Bro, do your dekes<\/a>\u201d level of offensive juice he once possessed in abundance.<\/p>\nFilip Hronek<\/p>\n
Hronek has made it abundantly clear that he wants to play in Vancouver, and he remains a top-of-the-lineup defenceman with underrated power-play utility.<\/p>\n
Brock Boeser<\/p>\n
Boeser found chemistry late in the season on Marco Rossi\u2019s right wing. He\u2019s the heavy favourite to lead all Vancouver wingers in ice time this season.<\/p>\n
Marco Rossi<\/p>\n
With 20 points in his final 25 games, Rossi had something of a breakout after the Olympic break last season.<\/p>\n
Jamie Oleksiak<\/p>\n
Signed on July 1 to a two-year deal worth $10 million in total salary, Oleksiak is a reliable defensive-minded defenceman and penalty killer. His presence and performance will be a key factor in whether Vancouver can design an environment that\u2019s conducive to developing its younger blueliners at the NHL level.<\/p>\n
Kevin Lankinen<\/p>\n
Lankinen\u2019s performance was inconsistent last season. It\u2019s worth noting, however, that he was dealing with family matters off the ice and that the seams are always likely to show if he\u2019s too heavily used as an everyday, workhorse starter. The contract may not be ideal, but he\u2019s a sturdy 1B option.<\/p>\n
Filip Chytil<\/p>\n
Chytil has the size, skill and speed to be an impact player in the NHL, but a variety of injuries \u2014 most notably a series of concussions \u2014 have limited him to just 78 games across the past three seasons.<\/p>\n
Brendan Gallagher<\/p>\n
Gallagher found himself on the outside looking in for the Montreal Canadiens during the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring. On this roster, however, I\u2019d expect him to hold down a significant role.<\/p>\n
Even if Gallagher\u2019s game is diminishing too rapidly for him to be an effective top-six fixture, and I\u2019m not convinced that\u2019s the case, his impact as a leader should be significant during this rebuilding campaign.<\/p>\n
Drew O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n
A pending unrestricted free agent, O\u2019Connor is a solid, no-nonsense two-way winger capable of playing just about anywhere in the lineup. Finding a way to feature and showcase O\u2019Connor has to be a significant priority for the organization.<\/p>\n
Linus Karlsson<\/p>\n
Karlsson was Vancouver\u2019s best, most consistent forward last season. He\u2019s got the defensive game, down-low playmaking and net-front touch to be a featured part of this Canucks lineup, but will his foot speed and fitness level improve enough for him to handle a 15-minutes-a-night role in the NHL?<\/p>\n
Luke Schenn<\/p>\n
Schenn has fought off Father Time for years, but it may have begun to catch up to him somewhat last season in Winnipeg and Buffalo. A class professional, Schenn is a massive add for the locker room.<\/p>\n
Paul Cotter<\/p>\n
A fast-skating, heavy-hitting, versatile forward, Cotter has every tool you could want from a middle-six NHL player. He\u2019s just never really put it all together.<\/p>\n
Max Sasson<\/p>\n
Sasson established himself as a full-time NHL player last season. His speed makes an impact in the bottom six, and he\u2019s become an efficient rush finisher.<\/p>\n
Zeev Buium<\/p>\n
Buium stood out among Vancouver\u2019s young defencemen last season for his competitive mentality and skill.<\/p>\n
Liam \u00d6hgren<\/p>\n
\u00d6hgren has the tools to be a top-six power forward down the line, but he also flashed some potential down the stretch as a penalty killer. It\u2019s a good sign that he may be able to round out his two-way game, even if his offensive ceiling caps out at a middle-six level.<\/p>\n
Aatu R\u00e4ty<\/p>\n
There\u2019s some defensive gaps in R\u00e4ty\u2019s game, specifically related to his foot speed, but the young Finnish centre ended up in Adam Foote\u2019s doghouse unfairly last season. In reality he was on a short list of the Canucks\u2019 most effective two-way options, even if his sheltered deployments were part of what drove those results.<\/p>\n
The Canucks need a faceoff-winning centre, and R\u00e4ty is ticketed to fill that role this season.<\/p>\n
Probable<\/p>\n
Jake DeBrusk<\/p>\n
DeBrusk isn\u2019t at risk of not making this team, but we\u2019ll list him as a probable for now. At this juncture of the offseason, among veteran Vancouver players who could conceivably be moveable and open to moving, DeBrusk stands alone as a somewhat realistic consideration.<\/p>\n
Elias Pettersson, the defenceman<\/p>\n
Pettersson\u2019s effectiveness, which was so impressive down the stretch of the 2024-25 season, fell off significantly in Vancouver\u2019s unstructured environment last season. I\u2019d expect him to make the team and fare better this season, but structurally, it\u2019s best to bake in some uncertainty for all of the young blueliners in this tier.<\/p>\n
Victor Mancini<\/p>\n
Mancini signed a two-year, one-way extension in March and is likely to be on the NHL roster to open this season. That said, there\u2019s enough competition on the back end that we\u2019ll keep Mancini in the probable tier simply because he remains waiver exempt. Once Mancini plays 15 more NHL games, he\u2019ll require waivers.<\/p>\n
Tom Willander<\/p>\n
