sorts out how the rest of the back end will settle in. [Read more 🡒]