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[Vancouver Canucks]

3 Canucks Stars of the Week: Kiefer Sherwood helps carry a 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!

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/rxVUs0ftuI

— 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.

CANUCKS GOAL

Drew O'Connor picks up his 2nd goal of the game!

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/LnaOAuELJJ

— 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

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Halloween is over, but the Canucks’ November schedule is downright scary

October was spooky enough for the Vancouver Canucks, and November could get a whole lot worse.

After an opening month that saw them finish with a 6-6 record amidst a plethora of injuries to key players, the Canucks are gearing up for what could go down as the toughest month of their season. And of course, they’ll do it while still missing a number of key players, at least to begin the month. The good news is, the Canucks’ November schedule doesn’t really reach gauntlet status until next week.

Before that, the Canucks will take on the 5-6-2 Nashville Predators on Monday night before returning home to take on the better-than-expected-but-still-not-great Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. They’ll then have something they haven’t had much of this year: Two consecutive days off at home, and a chance to practice. Finally.

After that though? Back-to-back games against the 7-5 Blue Jackets and ever-dangerous Colorado Avalanche. Two days later, when the Canucks will play their third game in four night, the Winnipeg Jets come to town. The Canucks then head back out on the road to take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 14th before heading to Florida for their annual road back-to-backs against the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning on the 16th and 17th, respectively. For those who have lost track: that’s six games over ten days against very formidable opponents.

The Canucks then return home on the 20th to take on the Dallas Stars, and huzzah! Another two consecutive days off at home before the Flames come into town on the 23rd. Two days later, the Canucks head out on their California road trip, with three games in four nights against the Ducks, Sharks, and Kings.

Canucks’ schedule page on CanucksArmy.com

The intensity of the Canucks’ schedule in the middle of the month puts a great deal of importance on the club’s next three games against the Predators, Blackhawks, and Blue Jackets. And of course, getting bodies back will be extremely beneficial as well. Captain Quinn Hughes returns tonight when the Canucks take on the Predators, leaving the Canucks with seven players out of commission.

READ NEXT: ‘I’m excited to play’: Canucks get major boost as Quinn Hughes returns from injury​

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/halloween-over-vancouver-canucks-november-schedule-downright-scary

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

The Stanchies: Brock Boeser and Evander Kane call deuces in Canucks’ 5-4 OT win vs. Predators

The Vancouver Canucks might have beaten the Nashville Predators 5-4 in overtime on Monday night, but make no mistake about it: it was a 2-1 game at heart.

You see, it was not the type of game with pretty goals aplenty, no sir/madam. It was a game in which two teams tried to win by grinding it out; in many ways, it was like a Magic Mike film, minus the leather and the daring performance of Kevin Nash.

This scratch-and-claw game just happened to end up with a bunch of goals on the board, and you could almost sense that somewhere in the world, Jacques Lemaire was screaming in agony every time the red light went off.

And as the Canucks look to get back on track in a season in which some statistical models have painted a bleak picture of their season so far, it was an important win. We all know the injury troubles the team is dealing with, but as the walking wounded slowly return to the lineup, Vancouver cannot afford to wait for full health before locking down some victories.

The Canucks, of course, got big news on that front before the game with the return of their captain, Quinn Hughes, who, despite being held scoreless, played 28 minutes on the night and was a welcome return for a team in need of puck possession from the back end.

And for a team that had been waiting for some of its struggling top line players to start putting up points on the board, Evander Kane and Brock Boeser’s two goals, along with Elias Pettersson’s two assists, gave a much-needed boost to their offence. You can only talk about Drew O’Connor being the team’s best offensive player on the night for so long before you start getting a bad case of the nervous sweats.

Heck, even Jake DeBrusk suited up for this game and scored a goal to remind you that he does in fact exist and he is not in fact a fake player name created for money laundering purposes.

And while there was certainly some ugliness in this game (the Canucks held a 4-2 lead in the third period at one point before watching Nashville turn the tide by beating them continuously on the forecheck), there was also a lot of good. Coming off that dreadful performance against Minnesota, it can make a game like this feel a bit cleansing in that sense, where you just learn to take the wins where you can and enjoy the moment for what it is.

