Expectations are a hell of a drug. Which is where we found ourselves last year, with the Canucks coming off of their hottest playoff run in over a decade, taking the Edmonton Oilers to the brink of defeat before bowing out in Game 7 of the second round. There are few highs in life as intense as snorting the swagger and vibes of Nikita Zadorov and JT Miller winning big hockey games, so you’d be excused if you bought too much stock in the “we have arrived” confidence heading into 2024/25.
It was supposed to be a season of, well, maybe not Stanley Cup aspirations, but certainly a club that was looking to get back into the playoffs at the very least. Somewhere along the way, though, everything fell apart.
We all learned what a popliteus was when Thatcher Demko struggled to deal with the ramifications of rehabbing that injury, an injury that was talked about in hushed tones, with a mixture of disbelief and reverence normally reserved for discovering the afterlife actually exists. At one point, I assumed Demko’s leg had fallen off and had to be re-attached with a variety of duct tape and glue with the way people spoke about it.
We all learned that Rick Tocchet’s system might have some severe offensive limitations, as getting over 20 shots in a game was met with the defeated celebration you usually bust out when you find out your credit card wasn’t declined on that $8.38 charge.
We all learned that even if Quinn Hughes has multiple broken limbs and a ligament tear, he will probably still finish top 3 in Norris voting.
And we, of course, all learned that hockey divorces can be as painful as real-life ones when we saw the impact and consequent fallout of the JT Miller and Elias Pettersson relationship. Dubbed a season where everything went wrong, the truth is, last year probably would have survived anything but the EP40 and JT Miller fallout. We might never know all the details, and we don’t need to go over it, but suffice to say that never have I seen a locker room more miserable than it was last year.
You know when you know someone really well, and you can tell when their mood shifts? Like nobody else sees it, but you know they’ve gone from happy to absolutely miserable? That was what it was like in the locker room during media scrums. Players walking in with a 1,000-yard stare in their eyes, answer questions while looking at the ground, mumbling their way through what looked to be a delightful balance of physical and mental anguish.
All of which is to say what a difference a year makes. This year, while the expectations have been adjusted to “I hope the Canucks play watchable hockey”, the players themselves have transformed. Like anyone who has escaped a toxic relationship will tell you, you don’t quite realize how bad it has truly gotten until you are fully removed from it.
Heading to the rink no longer seems like a journey better suited for Hobbits with a penchant for potato recipes. Now going to the rink seems fun again, with players cracking jokes and heck, I think I even saw Quinn Hughes let slip a small smile at one point.
And while happy vibes can only carry you so far in the NHL, it was nice to see the Canucks ride this renewed sense of optimism to a 5-1 thrashing of the Calgary Flames on Thursday night. And make no mistake about it, this is a game the Canucks should have won handily. Calgary had just played the night before in Edmonton, and on paper, the Canucks are icing a better roster.
But the funny thing about winning the easy ones is you actually have to, well, win them. Last year, it would have been all too easy for the dark cloud following the Canucks around to drag them into the swamp of sadness, screaming for Artax to keep moving, pleading with him to take one more step as they lost to the Flames.
This season, the Canucks did what any team looking to make the playoffs would want to do, and that was win their home opener against a tired opponent. A win that didn’t involve constant dump and chase hockey. A win that Filip Chytil showcased the joys of East to West puck movement. A win that saw a renewed, lethal power play that…ok, well, you can’t have everything.
The point is, it was a very good first game. And hell, for all we know, this season will go off the rails and the Canucks might fail in their quest to make the playoffs. But at the very least, it finally feels like you’re watching a hockey team again, and not a TV drama that wins Emmys under a comedy label.
And after last season? That feels like a massive improvement.
I’m broke from the offseason, so let’s make some gif money, shall we?
The white jerseys pop
pic.twitter.com/HWQsTyPu6E
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion)
October 10, 2025
The Canucks celebrated 30 years of playing hockey at Rogers Arena by bringing out our version of the Thunderbolts, local dudes who used to play for the team back in 1995.
And while Trevor Linden got the biggest cheer, as is tradition, let’s give a shout-out to Dana Murzyn for making an appearance in Canucks colours.
Also, those white jerseys look pretty slick. It would be interesting to see those on the current players.
