The Canucks are heading east with a little more juice than anyone might have expected after four games.
At 2-2-0, Vancouver has split its opening week and left the first impression of a team that can at least hang around. The weekend brought two very different tests: an impressive win over the Calgary Flames and a competitive loss to last season’s Western Conference champions, the Vegas Golden Knights. After a couple of practice days, the Canucks now move on to a six-game trip that stays entirely on the East Coast and includes the last three Stanley Cup champs along with the trio of New York-area teams.
That’s a brutal run, but the early returns have given the Canucks something to work with. The Athletic has them in the bottom five of its early league rankings, but not dead last, and the outlet’s assessment pointed to one especially encouraging development: Elias Pettersson the forward has looked dangerous again.
That matters because Pettersson is quickly becoming one of the season’s biggest Canucks storylines. If he gets anywhere near his early-career form, Vancouver suddenly has a high-end offensive player at a price that looks more manageable in a league where salaries keep climbing. If he keeps building value, the other possibility comes back into play too: sell high and try to turn that rebound into assets.
For now, the bigger point is that people around the league are noticing signs of life in EP40.
Pettersson looked like the old version of himself at times against Vegas, even without a point. He finished with eight hits, drew a penalty and hit a post, a busy night that had him involved all over the ice. That kind of presence is exactly what had been missing.
Not long ago, many figured that version of Pettersson was gone. He reached 100 points only a few seasons back, but he has not come close to that level since.
Over the past two seasons, the 27-year-old put up 45 and 51 points while finishing a combined minus-40. His confidence looked broken, and the idea that Vancouver might eventually move him for future assets seemed to fade.
This start has reopened that conversation, at least a little, because a desperate team could still decide Pettersson is worth chasing.
If he keeps this up, the attention will only get louder. The Canucks also have $16 million in cap space to work with, and if they ever do make a move involving Pettersson, the return would likely be draft picks.
The other early-season name drawing real buzz is Paul Cotter.
Cotter has been one of the Canucks’ best stories so far, and maybe the most impactful newcomer on the roster. He opened his Vancouver tenure with a four-game point streak and now leads the team with four goals and six points in four games. That production earned him a spot on the second line with Liam Ohgren and Brock Boeser, plus first-unit power play time.
He has brought a physical edge and a quick chemistry that showed up immediately. Through four games, Cotter has added 12 hits and a plus-4 rating. That’s a huge start compared with his 2024-25 numbers for New Jersey, where he had nine goals and 15 points in 79 games.
His hot start has also put him into the Canucks record book. According to Sportsnet Stats, Cotter is the seventh player in franchise history to score four goals in his first four games as a member of the Pacific Division club. He notched his fourth of the season in Vancouver’s most recent game against Vegas.
If Cotter keeps scoring and Pettersson keeps flashing the old skill set, this trip east might tell a lot more about the Canucks than their record alone does right now.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Keep Reminding Vancouver How One-Sided This Matchup Is
Marc Gatcombs go-ahead goal helped the Golden Knights edge the Canucks 3-2, with Adin Hill stopping 17 shots and Vegas getting enough offense from Mitch Marner and Victor Olofsson to keep control of a game that stayed tight throughout. Paul Cotter and Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored for Vancouver, but the result fit a familiar pattern in this matchup, one that has leaned heavily Vegas way for a long time.
The win pushed Vegas to 22-4-3 all-time against the Canucks, a run of success that has made these meetings look more like a test of whether Vancouver can finally break through than a true even-money rivalry. Hills latest victory over his division foe also continued a personal trend, as he has now beaten the Canucks five straight times, another small but telling detail in a series the Golden Knights keep finding ways to own. [Read more 🡒]
Chandler Stephenson Is Giving Golden Knights Fans A Tough Early Reminder
Chandler Stephenson is wasting no time making Seattle look like a smart fit. Through two games, the former Golden Knights center has already put up four points, including two assists in a 6-1 win over the Calgary Flames, giving the Kraken the kind of immediate offensive lift they were hoping for when they brought him in.
For Vegas fans, it is an early reminder of how much Stephenson meant over five seasons in the desert. He was a key part of the Golden Knights 2022-23 Stanley Cup run, so seeing him start this quickly in a new uniform is the sort of thing that sticks with a fan base, even this early in the season. [Read more 🡒]
Former Golden Knight Is Suddenly Making Vegas Fans Feel This Loss
Paul Cotter did not need long to remind Golden Knights fans what they gave up. In Vancouver, the former Vegas forward scored on the power play against his old team, giving the Canucks another early-season jolt from a player who has come out flying. It has been the best start of his NHL career, with five points in three games, and the production is arriving fast enough to make his departure from Vegas feel a little sharper.
Still, the night ended with the result the Golden Knights wanted, as they slipped past Vancouver 3-2. Mitch Marner, Victor Olofsson and Marc Gatcomb supplied the goals that mattered most for Vegas, turning Cotters moment into little more than a reminder of how much talent has moved out of the organization. For Knights fans watching from afar, it was the kind of game that stings twice: first when the old familiar name scores, then again when you realize he is starting to look very comfortable somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]