Tom Willander got his first NHL assist off a daring Jyrki Lumme-esque rush up the ice? We are absolutely here for it.

Besides, if Nashville has taught us anything in this life, it’s that we should all just be happy nobody floated away into the night holding a kite.

Best firm handshakes to start this game off

I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t like it, but I can’t stop watching it.

I think it’s the pinky grab by Gary Bettman at the end that almost makes me die of third-party embarrassment the most.

Is Jerry trying to do an elaborate handshake routine? Did they agree on one, but Gary failed to stick the landing? Did Jerry just go rogue and start “Yes, and?” -ing with Gary’s hand? At what point did Gary decide to let go of Jerry’s pinky? Like what was going through his head as he held onto that finger for dear life? How many seconds did he take before he was like “Something has gone horribly wrong, I have to stop this.” and retract his hand?

I have questions, that’s all I’m saying.

Best return of the Q

just shed a tear seeing Quinn Hughes on my screen

— 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙝 ✧.* (@captnhuggy) November 4, 2025

Quinn Hughes’ return to the lineup meant we got to see occasional rushes down the ice that led to actual shots on net.

We also got to see the Canucks run their patented “tee hee, did I do that?” soft interference to open up some room, as you can see at the start of the clip from Quinn Hughes:

Quinn Hughes ends up taking the puck and turning it into a zone entry, as is tradition, before Evander Kane gets a shot on net and whispers, “My name is Evander Kane, you killed my goal, prepare to die.”*

*I assume this is what he said, and I have no proof countering my claim, so this feels pretty locked in, to be honest.

Now, I bring up that soft pick just to showcase the kind of game it was, ie fighting for every inch of ice on the rink on the night. When teams enter an agreement to grind it out, it means winning puck battles through any means necessary, and hey, if Quinn Hughes accidentally “tee hee, did I do that? Silly me!” into someone to buy Tyler Myers a second, then god damn it, that’s just what he’s gonna have to do.

It also means you can generate creative offence out of preventing icings, such as here, where MacKenzie MacEachern managed to tip a dump in that would have ended the play otherwise:

The end result? Aatu Räty just pushing the puck high over the net and onto the netting, and also reinforcing my ability to learn the shorthand for the accents on Räty. Hold down the Alt key and then hit ‘0228’ on your numpad for those playing at home.

Fun fact: 1 out of every 2,028 people in Finland has the name Räty, based on me googling a single website and using that as the entire premise of this sentence.

Moving on, Quinn Hughes tends to make the players around him better. You could argue that, but then I’d have to Google it — and as we just saw, I’m what you’d call a bit of a wizard when it comes to online searching. And I’m not just talking about the Google AI overview. No, no, I’m talking diving deep into page 17 of Google to find something to make my point, because I’ve got that sicko mentality.

So, having proven my point, Quinn Hughes being back in the lineup led to moments like this, where Elias Pettersson was able to play give and go with his captain, resulting in a pass from Quinn over to Kiefer Sherwood that almost resulted in a tap-in goal:

That’s the beauty of Quinn Hughes: he creates room on the ice. And on a night in which the teams were taking away the middle of the ice and the high-danger scoring chances were few and far between, a player who can create room becomes invaluable.

Best don’t rock the boat

I love watching the canucks I just wish it didn't feel so much like intense psychological torture

— Feeb (@Feeb4z) November 4, 2025

If I can say anything about Adam Foote’s system, I will say that it does seem to allow more freedom to the defence to stay aggressive.

And when it works? It’s as beautiful as Artie Bucco standing in front of a freshly cleaned kitchen, ingredients at the ready.