Best first scoring chance of the season
let's goooo boys
#Canucks
— q (@MLN2521)
October 10, 2025
The opening game of the season for Vancouver, and the first scoring chance went to the Chaos Giraffe:
Did part of me think Tyler Myers was gonna bounce that puck in off of three players before riding off into the sunset in a car with Sandy Olsson riding shotgun? Of course I did. But I also realize I might still be suffering from fever dreams of watching the Canucks dump the puck into the corner and going for a line change on 95% of their plays last year.
Blake Coleman responded with a much better high-danger chance on the Canucks with a shot from the slot:
You know how you know Thatcher Demko is locked in? He makes tough saves look boring. He makes the save, but it’s almost like he’s disgusted with you for wasting his time. He barely moves because he’s already in position, and he looks at you with disdain, as if you dropped out of your Puppetry Arts degree because it was too hands-on for your liking.
And then, perhaps inspired by the jerseys once used to nickname a man after a space vehicle, Conor Garland decided to go end-to-end and beat four Calgary Flames:
Did Corolla go full Pavel Bure? No, he failed in his mission. But the point is, at no point did any teammates scream at each other on the bench, nor did anyone break down any office doors. These are what we call marginal gains. Small, but important.
Thatcher Demko putting the ol' popliteus to work early. Straight robbery on Kadri
#Canucks
— Lachlan Irvine (@LachInTheCrease)
October 10, 2025
If Thatcher Demko were a character on iCarly, I imagine he would end up brushing his teeth with mustard for many minutes. Why, you ask? I don’t know, but it feels right.
The point is, this was a Demko who looked very solid in net on the night. Now, I will preface that by saying this wasn’t a game in which Demko had to stand on his head. He merely had to make movements in net that didn’t bring to mind an Australian trying to win gold in a breakdancing competition.
And when Calgary did get their good looks on net? Demko was there, sliding from post to post, getting his right Khabi on it:
Or maybe it was his left Bhulin.
Either way, Demko made sure his team wasn’t down early, which allowed the Canucks to slowly get their feel for the game.
One such chance was a nice setup by Quinn Hughes, who got the puck to Elias Pettersson high in the slot:
I fully admit, part of me just assumes Elias Pettersson will score on every wrist shot he takes on the Flames,
because that’s how he got his first NHL goal. It, in fact, confuses me when he doesn’t score like this on the Flames on every shot, much like how I am still bewildered about the Easter Bunny forgetting about my house every year now.
And while I know that is silly thinking better suited for the halls of Camelot, I also don’t want to get to the point where we’re like “wow, that was some good velocity on that shot from Elias Pettersson!” as we all wait to see if he can rebound this season. I think we can all take some time off from the micro-analysis of every single thing he does.
Until game 10, that is.
Then all bets are off.
For game one, however, he had a perfectly cromulent game?
Best get this party started
BANGGGGG!!!! (100 point sherwood szn incoming)
#Canucks
— hoo1k (@hoo1kk)
October 10, 2025
The Canucks opened the scoring when Drew O’Connor and Kiefer Sherwood made sweet, sweet love on the ice, turning a bobble on the blueline from Joel Hanley into a successful counterattack:
Does Dustin Wolf want that one back? I have to assume so, yes. When I fall down the stairs in public, I will often smile and laugh it off. Maybe I’ll make a comment about how I “must have taken a shortcut” as I implore people not to pity me. Is my elbow bleeding? That’s ok, it will help balance my humours.
But deep down? The self-loathing courses through my veins as I run the events through my head over and over again into the middle of the night, self-flagellating myself for being so stupid.
So I imagine it is much the same here for Dustin.
In the end, Kiefer picked his spot and scored the goal, which is what gives him the right to furiously chop at the air as he celebrates. Last year, he punched back and forth for a celly, but this year, he did an up-and-down motion.
I don’t know what this means, but I am always up for a new way to punch the air to celebrate goals.
Kane has no business being in PP1
#canucks
— Mitch (@Mitchapalooza80)
October 10, 2025
Not since the Boeser vs. Kuzmenko days have we seen such a spirited debate about the PP1 break out so quickly. And while it has only been one game and a handful of preseason games, something tells me this debate won’t be nearly as close for Evander Kane vs. Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
To be clear, the Canucks power play was solidly awful on the night. It went 0/4, and it rarely seemed dangerous. The best it looked was honestly when the second unit with Prime Time was on the ice.
