Draft<\/p>\n
1-15: F Braeden Cootes<\/a>, Seattle (WHL) Vancouver seemed to get all they could have wanted out of the 2025 NHL Draft. In a decisive move, the team addressed clear system weaknesses and shallow depth charts while balancing risky upside with projectable foundations. Cootes won\u2019t have to travel far after spending the season dominating play in the middle lane of the ice for the WHL\u2019s Seattle Thunderbirds. He brings a mix of high-pace playmaking, two-way reliability, and physical strength that Vancouver seems to be sorely missing. Those attributes led Cootes to a team-leading 71 points in 66 total games this season. He is expected to return to the Thunderbirds next season. That should provide the perfect setting for Cootes to become quicker, stronger, and more independent on the puck \u2013 all traits that should smoothly ramp him into Vancouver\u2019s lineup in just a few years.<\/p>\n The Canucks backed a smart first pick with a line of upside bets. Medvedev proved to be one of the most consistent goalies in the OHL on a game-by-game and period-by-period basis in his rookie season. He recorded a fantastic 22-8-2 record and .912 save percentage in 34 games of backing a star-studded London Knights roster. He started the majority of London\u2019s regular-season games, but was ultimately usurped in the postseason run to the OHL Championship and Memorial Cup by\u00a0 21-year-old Austin Elliott. Elliott aged out of the CHL this summer, providing Medvedev a golden carpet to prove he can continue to perform at a top level.<\/p>\n Vancouver finds similar upside in Dervin, who only played in 10 OHL games this season, but looked confident and driven in every single one. He\u2019s a high school star who led St. Andrew\u2019s College with 79 points in 50 AAA games this season, but managed just three points with the OHL\u2019s Kingston Frontenacs. He\u2019s a bet on athleticism, confidence, and instinct, but one that Vancouver balances with the diligent two-way play of Bjorck. Bjorck demonstrated a strong ability to make plays in both slots last season and will be heading to Colorado College, where he is likely to continue focusing on responsible, gritty hockey. The Canucks find a similar balance in the mix of goal-scorer Chiarot and high-skill passer Lansing to round out their class.<\/p>\n Trade Acquisitions<\/p>\n F Evander Kane<\/a> (from Edmonton) Amid a summer with minimal new additions, Vancouver found a way to land a potential top-six winger on the trade market. They acquired Kane from the Oilers for a fourth-round draft pick. The 34-year-old winger missed the entire 2024-25 regular season due to abdominal and knee surgery, but returned for 12 points in 21 postseason games. That scoring pace would have put Kane on track for 41 points across 82 games, well in line with his performance over the last few seasons. He\u2019s routinely challenged the 20-goal and 40-point marks, even while missing extended time to injury and personal incidents. While age will be a concern, landing Kane\u2019s routine scoring output could be a major boost to the middle of Vancouver\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n Vancouver also landed the rights to two intriguing prospects in Safonov and Stillman. The former has spent the last four seasons in a locked-in role with the KHL\u2019s Kazan Ak-Bars, and scored an encouraging 22 points in 51 games this season. He\u2019s a 6-foot-5 center who makes his mark by dominating space close to the net. In contrast, Stillman is a versatile center who operates well in all three zones. He can make important plays, but is still searching for his offensive spark in the minor leagues. He\u2019ll likely head to the Abbotsford Canucks with hopes of winning Sammy Blais<\/a>\u2019 vacated role, while Safonov has yet to be convinced to move over from Russia.<\/p>\n UFA Signings<\/p>\n D Derek Forbort<\/a> (one year, $2MM)^ * denotes two-way contract Their next-biggest signing was also a re-signing of Forbort.\u00a0 Although he missed some time due to injuries and an illness, he consistently delivered solid performances as a third-pairing defenseman when he was in the lineup. This reliability earned him a new contract at a slight increase from last season, likely allowing him to anchor the third pairing once again.\u00a0 Joseph comes over after splitting last season between St. Louis and Pittsburgh, where he failed to gain a foothold with either squad.\u00a0 But with a track record spanning nearly 200 games, he\u2019ll likely have the leg up on the seventh defenseman spot ahead of Brisebois.<\/p>\n RFA Re-Signings<\/p>\n F Aatu Raty<\/a> (two years, $1.55MM) * denotes two-way contract<\/p>\n Vancouver\u2019s RFA re-signings this summer revolved around potential role players.