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3 Canucks Stars of the Week: Kiefer Sherwood helps carry a depleted roster
Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/3-vancouver-canucks-stars-week-kiefer-sherwood-depleted-roster
Welcome back to Stars of the Week at CanucksArmy! Every week, we’ll be bringing you our Top Three best and brightest performers on the Vancouver Canucks that week. Disagree with our picks or have your own stars to nominate? Let us know in the comments below!
The Vancouver Canucks were not the most important Canadian sports team to face a disappointing loss on Saturday night, but they were one of them. Take a moment to comfort a Blue Jays fan today. If they’re also a Canucks fan, don’t worry, they’re used to it by now.
The Canucks currently have enough injuries and main cast member exits to rival a season of Grey’s Anatomy. J.T. Miller’s return to Vancouver as captain of the New York Rangers – and also Carson Soucy, everyone always forgets Carson Soucy, but I’m sure some Canucks fans would prefer to forget Carson Soucy – was lacklustre for the Canucks, to say the least. This was followed by a tough shootout win against the St. Louis Blues and a 5-2 loss against a struggling Minnesota Wild team. Honestly, while missing a good chunk of the roster – Quinn Hughes, Conor Garland, Teddy Blueger, Derek Forbort, Victor Mancini, Filip Chytil, Nils Höglander, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, as well as losing Brock Boeser early against the Blues (although he returned against the Wild) – this mediocre week is to be expected. If you’ve got a pair of skates, a Canucks jersey, and are located in Greater Vancouver, you might just get called up to the team if this injury situation gets any worse.
Kiefer Sherwood
I am beginning to run out of adjectives to describe the fiery force that is Kiefer Sherwood right now. Yes, everyone who is paying attention in the hockey world now knows Sherwood is on a certifiable hot streak, but those of us who have been on the Sherwood train since the beginning know he has had this in him since joining the team. After all, there is a reason why Quinn Hughes was happy to have Sherwood as a teammate after facing off against him on the Nashville Predators in the 2024 playoffs.
CANUCKS GOAL
HAT TRICK GOAL FOR KIEFER SHERWOOD!!!
: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/ZZccn2AJeN
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) October 31, 2025
St. Louis Blues, Kiefer Sherwood, hat trick. All three goals that were scored in regulation in this game. I think it is quite clear who is driving the core of this Canucks team, even once players return from injury. He has as many goals as the likes of Sidney Crosby and Leon Draisaitl. Oh, and he is also currently second in hits league-wide, at 58 hits on the season thus far. I believe in the theatre world, this is called a “triple-threat.” Over there, that’s acting, singing, and dancing. Here, it’s hits, points, and heart.
Thatcher Demko
Thatcher Demko started in 2 out of 3 games this week, and I can say with a fair level of confidence that he is the only reason why the contest against the Rangers was only a 2-0 loss. The same could perhaps also be said for the game against the Wild, even if his save percentage doesn’t necessarily reflect it.
Thatcher Demko makes a fantastic glove save!
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 2, 2025
I have said it in 3 Stars this year already, and I will say it again: the team cannot keep wasting great performances from Demko. At this same time, I think he is one goalie-shaped band-aid covering up a lot of problems in front of him right now. They are doing what they can under the circumstances, but if things do not improve once all skaters are healthy once more, that will be a different story.
Drew O’Connor
There have not been many positives to speak about Drew O’Connor’s game this year – before this week, at least. I’m sorry, Mr. O’Connor. It’s not personal.
While the Canucks as a group had an exceedingly middling week amongst their injury-beleaguered roster, it has required many more of their middle-of-the-road players to step up. And step up, DOC has.
The Canucks’ top line has been struggling to produce this week, especially after Conor Garland was injured. This is where the middle six has come into play – whether through desperation or opportunity, you decide. O’Connor has been playing alongside Aatu Räty and, currently, Abbotsford call-up MacKenzie MacEachern. He’s been on the penalty kill, as expected, but he’s also looked sharper offensively when deployed at even strength, despite still having bottom-six ice time.
Perhaps it is unfair to hand out stars under extenuating circumstances, but to go from a weak start of the year to not actively being a liability in all zones is a win in my books – O’Connor also had a three-point (2G 1A) week, to be fair. Netting two goals on two shots against the Minnesota Wild was some solid work in a not-so-solid game. Not including Jake DeBrusk’s shootout winner against the Blues, the Canucks only had two goal-scorers this week, and they’re both on this list.
Take this, “Oh, that was a goal?” moment he had right off the draw taken by Räty.
Drew O'Connor picks up his 2nd goal of the game!
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 2, 2025
It is truly comical how quickly this went down in real-time, but see, this is what happens when you actually take the shot. Any shot. It appears Gustavsson had trouble reading through traffic right off the face-off in his own zone and didn’t quite move fast enough. You never know what can happen when you shoot instead of passing the puck like a game of hot potato.
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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/3-vancouver-canucks-stars-week-kiefer-sherwood-depleted-roster
