Tyler Myers, Dallas Stars<\/p>\n
Hughes will meet up with his former D partner and teammate from Vancouver Tyler Myers in round one. The Canucks flipped Myers to the Stars ahead of the Trade Deadline for a second and fourth round pick. Through 15 games with Dallas, Myers has notched three assists and 12 penalty minutes while being a +2.<\/p>\n
Nic Dowd, Vegas Golden Knights<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t really blame you if you forgot that Nic Dowd was ever a Canuck. We\u2019re not even sure if he remembers, to be honest with you. But yes, the Canucks acquired Dowd from the LA Kings in exchange for Jordan Subban back in 2017. Dowd played out the rest of the season with the Canucks before signing with the Washington Capitals in free agency (the Canucks needed the space to sign their big fish bottom six forwards Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, and Tim Schaller) and made a name for himself in DC. The Caps flipped Dowd to Vegas at this year\u2019s deadline for Jesper Vikman, a 2027 3rd round pick, and a 2029 2nd round pick.<\/p>\n
Ben Hutton, Vegas Golden Knights\u00a0<\/p>\n
Put me down as someone who thought Ben Hutton was going to be the answer for the Canucks\u2019 blue line. Those 25 points in his rookie season were a hell of a drug. Hutton has long departed Vancouver, and actually already won a cup with Vegas back in 2023. Through 55 games with the Golden Knights this season, Hutton has put up 15 points.<\/p>\n
Michael Carcone, Utah Mammoth<\/p>\n
Signed by the Canucks as an undrafted free agent after his Major Junior career came to a close, Michael Carcone never actually suited up in an NHL game for Vancouver. He did play two and a half seasons with the Utica Comets before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Josh Leivo (who was absolutely electric in a Canucks uniform, by the way) back in 2018. After brief stops in Toronto and Ottawa\u2019s organizations, Carcone has found a home with the Arizona\/Utah Coyotes\/Mammoth. He\u2019s put up a career-high 30 points this season with Utah.<\/p>\n
Ian Cole was a pleasure to watch and to cover during his one year in Vancouver. Cole brought a level of stability to the Canucks\u2019 back end during their Pacific Division-winning 2023-24 campaign that the organization seems to have taken for granted, as after letting Cole \u2014 and Nikita Zadorov \u2014 walk in free agency, the Canucks\u2019 back end became an unstable mess in 2024-25.<\/p>\n
Nate Schmidt, Utah Mammoth<\/p>\n
Nate Schmidt spent one season in Vancouver, and it wasn\u2019t a very memorable one. 2021 was the COVID-shortened season without fans in the stands. And while COVID sucked, the thing that sucked the most that season \u2014 aside from their play on the ice \u2014 was hands down the Canucks\u2019 Sprite can-looking reverse retro jerseys. Terrible. Anyways, Schmidt is back in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Vasily Podkolzin, Edmonton Oilers\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe we\u2019ll rehash the Vasily Podkolzin trade another day. Earlier this week, we wrote about how awful the swap the Canucks and Oilers made of Podkolzin for Evander Kane has worked out for Vancouver. Podkolzin has flourished in Edmonton, and is a big part of the Oilers\u2019 forward group. Hey, does anyone know what Danton Heinen and Daniel Sprong are up to?<\/p>\n
Curtis Lazar, Edmonton Oilers\u00a0<\/p>\n
Also in the Oilers\u2019 forward group is Curtis Lazar, who is well-known as one of the \u201cgood guys\u201d in hockey. Lazar signed with the Canucks in free agency back in 2022, but was dealt to the New Jersey Devils for a fourth-round pick at the 2023 Trade Deadline. He signed with Edmonton this past offseason and has six points through 44 games for the Oilers this season.<\/p>\n
Andrei Kuzmenko, Los Angeles Kings\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nobody should ever forget the 39 goals Andrei Kuzmenko scored in Vancouver back in 2022-23 after signing with the Canucks as a KHL free agent. But they also shouldn\u2019t forget how mid he\u2019s been since then. With stops in Calgary, Philadelphia, and now Los Angeles, Kuzmenko is proving to be a pretty one-dimensional player, and after putting up 74 points in his first season with the Canucks, has struggled to even reach the 30-point mark since.<\/p>\n
Jalen Chatfield, Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n
You all laughed at Jim Benning when he said he thought Jalen Chatfield had real top four potential. Well, who\u2019s laughing now?<\/p>\n
Tanner Pearson, Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n
Honestly, this is the only player on this list who I was taken aback by. It felt like Tanner Pearson\u2019s career was already on its last legs before the hand injury-related debacle towards the end of his Canucks tenure, but he\u2019s managed to stick around in the NHL. After stops in Montreal and Vegas, Pearson signed with the Winnipeg Jets this past offseason, and was traded to Buffalo at this year\u2019s deadline. He\u2019s appeared in just three games for the Sabres, however, so we\u2019ll see how many playoff games he actually gets into.<\/p>\n
Luke Schenn, Buffalo Sabres\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shoutout to Luke Schenn. Not a coincidence that things really took off for the Sabres after they brought Schenn in. Another great dude to add to any room, even if he\u2019s more of a depth defenceman at this stage of his career. Wait- are we rooting for the Sabres?<\/p>\n
Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, Boston Bruins <\/p>\n
We\u2019re putting these two together since they were apparently already plotting about singing with Boston together while they were still members of the Canucks back in 2023-24. They got their wish, and man, do I miss Zadorov, in particular. This is the only \u201cjealous ex\u201d entry I intend to put into this article.<\/p>\n
Arturs Silovs, Pittsburgh Penguins\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the OG Arturs Silovs truther \u2014 check out \u201cWhy you should be higher on Arturs Silovs\u201d, written back in 2021 by yours truly here<\/a> \u2014 I must say I\u2019m happy to see Silovs back in the playoffs. Mostly because that also means Sidney Crosby is back in the playoffs, but also because Silovs had some spectacular playoff moments both at the NHL and AHL level for the Canucks. Silovs has made 39 starts for the Penguins this season en route to an .888 save percentage, and it will be interesting to see how the Penguins decide to utilize Silovs and Stuart Skinner in their crease this spring.<\/p>\n Noah Juulsen and Rick Tocchet, Philadelphia Flyers<\/p>\n Peanut butter and jelly. Noah Juulsen and Rick Tocchet. Some things just go together. It\u2019s both Tocchet and Juulsen\u2019s first seasons in Philly, and with a strong push down the stretch, they\u2019ve officially locked themselves into a playoff spot, with a first-round Battle of Pennsylvania matchup against the Penguins.<\/p>\n Honourable mentions: Travis Green (Ottawa) and John Tortorealla (Vegas)<\/p>\n Which obscure black ace\/AHL depth player did we miss? Let us know in the comments section below!<\/p>\n Check out The Nation Network\u2019s Playoff Coverage!![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776313390_401_SPE-PDE-Playoffs26-Promos_727x404_v2.png\")
<\/a>The Nation Network is your all-access pass to the playoffs. Shows, stats, fantasy insights, live social updates\u2014if it\u2019s happening, we\u2019ve got it. Every goal, every hit, every moment\u2014we break it down for you. One Network. Every moment. Tune in on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We don\u2019t know every matchup for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs just yet, but we\u00a0do\u00a0know which teams will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-607218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}