The Vancouver Canucks\u00a0added a mix of veteran leadership,\u00a0experience,\u00a0and organizational depth as they continue shaping their roster for the 2026-27 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among the early additions were a familiar face, as\u00a0defenceman\u00a0Luke Schenn returns to Vancouver on a one-year contract.\u00a0The Canucks also signed forward Paul Cotter to a one-year deal, forwards\u00a0Akil Thomas\u00a0and\u00a0Trey Fix-Wolansky to a one-year, two-way\u00a0contracts,\u00a0and\u00a0veteran\u00a0defenceman\u00a0Jamie Oleksiak to\u00a0a two-year contract.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Canucks traded Marcus Pettersson\u00a0to the New York Rangers\u00a0for\u00a0a\u00a0conditional\u00a0first-round\u00a0pick\u00a0in the 2030 Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
General Manager Ryan Johnson addressed the moves, saying he was pleased with how the day went and his staff\u2019s ability to be flexible when opportunities came up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u00a0was a good day, like I\u2019ve\u00a0said, I wanted to be really strategic through this whole process,\u201d Johnson said.\u00a0\u201cI felt with the people we\u2019ve added in various ways are player profiles that I was looking at, but also the people and the character that I’ve made a priority, and I think people that at the end of the day want to be here in Vancouver, which was extremely important to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson said\u00a0Schenn is a great ambassador for the game and can help bring a young team along.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Schenn\u00a0played\u00a0for the Canucks during the 2018-19 season and from 2021-23.\u00a0He\u00a0enjoyed his time in Vancouver and when the opportunity came up for\u00a0him to come\u00a0back,\u00a0he wanted to make it happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI care about the organization, I care about what they’re doing right now in terms of the rebuild and where they’re going, and I want to be a part of that, and I’m looking forward to it,\u201d Schenn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The veteran\u00a0defenceman\u00a0has played 1,122 NHL games and has\u00a0accumulated\u00a0212 points (45-167-212) through his 18-year career.\u00a0With\u00a0nearly two\u00a0decades spent in the league, you cross paths with a lot of\u00a0people,\u00a0and\u00a0Schenn and Canucks\u00a0General Manager Ryan Johnson\u00a0already have a strong bond.\u00a0Johnson was with the Utica Comets when Schenn was traded there from the Anaheim Ducks during the 2018-19 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRJ was a huge part of why\u00a0I’m\u00a0even\u00a0back in the NHL. When I got\u00a0traded\u00a0from Anaheim and had to start Utica, RJ was incredible. He was in my corner and trying to help get me back and push to get me back into the NHL and communicate with me, and obviously, then he was running Abbotsford when I was there the second time, and every time I would run into RJ throughout the course of the season, I always had a great chat with him, and really, really respect him,\u201d Schenn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Schenn has also played for Head Coach Manny Malhotra in Vancouver and Toronto when Malhotra was an assistant for both organizations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Manny is super prepared in terms of video and pre-scout and reviewing games, but also a great communicator, easy to talk to, [a] motivator, and players really enjoyed playing for him,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m just looking forward to coming to camp, having\u00a0a\u00a0good attitude, good work ethic,\u00a0showing what compete is, and everything will take care of itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To kick off free agency for the Canucks,\u00a0Cotter\u00a0was the first announced signing\u00a0of the day.\u00a0The\u00a06\u20192\u201d, 213-pound winger\u00a0has five years of NHL experience\u00a0with 296 games under his belt. Last season with the New Jersey Devils, Cotter had 15 points (9-6-15) through 79 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson says Cotter\u2019s style of play\u00a0will fit into how Malhotra likes to play,\u00a0and Cotter had versatility in his game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love his speed.\u00a0He’s\u00a0got size, he plays a physical game, and\u00a0he’s\u00a0got a scoring touch that I still think\u00a0he’s\u00a0done it, but\u00a0it’s\u00a0still a little bit untapped at 26 years old there’s upside. Excited to work with him,\u00a0he’s\u00a0ecstatic to\u00a0be coming\u00a0here.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0just a win-win. I think\u00a0he’s\u00a0in a bit of a prove-it year for himself\u00a0– he wants to prove some people wrong,\u201d Johnson said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thomas\u00a0was drafted\u00a0by the Los Angeles Kings\u00a0in the second round, 51st\u00a0overall in the 2018 NHL Draft. He has\u00a0played 196 AHL games between the Ontario Reign and Springfield Thunderbirds, putting up\u00a0115 points (55-60-115). In\u00a032 NHL games for the Kings, Thomas had\u00a0four goals and three assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fix-Wolansky\u00a0was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets\u00a0in the seventh round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He played for Columbus\u2019 AHL affiliate,\u00a0the Cleveland Monsters,\u00a0from 2019-25 and\u00a0suited up\u00a0for the Hartford Wolfpack last season.\u00a0In 72 games with the\u00a0Wolfpack,\u00a0he tallied 55 points (31-24-55)\u00a0leading the team in goals and points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During his time with Columbus, Fix-Wolansky played in 26 NHL games, registering four goals and two assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDepth is crucial through injuries, through movement and we want to make sure our young players in Abbotsford are insulated to their development and have people around them to support, so nobody understands that more than I. So, I think Rich\u00a0[Seeley]\u00a0has done a fantastic job in\u00a0a very short\u00a0amount of time of evaluating what we\u00a0have\u00a0and\u00a0then adding pieces that will sustain us through a lot of different scenarios throughout the season,\u201d Johnson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through\u00a014 years in the NHL,\u00a0Oleksiak\u00a0has played 758 NHL games and tallied 161 points (45-116-161). The\u00a06\u20197\u201d\u00a0defenceman\u00a0has spent the past five seasons with the Seattle Kraken after being claimed in the 2021 expansion draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Vancouver Canucks\u00a0added a mix of veteran leadership,\u00a0experience,\u00a0and organizational depth as they continue shaping their roster for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-774508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774508","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=774508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}