As for the first unit, this was the best look Evander Kane got on it, a shot generated off of Quinn Hughes being a zone entry animal:
Aside from that shot, it just felt like Evander Kane was slow in most aspects of the game. Slow to react, slow to pass, slow on the forecheck. He just wasn’t clicking with anything.
In his defence, the man is coming off of surgery just last January, in which they repaired two torn hip adductor muscles, two hernias, and two torn abdominal muscles. If I saw someone getting surgery for all this, I would just naturally assume they had been run over by a car. Sure, he played in the playoffs for the Oilers, but it will probably take some time for him to round into his final form.
That being said, I don’t know if you need him to round into form on the first unit power play?
Again, it’s only one game, but I think as the Simpsons taught us, we’d much rather watch Lekkerimäki hit some dingers?
At times, it just felt like Evander was making passes based purely on vibes. That’s all I’m saying.
Unfortunate ending and awkward landing for Pettersson, but the officials got it right. Hit came from the side, not behind. Not a major.
#Canucks
— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN)
October 10, 2025
The big highlight from the first period, aside from Kiefer Sherwood milking a cow to celebrate a goal, was Elias Pettersson’s collision with MacKenzie Weegar:
Now, I know hockey is back when I watch a video clip of a Canuck player getting hurt and I don’t think it was done maliciously, and people start screaming at me.
“HE TOOK ELIAS’ HEAD IN HIS HANDS AND BANGED IT OFF THE BOARDS LIKE HE WAS PLAYING THE BONGOS, WYATT. THE BONGOS!”
Initially called a major penalty on the ice, this was merely so the officials could get together to discuss the play. In the end, a two-minute minor was handed out, and I honestly wouldn’t have called a penalty at all. If this happened to any player, from any team, I would see it as a guy bracing himself for a hit and ending up taking the worst of it.
Did Weegar do the ol’ “whoops, I fell down on top of you” trick? Probably. But EP40 braces for the hit, then stumbles awkwardly into the boards, hits the boards with his head, and then Weegar falls down on him.
I also don’t care if you think it should have been a five-minute major, though? Like if to you, you think we should reconsider the death penalty for this hit, have at it? I just don’t want to yell about it online with you?
All I know is the hit had an ugly ending to it, but I didn’t feel Weegar did anything egregious on it. But don’t just listen to my opinion, even Elias Pettersson himself echoed the same sentiment postgame:
“Those hits happen all the time,” Pettersson said. “I dropped it to Boes; it was a bad drop. I think I reached for it, and then Weegar hit me. I don’t think it’s a bad hit at all. It’s just bad timing.”
But as mentioned earlier, the Canucks power play is kind of doo doo right now, so Evander Kane would promptly turn the puck over to Blake Coleman for the best scoring chance during the Weegar penalty:
That is a power play pass right out of JT Miller in his unhappiest prime right there. But also notice how bored Demko looks making that save. I haven’t seen disdain like that since Elizabeth Bennett was first proposed to.
Best the north remembers
D-Petey gets payback on Zary for that elbow to the head last year
#Canucks
— Ashton Ryder (@AshtonRyder6)
October 10, 2025
Defensively oriented Elias Pettersson would then take centre stage, as he would get a five-minute major downgraded to a minor on a similar situation to the Weegar hit, when he ran Connor Zary into the boards from behind:
I have two theories on this.
One, there are many, many Elias Petterssons in the world, and much like the Borg, they all share one mind. If you hit one Elias Pettersson, you hit them all. You will be assimilated in response to create even more Elias Petterssons. In a couple of years, the Canucks entire top two lines will be filled with nothing but Elias Petterssons.
Or two, Junior has a long memory, and
revenge is a dish best served cold, and he was simply handing out a receipt to Zary.
In the end, the officials (surprisingly, I may add) chose to hand out a two-minute penalty, which led to Arshdeep Bains getting the Tortorella Shot Block of the Night Award on the ensuing penalty kill:
I will admit I am not a fan of Bains in the top six, and smarter men than I have told me to give him time, and that his NHL game will round into form.