When it doesn’t work? Sometimes you have Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers making aggressive plays on the puck that lead to a goal against:

Perhaps inspired by the game of Max Hairston on Sunday, Hughes tries to jump up and snag the interception on Luke Evangelista, who, despite feeling the presence of another person near him, did not fall to the ground screaming. In fact, Luke makes a pretty damn good play on the puck, sending it over to Brady Skjei’s side of the ice, which causes Tyler Myers to have to make a choice: pursue the puck and try and contain the play along the boards, or drop back and defend a potential two-on-one and see if Elias Pettersson can catch Skjei on the back check.

Since it’s Chaos Giraffe, we know he’s going to choose the Leroy Jenkins option, so he’s off to the races, giving up the middle of the ice. EP40 sees Myers wheel off and then just sort of stops skating hard and glides on the rest of the way. Like a pilot descending for their final flight before vacation, EP40 is taking in the scenery on this one, which allows Filip Forsberg to skate right down the middle of the ice and corral the puck in behind Thatcher Demko on what is a glorified tap-in goal.

And no, Elias was not tired on this shift; he had only been on the ice for around 30 seconds and hadn’t made many meaningful strides. That being said, as we all know, the little things of the game have kind of been Pettersson’s bread and butter as of late, so this is not one of those JT Miller moments where he’s done this 84 times and we’re really fighting with ourselves whether to scold him or not.

If anything, it’s a rare occurrence for Elias to not be all-in defensively, so chalk this up as one of those “sh!t happens” moments.

Unless you dislike Elias, then you have saved this video clip for a public trial to be held at a future date.

If you have no issue with Pettersson, then this is just a highlight of how a couple of defensive breakdowns can make you pay in the NHL.

Best get your motor running

Canucks need to get some offence going

— DorianDidit (@Dorian9294) November 4, 2025

Even though the Canucks got five goals on the night, it wasn’t a night of elite offensive production. The Canucks held the edge in shots 36 to 29, but as Natural Stat Trick will show you, there wasn’t a lot of heat in dangerous areas:

Nashville actually got the higher-quality looks on net in this game, whereas Vancouver was more of a “Sure, why not?” sort of shooting team. Which, to be fair, I applaud that. I would take that over the Rick Tocchet GOTI hockey, where they would have 14 shots as they looked to find the perfect shot on net. At least with volume, you have a higher chance of your thoughts and prayer type of offence working.

But sometimes those shifts from Vancouver would produce a few hard looks on net, such as when Lukas Reichel used his speed to generate a zone entry, followed up by good work from Arshdeep Bains in a puck battle behind the net, leading to Linus Karlsson finding Max Sasson in the slot for a shot:

I realize now that this clip literally stops just as Max is shooting, leading you to wonder, “Well, what happened??”, and I can assure you it was not done to draw you in before I ask you to pay money to my Patreon to see the next few seconds. But the fact you don’t KNOW if the clip led to a goal speaks to the fact that the Canucks at least generated some good looks here and there in this game.

Now, if you subscribe to my OnlyFans, I will tell you what happened on that shot.

As for the next dangerous look on net that the Canucks generated, well, it was way of our old friend Jake DeBrusk, who managed to sneak a puck out of a scrum along the boards on the power play and bull rush it on net:

Which, on some nights, might have been the lone highlight of the power play for the Canucks. But not on this night. Not here. Not when you have a second unit led by the speed of Max Sasson and the shooting ability of one Evander Kane – a player I am told fans have no opinion of, good or bad:

The theme of the night? Creating room on the ice. And how does Max create room for Evander? He makes a zone entry with his speed and causes Nashville to start chasing the puck. And when you’re already down a man, all of a sudden that chasing leads to an awful lot of space on the ice. And when there is space on the ice, you can start passing the puck with alacrity, leading to Evander Kane getting enough room to hammer the puck on net, aided by the slight deflection off of Tyson Jost’s stick.

But that’s the beauty of the shot volume system. Thoughts and prayer systems work when you do them in bulk. Struggling to get 15 shots in a game makes your offence look like straight dog turds. But when you generate 30+ shots on the net, your odds of getting a bounce or two to go your way shoot up much higher.