\u00a0 Raty did well in limited minutes in 33 games last season and is now waiver-eligible for the first time, giving him a leg up in the battle for the final few spots on the forward depth chart.\u00a0 Sasson made his NHL debut last season, playing 29 games where he fit well on the fourth line, which earned him a one-way contract.\u00a0 He\u2019ll likely battle with Bains (who was recalled eight separate times last season) to try to land a spot on the opening roster.<\/p>\n The biggest wild card from this group is the one who most recently signed, that being Kravtsov.\u00a0 The 26-year-old last played in the NHL during the 2022-23 season with the Vancouver Canucks, where he underperformed after being traded from the New York Rangers. He then returned to his home country and played in the KHL for two years with Traktor Chelyabinsk. During his time there, he saw a resurgence in his offensive performance, finishing as one of the top scorers in the league last season with 58 points in 66 games.\u00a0 Will that be enough to earn him a spot or a flyer as a waiver claim in training camp?\u00a0 While it\u2019s not a big story, it will be an intriguing subplot to follow.\u00a0 Kravtsov will need to play in 16 NHL games this season to remain RFA-eligible.\u00a0 Otherwise, he\u2019ll be a Group Six unrestricted free agent.<\/p>\n Key Extensions<\/p>\n F Conor Garland<\/a> (six years, $36MM) The Canucks wasted little time getting these two signed, as both deals were inked on the opening day of free agency.\u00a0 Garland\u2019s had been leaked a few days prior, and it\u2019s an agreement that should finally put an end to the on-and-off speculation about his future with the franchise, something that had gone back multiple seasons.\u00a0 Garland has ranged between 46 and 52 points over the last four seasons, becoming a reliable producer of secondary scoring.\u00a0 The deal is an indicator of where Vancouver expects the secondary winger market to go, and if he stays in this point range for the foreseeable future, they\u2019ll have him locked in at a reasonable cost.<\/p>\n Demko\u2019s deal is a much riskier bet.\u00a0 Several top starters have surpassed the $8MM mark on their most recent contracts, and when you look at Demko\u2019s overall track record, he certainly belongs in that category. Last season was difficult for him as he recovered from a knee injury, then suffered a back injury, followed by a lower-body issue.\u00a0 In between, his numbers were slightly below league average.\u00a0 The Canucks believe that last year\u2019s performance was an outlier and that he will soon return to form. Once this deal is finalized, they will have one of the most expensive goalie tandems in the league, featuring him and\u00a0Kevin Lankinen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Departures<\/p>\n F Lucas Forsell<\/a> (unsigned) Although the Canucks didn\u2019t stand to lose much this offseason in free agency, the departure of Suter could prove to be a crippling one. It was already well known that the Canucks were looking to address their depth at the center position, especially after moving J.T. Miller<\/a> to the New York Rangers last season. Suter left for the Blues, signing a two-year, $8.25MM contract, which is something that Vancouver shouldn\u2019t have had any issues matching. Given that assumption, it stands to reason that Suter was simply uninterested in continuing his career in British Columbia.<\/p>\n Assuming Chytil stays healthy and performs up to his standards, the Canucks will have a significant drop-off in center depth beyond him. Raty has earned the opportunity for more minutes at the NHL level, though it\u2019s difficult to imagine him as a consistent third-line center on a playoff-caliber team. The same can be said about Blueger, despite him being an established NHL player at this point in his career.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Silovs could become a significant subtraction, though he hasn\u2019t shown much staying power in the NHL. Still, it\u2019s difficult to overlook his AHL performance in last year\u2019s Calder Cup playoffs, as Silovs managed a 16-7-0 record in 24 games with a .931 SV% and 2.01 GAA en route to a Calder Cup championship.<\/p>\n Salary Cap Outlook<\/p>\n The recent decision by Joshua accounts for all of the $3.27MM in cap space available, according to PuckPedia<\/a>.\u00a0 That gives them flexibility to try to add another piece closer to training camp or a chance to bank some extra room early in the season.\u00a0 The Canucks often make moves earlier than other teams, and if they can stay injury-free, they are well-positioned to do so.<\/p>\n Key Questions<\/p>\n Will Demko Rebound?