And I will say I have full confidence in him being a bottom-six guy this year who can pitch in defensively and give you that solid, reliable relationship on defence that you can introduce to your mother on Thanksgiving dinner.
I’m just not sold on Top Six Bains yet, I’m not. You have to rise above the Aaron Volpatti bar for me to think “hey maybe this kid should get a shot on the top lines” before I can buy into your game.
That being said, I have been wrong many times in my life, so I will happily own up to being incorrect on this should he take off this year.
Demko’s mask and pads are sickkk
#Canucks
— Lorie (@MissWest003)
October 10, 2025
The benefits of giving up breakaways and forcing Demko to make exceptional saves is that you get to see his very decidedly non-Ian Clark-approved pads in action:
It is not often Quinn Hughes skates into a situation that results in a semi-breakaway against, so enjoy it while you can. This is about as rusty as Quinn Hughes gets before he locks it down.
#Canucks Quinn just got his skating legs under him again….what a Move!
— zipper (@zee_zipper)
October 10, 2025
Speaking of the Canucks captain, we had our very first “Quinn Hughes doing Quinn Hughes things” moment of the season in the middle of the second period:
What I like about Quinn Hughes is that he makes the EA Sports over-the-top deke moves look real.
Like Hughes is out here pulling out spins left and right, and you’re like “Oh yeah ok, maybe EA isn’t as arcadey as I thought, my bad.”
Mere seconds later, Quinn Hughes was out there on the power play, faking a shot and once again busting out a spin move:
Sometimes, there is nothing you can do about Quinn Hughes. He is the Thanos of the NHL. He is inevitable.
Like you know, the other team is all “ok Hughes can probably skate right by me, but what the hell am I going to do about it?” so they’re basically playing it from a “How can I avoid breaking my ankles and getting put on YouTube” angle, and not a “how can I stop Quinn Hughes” angle:
Vintage Demko.
#Canucks
— Snowstar444 (@snowstar444)
October 10, 2025
Calgary’s best chance to score in the second period came near the end of the frame when they got a point shot off, followed up by a quick shot in the slot, but it didn’t matter:
Demko already knew where they were going to shoot the puck three hours ago.
Best reminder to play to the whistle
That's a weird way to score a goal. Filip Chytil hit Kevin Bahl in the head with his first shot, then as everyone was distracted by Bahl collapsing to the ice, Chytil scored into the open net.
#Canucks
— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis)
October 10, 2025
This is a tricky one, because I am in no way laughing at head shots, nor do I want to make light of a puck hitting Kevin Bahl in the head, but there is something…ironic about Filip Chytil using a head shot to score a goal?
For a man who knows the suffering a concussion can bring, we can reasonably say Chytil wasn’t pleased with beaming a guy in the head, but he also had a job to do: play to the whistle, which he did. He saw a loose puck, and while Calgary assumed the ref would call the play dead, Filip put the puck in the net.
It’s certainly one of the odder goals of the season so far, and you can see why Calgary would be upset. But also, yeah, play to the whistle?
What shouldn’t get lost in this is just how good Chytil’s skating looked on the night.
Remember those first four games with Vancouver last year, where he was carrying the puck in with aplomb? Before the Rick Tocchet GOTI System strangled all the creativity and joy out of him?
Well, on this night, Filip was every bit a second line centre you could want to have. Offensively dangerous, responsible defensively, if you take concussion worries out of the equation, it’s easy to see why the Canucks wanted Chytil in the JT Miller trade.
And while I tend to take the hockey stat graphs with a grain of salt, they at the very least paint a picture of who was involved in the offence and defence on the night to some degree, and on that level, it was no surprise that Chytil led the charge:
Again, it’s only been one game. There will be many tougher challenges ahead. But for one night, Chytil looked like the second line centre the Canucks have been looking for all offseason. The call was coming from inside the house the entire time, damn it.
Best rounding into form?
Kane’s passing has been BAD
#canucks
— Abby (@Hockey2L)
October 10, 2025
The good news is his puck control was just as bad on this night, it wasn’t just the passing!
I would say he might need to get used to Quinn Hughes dancing his way into setting up his linemates with incredible gifts in the form of high danger scoring chances, but he just came from a team with McDavid and Draisaitl, so I don’t think that’s the issue.