Best showcase showdown

The Canucks ended the first period with 12 shots, and it feels like it’s been far too long since we’ve seen Drew O’Connor skate down the ice and put the puck on net, so here you go:

Blocks the shot, skates hard, gets the puck on net, still gets buried in Corsi on the night, that’s the Calendar I know.

Best second period underway

Sloppy in all areas right now #canucks

— kevin (@kevinlambert23) November 4, 2025

Despite O’Connor, MacEachern and Räty being the worst Corsi line on the night — something that has become a bit of a habit for this trio — I will say it’s not for lack of effort. In fact, I kind of enjoy their shifts in the offensive zone. They just straight up take out their lunch pails and start throwing tuna sandwiches around while discussing the origin of the pickle (that’s how I assume they eat after a hard-working shift):

This trio was actually keeping pace with the Predators through two periods; it was mostly the third period where they started swimming in their own zone. Defensively, they just haven’t been able to play as a cohesive unit, which can lead to those extended shifts in their own zone where you start feeling bad for them because you know Sportsnet is about to show the two-minute shift length clock on the screen any second now.

But offensively, in a purely grind-it-out and cause a bit of a ruckus out there, I find myself nodding my head in an encouraging fashion more often than not.

And being questionable defensively isn’t just a them thing, as Evander Kane made this play while Tom Willander had been stuck out on the ice for about two minutes:

Evander Kane isn’t ducking those beer league strats accusations anytime soon. Don’t get me wrong, as you will see tonight, the guy has offensive skill; nobody can deny that. The guy knows what he’s doing in the offensive zone. But this season so far has seen two Evander Kanes: the one on the offensive side of the ice and the one on the defensive side of the ice. And it’s fair to say that with a thin roster, the offence from Evander needs to keep clicking at a decent clip to overshadow his casual relationship with defence.

That being said, Evander could have had three goals on the night if this pass from an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous stanchion had found his stick on this dump-in from Kiefer Sherwood:

Which was kind of how it felt the night was going to go. You had two teams playing hard, tight (almost like the playoffs) hockey and sometimes an inch or two decides that kind of game.

It’s like a ball getting stuck under a wall; sometimes sports like to play cruel jokes on you.

Best getting on the board

Watching Quinn Hughes hockey is so fun it makes it worth it to add being a Canucks fan to being a Bengals fan already

— darth peydar (@DarthPeydar) November 4, 2025

Quinn Hughes enjoys pulling off Steph Curry moves at the blue line, which most of the time generates one of two things:

• broken ankles for the defender
• defender taking a penalty out of embarrassment
• Sometimes both

In this case, it was Ozzy Wiesblatt who found himself the butt of the joke, as Hughes juked around him, leading to Ozzy slashing in the general area of Quinn Hughes to register his disapproval:

This was then promptly followed up by Nick Perbix registering his disapproval with Jake DeBrusk for trying to score on his goalie, something frowned upon heavily in the Perbix family:

Fun fact: there were only 10 Perbix surnames in America in 1880. That’s right, you just got Googled by the Stanch.

All of which led to Jake DeBrusk scoring just as the first penalty was expiring on the five-on-three man advantage:

EP40 feeds Brock across the ice, and he finds Jake in his office down low (I want to call Jake’s office in front of the net Tim Horton’s just because he feels so approachable), and it’s a one-goal lead for Vancouver.

For everything the Canucks did wrong in Minnesota, they were doing it right in this game. Vancouver went 0/3 with the man advantage against the Wild but went 2/3 on the night against the Predators, which at least let them keep pace with Nashville getting two of their own special teams goals. They need to produce like this if they want to win games.

Best with great power comes great responsibility

Ok call someone else out now Wyatt!

— Coco (@AllLoveCoco) November 4, 2025

You know who else has been invisible? Brock Boeser. Just truly awful play as of-

Yes, that is Defensively Minded Elias Pettersson feeding the puck over to Tom Willander as if he just opened the gate to the backyard and told his husky to go for a run.

And if there has been one standout from Willander so far in his NHL career, it’s that his skating has come exactly as advertised.

