Sven Baertschi’s hockey path has taken him back to familiar ground, only this time behind the bench.
The former Vancouver Canucks winger has been promoted to associate coach of the Portland Winterhawks for the 2026-27 season, moving up after serving as an assistant coach with the WHL club. Baertschi joined Portland’s coaching staff in the 2024-25 season, which was his first formal coaching job after retiring from playing following the 2022-23 campaign.
The Winterhawks connection runs deep for Baertschi. Before his NHL days, he spent two seasons with Portland in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and he made a major mark there right away. In his rookie year with the Winterhawks, he posted 85 points in 66 games, then followed that with 94 points in just 47 games and a 34-point playoff run.
Baertschi’s route to Vancouver started with the Calgary Flames, who drafted him 13th overall in 2011. After four seasons in that organization, he was dealt to the Canucks for a second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, a selection that eventually became Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Rasmus Andersson.
He spent the better part of seven seasons in the Canucks organization and reached a career-high 35 points in 2016-17. Injuries later derailed the back half of his NHL run, and he and Vancouver eventually split.
Baertschi then spent one season in the Golden Knights organization before returning to Switzerland to finish his playing career.
The Winterhawks’ 2026-27 roster currently includes defencemen Avery Laliberte and Stevie Grumley, along with goaltender Ondrej Stebetak.
In Other News...
Canucks Insider Floats Risky Leafs Trade Idea That Says A Lot
Rick Dhaliwals latest trade idea is the kind of thought exercise that tells you as much about the market as it does about the Canucks. The Vancouver insider suggested the club should be hunting for young, cost-controlled players who do not have no-move or no-trade protection, a category that naturally points to names like Matthew Knies, Kent Johnson and Shane Wright. In a league where flexibility matters almost as much as talent, that kind of profile can look awfully appealing from a front-office standpoint.
Knies stands out most in the conversation because he has already shown top-line upside and, at least for now, cannot block a deal. But the broader issue is whether a player being movable means he would actually want to land in Vancouver, which is a very different question. It is an interesting frame for the Canucks, especially if they are looking for younger pieces who fit both the age curve and the cap sheet, but it also shows how quickly a clean trade theory runs into real-world complications. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks First Rounder Is Already Framing His Path In The Rebuild
Adam Novotn is already talking like a player who understands where he fits in Vancouvers timeline. The Canucks recent first-round pick spent development camp discussing his growth, his path through the Czech league and North America, and the way he wants to keep sharpening his game as he pushes toward the NHL. He started his professional career in the Czech league at 15, and that early jump into mens hockey has clearly shaped the way he views the next steps.
For Vancouver, that matters because the organization is leaning hard into a rebuild built around younger talent, and Novotn sounds eager to be part of it. He has spent time in North America, models pieces of his game after Mason McTavish, and seems focused less on the draft-night label than on becoming useful in the long run. In a camp full of prospects trying to make their mark, he is already framing his future in terms the Canucks can appreciate: patience, development and eventually helping the next wave move the team forward. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Are Headed For A Leadership Decision That Could Change Everything
The Canucks have spent the past six months without a captain, their longest stretch in that spot since Henrik Sedin retired, and the situation has turned into one of the more interesting organizational decisions on the horizon. With Filip Hronek, Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson serving as the teams permanent alternate captains, Vancouver has at least maintained a veteran leadership core while it weighs whether the next step is to keep things as they are or make a more formal change.
What makes the discussion more delicate is that this is not just about handing out a letter, but about how the room should be structured going forward. Boesers standing gives the group some continuity, Pettersson remains part of the conversation despite the pressure that comes with his role, and the Canucks are also looking at whether other veterans could be folded into the mix as they decide if a captain should be named before the 2026-27 season or whether a different setup makes more sense. [Read more 🡒]