Again, I think he needs time to round into form, but I also don’t think it needs to round on the first unit power play.
And while the team did go scoreless on the night with the extra man, Prime Time and the second unit looked far more efficient in their limited time:
Better puck movement and better player movement; the second unit just felt more fluid than the top one.
Miller makes it 3-0 euhhhhh I mean chytil
#Canucks
— steamer12 (@BastoneJeff)
October 10, 2025
The Flames ran into the joys of the Hockey Gods as they went from having what looked like a sure goal in the slot at one end, into a Chytil breakaway goal at the other:
That’s the kind of goal in beer league where I just settle in because I know the game is over. We all have to work tomorrow, let’s just try and finish this one with no fights.
And again, it wasn’t just the goals. Chytil looked GOOD out there on the ice, throwing off the shackles of the GOTI system, and playing give and go with Quinn Hughes:
How many times did we see a stagnant team last year? How many times did Rick Tocchet come out in a hot dog suit, accusing his team of not doing what he wanted, which at times was to simply skate and get open?
For whatever reason, the team forgot how to do the fundamentals of offensive hockey, but on opening night, the Canucks looked good in the offensive zone.
One game, I know, but at least we got a fun game right out of the gate.
What a snipe by Lekkerimäki. Seriously need to get this man on pp1. The shot is simply too good to leave off of it
#Canucks
— What The Nuck (@WhatTheNuckPod)
October 10, 2025
After a spirited zone entry by Corolla, Evander Kane picked up his first point as a Canuck when he got the assist on Prime Time’s goal:
Calgary was pretty much dead inside by this point, so you don’t want to get overly excited about racking up the goals, but it was still nice to see Lekkerimäki slide into a soft spot on the ice to get his lethal shot off.
For whatever warts Lekkerimäki has in his game, we at least know the kid can shoot the lights out.
Remember when the Canucks drafted Patrick White and Dave Nonis raved about his shot?
Anyways, it’s nice when the players come as advertised, that’s all I’m saying.
Gotta let one in to keep it a little spicy
#canucks
— Pucknucksaga (@pucknucksaga)
October 10, 2025
Bains ran into a little bit of trouble on the lone Flames goal of the night, when he sent a pass into the middle of the ice to an unsuspecting Kiefer Sherwood:
It wasn’t the greatest play, and the safe move was probably glass and out or keep skating with the puck. However, this mistake allows us to argue and yell at each other online about it, so maybe it’s serving the greater good.
82-0 still in play!
#Canucks
— Ryan (@BentleytheGreat)
October 10, 2025
What else do you do in a game that’s all but over? You get Brock Boeser to score a goal:
Again, the Flames at this point are exhausted and simply want the pain to stop, so even they’re like “sure ok Brock, have at it” on this play.
The nice thing is, Vancouver entered the zone with puck possession and didn’t dump it into the corner. At this point, I hope the Canucks dummy their opponent every chance they get because we’re owed it after whatever it was last season.
And that was the ball game. The Canucks won a game they should have, and nobody got sad in the media scrums. That’s about as win/win as it gets right now.
The next test on Saturday will be the bigger one, as the Canucks take on the Edmonton Oilers, but for a home opener, this one went about as good as you could have hoped for.
LMFAO “we didnt have it in vancouver. it was at a university” HAHAHAHAHAHAHA DEF CANUCKS SHADE
https://t.co/mEzq1oOKgX pic.twitter.com/VUVLHafnDy
— oli ³⁷ (@siluvssilovs)
October 10, 2025
I honestly don’t think Silovs was like “welp, time to bury the Canucks!” He just seems like a kid who discovered how rich people live. Like, he legit gives off the aura of someone who just got to visit their rich friend’s house and is blown away that they have three bathrooms. “Wait, we get a locker? I don’t have to head down to UBC and wait for the Thunderbirds player to get their gear out of my spot?”
@TheStanchion oh boy do I have a good jersey for you.
pic.twitter.com/d2jY5KOVA3
— Teddy Wong III
(@Tee3ree)
October 10, 2025
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: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/FXEns6U3yE
Lankinen
CANUCKS GOAL
WHAT A HIT!