When I watch myself skate, I wonder why I am insulting the game of hockey by clomping around the ice. When I watch Willander skate, it gives me hope of life after death, because surely nothing so beautiful can exist on this planet without the assistance of some sort of higher power.

He just has that effortless stride that you’d see in a Paul Coffey (relax, purely talking vibes here, nothing more), where they just make skating look like something they did straight out of the womb. Like, they didn’t skate OUT of the womb, but they put on skates shortly afterwards.

You get it.

The point is, he has that swagger to his game, and in this case, it resulted in a goal for Brock Boeser, who was able to find the puck after Willander initially threw the puck towards Kiefer Sherwood.

And that’s kind of where we have to see where Willander’s game grows. I can watch this kid skate all day, but we will need to see if he can continue to make his offensive forays pay off. Whether that’s in the form of extended zone time, him finding an open teammate, or what have you.

You see, it’s one thing to gain the zone with speed, but it’s another thing to do something once you’re there. Sure, I can show up to work in nothing but shorts, flip flops and all the swagger in the world, but eventually people are going to worry about my future with the company.

It’s why we have such deep philosophical talks about Drew O’Connor all the time. He has all that speed but not much offence to show for it, and even worse, his defensive numbers are hurting. You start to wonder what the long-term outlook is going to be for him.

So with Willander, we will have to see if his game continues to evolve in the right direction, because man alive, when you watch this kid, you can see the toolset that had the Canucks drooling over him.

Best the power of prayer

Textbook case of throwing the stick.

Penalty shot.#Canucks

— RespectDaFro (@RespectDaFro) November 4, 2025

With the Canucks up two goals, Nick Perbix hit a post, leading to a Kiefer Sherwood breakaway, via a perfect bank pass from Elias Pettersson:

First up, why haven’t the Canucks put Elias Pettersson in one of those pool shooting battles? Is it because he’s too good? It’s because he’s too good.

This pass is the perfect example of why some people will hold firm in the belief that the points are coming for Elias Pettersson. Even with the two assists he had on the night, this was another game where you were like “you know, he could have had four points” and you wouldn’t have been wrong. I’m not saying he’s a perfect player, or that he’s playing anywhere near where he needs to be for this team, but the points aren’t telling the whole story with him this season. My main issue with him continues to be, please shoot the bleeping puck, and please stop bleeping falling.

Secondly, Nick Perbix, I know you threw that stick, my man. Intentional, unintentional, it doesn’t matter. You tossed that stick on a breakaway; that should have been a penalty.

You can’t spell cheating Perbix without Perbix, as they say.

Best a case of the drops

What the actual fuck is wrong with Petey? Why the fuck can't he skate without falling down all the fucking time?#Canucks

— Bacon is meat candy (@o89canucks) November 4, 2025

Nashville would make it 3-2 on a late period power play on a Nick Erik Haula goal:

I think my brain was so mad at the stick toss not being called that it just started assuming every NHL player’s first name was Nick. Nick Hughes, Nick Boeser, Nick Demko, bring on the Nicks.

Now, in that clip, you will see Elias Pettersson falling down because of….bees? Was it bees? I will assume it was very poor ice on the night, as the puck was bobbling and other players were skidding out on the night.

But in terms of optics, of course it had to be Elias Pettersson who fell to the ice, which led to the zone entry from Nashville, which eventually led to the power play goal.

It’s not exactly fair to blame this goal on Elias Pettersson, as it wasn’t as if his fall led to an odd-man rush or anything of that nature, but for a player who seems to really struggle to stay on his feet, this will just continue to feed the flames.

I just think I have sided with the people who feel he needs to be stronger on his feet. I used to defend him, but it’s been long enough that I honestly think it’s an official impediment in his game now.

Remember the reverse butt checks he used to hand out all the time? I miss those days.

