The Vancouver Canucks are heading into the 2026-27 season with a fresh batch of jersey changes, and four familiar names are getting new looks.
On Monday, the club said Zeev Buium will move from 24 to 8, Marco Rossi will go from 93 to 23, Jonathan Lekkerimäki will switch from 23 to 88, and Filip Chytil will change from 72 to 77.
For Buium, the move brings him back to the number he wore with the Minnesota Wild, who drafted him 12th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. He had worn 8 before arriving in Vancouver as a key piece of the Quinn Hughes trade with Minnesota last December, but that number was unavailable at the time because Conor Garland had it. Garland was later dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the trade deadline.
Buium’s path to 24 in Vancouver was a little more complicated. Before turning pro, he wore 28 with the USNTDP, Denver, and at the World Juniors.
Once he reached the NHL, he dropped the 20 and went with 8. In Vancouver, though, 28 is unofficially retired in honour of Luc Bourdon, so he landed on 24 instead.
He explained the decision in January:
“Well, we didn’t have too many options. Garly sent me a picture of a Rolex if I wanted [his] number,” Buium said.
“I know Chris Chelios wore 24, obviously a huge fan of his, and I was with Zach Bogosian, like right before I got traded, and he wears 24 - we were pretty tight. I just thought it’d be pretty funny and cool to have it, and he appreciated it too.”
Rossi is also going back to a number he already knew well. He wore 23 before the Hughes trade that brought him to Vancouver, and now he has it back after previously being listed at 93. In a story with Michael Russo of The Athletic, Rossi said the reason for 23 was: “Simple… My birthday (Sept. 23), and threes always follow us as a family.’”
That switch opened the door for Lekkerimäki to reclaim 88, a number he had long preferred from his time in Sweden. He had to use 23 in Vancouver because 88 was already taken by Nils Aman.
Chytil’s change is the quietest of the bunch, but it’s still part of the Canucks’ new-number shuffle. He has worn 72 throughout his NHL career with the New York Rangers and Vancouver, and he is now moving to 77.
In Other News...
Canucks No 16 Prospect Could Be More Than Just Pipeline Filler
The Canucks have spent enough time building around their top-end talent that the real test of the pipeline is finding players who can eventually fill useful NHL roles without needing everything to break right. One of the more interesting names in that mix is a 19-year-old right winger taken in the fifth round of the 2026 NHL Draft, a player who already has the kind of skating engine and shot that can make scouts pause even before the development curve really starts to bend.
After a productive season in the USHL, he is headed to the University of North Dakota, where the next step will be turning those tools into a more complete offensive package. The appeal for Vancouver is pretty straightforward: if the progress keeps coming, he looks like the sort of prospect who could grow into a middle-six contributor rather than just another body in the system, but the path there still runs through college hockey and plenty of refinement. [Read more 🡒]
Quinn Hughes Returns To Vancouver With Canucks Fans Deeply Divided
Quinn Hughes first trip back to Vancouver as a visitor is already circled on the Canucks 2026-27 schedule, with the Minnesota Wild set to come through town on Oct. 25. For a player who wore the captains letter, set franchise marks for assists and points by a defenceman, and became the first Vancouver blueliner to win the Norris Trophy, the date carries obvious weight even before the puck drops.
Hughes departure on Dec. 12, 2025, still hangs over the organization because it was never just about one trade. His time in Vancouver ended amid frustration with the direction of the team and a messy backdrop that included locker-room tension and talk of cliques, which makes his return feel less like a routine reunion and more like a test of how far the Canucks and their fans have moved on. [Read more 🡒]