Canucks: How Victor Mancini can meet expectations of new contract

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Reading and reacting quicker with more physicality and less stick checking are going to grow Mancini’s game

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Published Mar 22, 2026 • Last updated 6 hours ago • 4 minute read

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Victor Mancini of the Vancouver Canucks gets away from a hit by Nick Paul of the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period of NHL action at Rogers Arena on March 19, 2026 in Vancouver. Photo by Rich Lam /Getty ImagesArticle content

Victor Mancini knows his modest two-year contract agreement Friday to reward progression and future promise isn’t an insurance policy to protect an NHL lineup position.

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It’s more like an improvement loan from the Vancouver Canucks at US$1 million per season.

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However, if the hulking third-pairing defenceman can pay the faith back with interest — in the form of rounding into a complete and confident mainstay — he can cash in for longer term after becoming a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.

In the interim, he’s all in on doing the hard work because the NHL is not the AHL. Things happen fast.

“It’s our assignments in the D-zone,” stressed the 23-year-old Mancini. “For me, it’s being physical and ending plays quickly and rotations in that movement. It’s getting into the forwards’ hands and being able to transition. It’s communication between defence and forwards, so we can have clean breakouts.

“I don’t want to be chunking pucks off the wall if I don’t have to. I feeling more comfortable with every game, but I”m still learning. When I’m moving my feet and playing fast, that’s when I feel most confident.”

Reading and reacting quicker with better bursts of speed, combined with more physicality and less stick checking, will grow his game to become a reliable stay-at-home defender. He’s averaging 13:51 of ice time in 19 pointless games and logged a season high 18:08 on Jan. 12 in Montreal.

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The imposing 6-foot-3, 229-pound Mancini is part of a young back end that packs offensive potential but struggles to defend. And the stark reality of a rebuild was measured in 79 seconds of the second period Saturday against the St. Louis Blues at Rogers Arena.

The Canucks, who often crumbled like a house with a weak foundation after giving up a goal, were true to troubling form. After former Canucks centre Pius Suter bolted through the slot to jam home the opening goal midway through the second period, the Canucks chased the game again.

Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators has puck knocked away by Victor Mancini of the Vancouver Canucks during Jan. 13, 2026 game in Kanata, Ont. Photo by Minas Panagiotakis /Getty Images

Pavel Buchnevich was left alone in the high slot and easily converted a cross-ice feed from a pinching Philip Broberg. And while Mancini had Jordan Kyrou tied up down low, nobody touched Buchnevich. It provided a two-goal cushion en route to a 3-1 Blues win in which the Canucks’ middle stanza woes continued.

They’ve been outscored 95-56 during those overwhelming 20 minutes, have given up the most goals and scored the fewest of any team. And amid the expected pain of rebuilding, the lack of structure and execution to get simply get pucks out is stunning.

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“We struggle in the second period because we get caught in our end easily,” said Canucks head coach Adam Foote. “We stop skating and we have a hard time stopping cycles. We’ve got to manage the puck better as a unit of five.

“It’s hard to generate offence when you’re in your end and having changes that were really weak. They weren’t even proper. We didn’t dump it (puck) out deep enough to push them back and at least get our forecheck going.”

The Canucks were also held to just 15 shots Saturday — one shot of their season low 14 in a 6-1 home-ice drubbing by the Dallas Stars on March 2 — and it’s another reason why the last-place club has scored the second-fewest goals and given up the most.

“We didn’t start on time,” added Foote. “We weren’t gapping up, and when your forwards aren’t pushing up ice, you get caught in between. And if the defence isn’t gaping up, they (Blues) were just hitting the middle.

“We have to anchor the net. When we do, we can funnel pucks. We’re looking for clean plays that aren’t there. We have to get pucks down, jam the net, and find a way to get those dirty goals.”

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For Mancini, it’s striving for consistency of effort and not beating himself up when mistakes occur.

“Like all young defencemen, it’s the reps without the puck, which he’s getting better at,” said Foote.

Mancini never had that “ah-ha” moment to signify a sure future in the game.

He was born in tiny Hancock, Mich., and with a dad who coached at several colleges, including Michigan Tech, his love of the game was cemented early. He idolized Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“With Lidstrom, it was how mistake-free he was in every game,” marvelled Mancini.

Mancini was a 2022 fifth-round draft choice of the New York Rangers after being passed over the previous two years. And just as he looked to be getting a leg up last season with 15 NHL games, including the season opener, came the trade to Vancouver in the J.T. Miller swap.

Mancini played 16 NHL games here and then helped the AHL affiliate in Abbotsford claim its first Calder Cup on June 23. He had eight points (3-5) in 24 games.

“It was just how meaningful those (Calder Cup) games were and you can’t take a game or a shift off,” recalled Mancini. “It helped establish a base and re-establishing my confidence.”

And not forget the Abbotsford title experience because it was rare.

“Maybe I won a state championship when I was a kid,” said Mancini. “Nothing in junior or college, so that was the first big trophy and it was very special.”

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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