Best make it two

We have officially entered Evander Kane hat trick watch and I'm not sure how I feel about it #Canucks

— Will G (@gt261) November 4, 2025

Remember Ozzy Wiesblatt? Remember his penalty he took on Quinn Hughes after the Canucks captain embarrassed him on the blueline? Well, the good news for Ozzy is that he squared up and played Quinn Hughes a lot better this time around. The bad news? You come at the King, you best not miss:

Honestly, Ozzy plays Quinn really strong on the initial rush. Quinn tries to break some ankles, but Ozzy manages to shove Hughes back. He doesn’t break his ankles; everything is fine. The problem is Hughes reloads, and while Ozzy chases him down, Quinn passes out of coverage down to Marcus Pettersson, who has ample room to find Linus Karlsson in front of the net, who then makes a brilliant pass over to Evander Kane.

It was a game of who would find the open ice, and even though Quinn Hughes wouldn’t get an assist on this play, he was instrumental in its success.

Perhaps inspired by the Canucks finding the open man beside the net, Nashville tried it themselves on their own power play, only to run into Thatcher Demko:

Looking like a young Thomas Douglas, Demko was locked in and unfazed by the Predators’ attempt to beat him side to side, as is his way.

Even better for Vancouver, they would then get their own grade A scoring chance while killing off that penalty, as EP40 and Kiefer Sherwood took off on a rush after Tyler Myers used the chaos for good to break up a zone entry attempt by Nashville:

This is a good example of the IQ of Kiefer Sherwood. A lot of players may try to drive wide and beat their guy along the boards, but he sees Elias driving hard down the middle, which gives him time and space to cut back to the middle and get his shot off from a much more dangerous spot on the ice. Smart plays from both of them.

Best pride before the fall

canucks
canucks ur lead

— kk (@savedbysilovs) November 4, 2025

To the Predators’ credit, they started turning the screw, as Winning Eleven taught me. They just sort of hemmed Vancouver in their own end and repeatedly prevented Vancouver from getting the puck out. Eventually, it paid off by way of the Predators’ third goal, as D Petey couldn’t get the puck out and the resulting turnover ended up in his net via Michael Bunting:

And it continued like this, to the point where Tyler Myers failed to get the puck out twice on one shift, leading to multiple Predators scoring chances:

Part of this was score effects (Vancouver clearly sat back to an extent), but part of it was that Nashville really did a good job of forcing Vancouver into mistakes.

Best are you sure about that?

What did Kane do this time…#canucks

— Jules The Acting Accountant (@Jules2321) November 4, 2025

The Canucks then found themselves on the penalty kill once again, this time due to the Evander Kane third period penalty, as is tradition.

Except in Kane’s defence, it felt like more like the kind of penalty a ref would have called in a game Gregory Campbell was playing in, and his dad had angrily e-mailed the officials the night before:

The first clip? Michael Bunting punching Brock Boeser. The second clip? Evander Kane existing near Luke Evangelista.

If you don’t call the Brock penalty (let’s say the ref thinks he embellished it), then I don’t know how you can call the Kane penalty, in which heavy breathing is about the worst thing I can see on the play.

The end result? The Predators tied the game up purely on thoughts and prayers from the point:

It’s hard to see, but Marcus Pettersson actually deflects the pass from Matthew Wood, which I think slightly throws off Demko, which, coupled with the screen in front, leaves him unprepared for the Kenny Blankenship Nick Blankenburg shot.

Best doing your part

Was really hoping the Canucks could hang on and for the final few minutes but it’s the Canucks we are taking about

Now I need them to end it in OT

— Isabelle (@obx_hughes) November 4, 2025

Hanging on is the correct term as the Canucks were doing anything in their power to get this to overtime, including Elias Pettersson going all out on making a shot block late in the game:

Somewhere Alex Edler is looking up at the sky and beaming with pride.

Best a rose by any other name

Holy shit this Preds Canucks overtime is so unbelievably boring and uneventful

— Niki (@itsdefnotniki) November 4, 2025

This might have been one of the most low event overtimes of the season? Aside from the game winner, we had maybe two shots, including this moment in overtime where Quinn Hughes went behind the net and Lukas Reichel and Evander Kane just sort of floated away?