Like Mancini, I\u2019d expect Willander to make Vancouver\u2019s roster out of training camp. We should maintain a bit of uncertainty here, however, to account for Vancouver\u2019s developmental priorities. During his first season at the NHL level, he managed to produce and flashed significant two-way potential in spurts. Overall, he survived in an absolutely brutal environment.<\/p>\n
For a player with Willander\u2019s pedigree, however, you don\u2019t really want them to learn how to survive. You want them to learn how to make a difference at the highest levels of professional hockey.<\/p>\n
Something to prove<\/p>\n
Jonathan Lekkerim\u00e4ki<\/p>\n
Lekkerim\u00e4ki has dominated at the AHL level as a 20- and 21-year-old, which is bullish. At the NHL level, however, his defensive game, speed and size have often looked out of place and he\u2019s been frequently injured, which is bearish.<\/p>\n
Coming off season-ending surgery, has Lekkerim\u00e4ki put together the sort of summer he needs to upgrade his physical tools to the point of making a difference at the NHL level? Patience is probably required, which may frustrate fans, but the team has time to wait: Lekkerim\u00e4ki has another year before he\u2019ll require waivers.<\/p>\n
Braeden Cootes<\/p>\n
Cootes made this team out of training camp last year. This year he looks larger and seems more confident. He is eligible to play in the AHL this season as a 19-year-old due to recent changes in the NHL\/CHL transfer agreement, so the training camp stakes are somewhat lower for Cootes than they might\u2019ve been in previous years. Whether he makes the opening roster or not, he\u2019s likely to get a good chunk of NHL games this season.<\/p>\n
Arshdeep Bains<\/p>\n
Bains had every opportunity to cement himself as an NHL-level player the way his longtime Abbotsford teammates Sasson and Karlsson did last season. He never managed it.<\/p>\n
Nikita Tolopilo<\/p>\n
Thatcher Demko\u2019s health hangs over Vancouver\u2019s plans in net, but whether Demko is ready to open training camp or not, Vancouver will need a goaltending depth plan this season. In fact, the Canucks should really consider rostering three netminders. Will Vancouver prefer Tolopilo to some of the other options likely to be available on the waiver wire?<\/p>\n
In the mix<\/p>\n
Kirill Kudryavtsev<\/p>\n
A savvy, undersized defensive defenceman, new head coach Manny Malhotra trusted Kudryavtsev in Abbotsford, and he\u2019s arguably more advanced as a two-way option than the trio of young defencemen (and Mancini) who spent more time at the NHL level last season.<\/p>\n
Ilya Safonov<\/p>\n
A big, physical, defensive centre who wins faceoffs, Safonov may not have any experience playing North American professional hockey, but he checks a lot of the boxes Vancouver\u2019s other centres don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Akil Thomas<\/p>\n
Thomas is a right-handed centre who can play the wing or line up down the middle. At the very least he\u2019ll be a difficult player for the likes of Cootes, Safonov and Ty Mueller to beat out.<\/p>\n
Ty Mueller<\/p>\n
A favourite of the developmental staff, Mueller is a mature prospect who doesn\u2019t appear to have the athletic tools or production profile to project as an impact NHL player down the line, but he\u2019s smart, has some skill and has continued to earn opportunities. That matters.<\/p>\n
Trey Fix-Wolansky<\/p>\n
Fix-Wolansky is a bowling-ball AHL scorer, but has the sort of toughness and motor to make an impact on a rebuilding team. Think about players like Michael Pezzetta in Montreal during its rebuild. That\u2019s the sort of impact he could have in Vancouver, if he can earn a shot.<\/p>\n
Lingering injury uncertainty<\/p>\n
Thatcher Demko<\/p>\n
Coming off of a second hip surgery, on the heels of a knee tear, Demko\u2019s status for the start of training camp is still uncertain with less than a month to go.<\/p>\n
Whether Demko begins the year on the 23-man roster, on injured reserve, on long-term injured reserve, or on injured\/non-roster status, the Canucks need to have a plan to shore up their goaltending depth and carefully manage Demko\u2019s usage this season.<\/p>\n
Dark horse<\/p>\n
Adam Novotn\u00fd<\/p>\n
The main knock on Novotn\u00fd as a prospect \u2014 that he\u2019s a late 2007 birthday whose physical development is advanced, potentially giving him less runway to improve relative to other prospects in the 2026 draft class \u2014 is also a reason to believe he could make a surprise challenge to break camp at the NHL level next month.<\/p>\n
An outright elite skater, Novotn\u00fd is ready in the narrow sense that his skating and ability to leverage his size to protect the puck at speed is NHL-level. Those are traits that tend to show well in battle drills and training camp scrimmages, and in preseason action as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, as the rain ripped through downtown Vancouver accompanied by a remarkable and atypical flash thunderstorm that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85,2371],"class_list":["post-866707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866707","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=866707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}