\u00a0Despite signing a multi-year extension with Vancouver, Demko has a lot to prove with the Canucks this season. Injuries limited him to 23 games during the 2024-25 campaign, and Lankinen proved he could handle starting minutes. Still, Demko is only a year removed from finishing second in Vezina Trophy voting, and Vancouver would be in a much better position in the standings had they gotten that kind of goaltending last year. If the Canucks can get a rebound season from Pettersson, a return to form for Demko, and a healthy year from Hughes, Vancouver could be a decent bet to return to the postseason.<\/p>\n PHR\u2019s Brian La Rose also contributed to this post.<\/p>\n PHR\u2019s Brennan McClain also contributed to this post.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images (Boeser)<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images (Pettersson)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now more than a month into the new league year, the bulk of the heavy lifting has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,11477,85,36948,2371],"class_list":["post-74329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","tag-sports","tag-summer-synopsis-2025","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
2-47: G Alexei Medvedev<\/a>, London (OHL)
3-65: F Kieren Dervin<\/a>, St. Andrew\u2019s College (Ontario High School)
5-143: F Wilson Bjorck<\/a>, Djurgardens (Sweden U20)
6-175: F Gabriel Chiarot<\/a>, Brampton (OHL)
7-207: F Matthew Lansing<\/a>, Fargo\/Waterloo (USHL)<\/p>\n
F Ilya Safonov<\/a> (from Chicago)
F Chase Stillman<\/a> (from Pittsburgh)<\/p>\n
D Guillaume Brisebois<\/a> (one year, $775K)*^
F Brock Boeser<\/a> (seven years, $50.75MM)^
D Jimmy Schuldt<\/a> (two years, $1.55MM)*
F Joseph Labate<\/a> (one year, $775K)*
F MacKenzie MacEachern<\/a> (two years, $1.55MM)*
D Pierre-Olivier Joseph<\/a> (one-year, $775K)<\/p>\n
^-denotes re-signing<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25810262-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Given that Allvin publicly expressed disappointment over the low-quality trade offers for Boeser at the deadline and noted the absence of negotiations for a new contract between that time and the draft, it was widely anticipated that Boeser would enter the open market and likely move on to another team. This expectation was further heightened by the fact that he was one of the key players in a free-agent class that had significantly weakened in the days leading up to July 1st.\u00a0 However, not long before free agency officially opened, the two sides took one last run at getting something done and worked this deal out, one that might have been a bit under market value given what Nikolaj Ehlers<\/a> went for.\u00a0 Boeser might not be the 70-plus-point player he was in 2023-24 regularly, but he\u2019s a reliable secondary scorer, and he\u2019d have been hard to replace had he gone elsewhere.<\/p>\n
F Arshdeep Bains<\/a> (two years, $1.55MM)
F Max Sasson<\/a> (one year, $775K)
D Jett Woo<\/a> (one year, $775K)*
G Nikita Tolopilo<\/a> (two years, $1.55MM)*
F Vitali Kravtsov<\/a> (one year, $775K)*<\/p>\n
G Thatcher Demko<\/a> (three years, $25.5MM)<\/p>\n
D Christian Felton<\/a> (unsigned)
D Cole McWard<\/a> (signed with Islanders)
F Tristen Nielsen<\/a> (signed with AHL Colorado)
F Ty Glover<\/a> (unsigned)
F Akito Hirose<\/a> (unsigned)
D Christian Wolanin<\/a> (unsigned)
F Nate Smith<\/a> (unsigned)
D Noah Juulsen<\/a> (signed with Flyers)
F Phillip Di Giuseppe<\/a> (signed with Jets)
F Pius Suter<\/a> (signed with Blues)
G Arturs Silovs<\/a> (trade with Penguins)
F Dakota Joshua<\/a> (trade with Maple Leafs)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/USATSI_22687932-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Will Pettersson Bounce Back?\u00a0The Canucks\u2019 competitiveness largely depends on\u00a0Elias Pettersson<\/a> returning to form. Yes, they have arguably the best defenseman in the league aside from Cale Makar<\/a> (and sometimes better), but Vancouver won\u2019t truly be considered a contender without a top-line forward. The drama between Pettersson and Miller has been well-discussed throughout the NHL world, and has seemingly passed with the former\u2019s trade to the Rangers last season. Still, Pettersson didn\u2019t significantly improve after Miller\u2019s departure, and it remains to be seen if he can cross the 100-point plateau as he did two years ago. If he can, the Canucks will have a real opportunity to reach and even excel in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. Unfortunately, if he doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s difficult to see them making any noise in the playoffs, let alone reaching.<\/p>\n