Quinn just sets up shop, and his two buddies just sit back as if waiting for Quinn Hughes to hard carry them through the Mythic raid.

This led to the end over overtime in which Kiefer Sherwood finally created a shot on net for Vancouver, and in which Elias Pettersson fell to the ice after Jonathan Marchessault swept the leg:

EP40 makes an elite takeaway at the blueline only to find himself tripped to the ice, and had it not been for Kiefer Sherwood deflecting the pass into the crowd, that could have ended up buried in Vancouver’s net. That is what I would call a very brave call by the officials, in that it’s very brave not to call an obvious penalty.

That play from Kiefer then set up a faceoff deep in the Nashville zone, and I haven’t been this scared and excited since I saw that clip of the girl with the kite.

Best making Michael Buble proud

canucks win, oilers lose

I’m sleeping like a baby tonight

— annissa (@fieldingannissa) November 4, 2025

There is a scramble off the draw, the puck goes into the corner, it looks like Nashville is going to come out with the puck when BOOM, EP40 one-hand slaps at the puck and gets it down low to Brock Boeser:

I like the fact that Nashville must wonder why Brock Boeser hates them. They have their own Milan Hejduk on their hands, where you just wonder what it is about your team that just gets this guy absolutely amped up to pound you into the sand.

That goal would cap off a three-point night for Brock, and for a team that has needed to see more from its top line players, they delivered on this night.

You know what’s even funnier? Elias Pettersson stumbling on the victory celebration:

Bees? Bees.

It wasn’t pretty but they got the job done.

Best final thoughts

#Canucks were 3-8 beyond regulation time through Xmas last season. What a difference a year makes. Now 4-0 after 60

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) November 4, 2025

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[Vancouver Canucks]

‘He’s playing in the mud and in the dirt’: Elias Pettersson earning praise from Adam Foote for keeping injury-riddled Canucks afloat

He may not have scored a goal, but Elias Pettersson had a major hand in the Vancouver Canucks‘ win over the Nashville Predators. As more and more of his teammates have left the lineup due to injuries, Pettersson has taken on more responsibilities and far more pressure.

Adam Foote is aware of that fact, and praised his star centre’s efforts before Monday’s game against the Predators.

“There’s such a hard matchup on Petey right now. You saw him defend so well against [Connor] McDavid’s line 5-on-5,” Foote said, referring to the Canucks’ overtime win over Edmonton a week ago. “We’re in a situation with the injuries that it’s hard to get him away from the hard matchup. I’m just so happy the way he’s playing. He’s playing in the mud; he’s playing in the dirt. It’s not easy.” Foote said.

Pettersson led all 12 Canucks forwards with 22 minutes of ice time on Monday and tallied a pair of assists. His first came on a power play when he feathered a pass to Brock Boeser through Ryan O’Reilly’s legs. Boeser found Jake DeBrusk at the front of the net for the 2-1 goal.

Then, in the dying seconds of overtime, he helped Boeser by winning a board battle and crucially drawing both Preds defenders away from the net, before slicing a pass back to Boeser for the winning goal.

The Canucks’ current situation, with so many players in the infirmary, has left Pettersson facing a similar challenge to one he faced in his rookie season: a lack of a supporting cast. It’s never been easier for an opponent to isolate Pettersson as the most important weapon on the ice, particularly in the four games Quinn Hughes missed. Still, he’s finding ways to pick up points anyway.

Detractors will point to Pettersson’s lack of goal-scoring production as an issue, but his confidence has been building since their game against the Dallas Stars on October 16. At the same time, his defensive work has been among the Canucks’ best. Hockey Stat Cards has Pettersson at a +0.8 defensive rating for his work at even strength and on the penalty kill, the highest effectiveness rating among Canucks forwards and in the top quarter of NHL forwards.

Foote is seeing the kind of work Pettersson has been putting in and thinks the efforts will lead to more consistent goal scoring as the season marches on. The Canucks’ head coach’s faith in Pettersson paid off with his two assists against the Predators, and the expectation is that he’s only going to get better.

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[Vancouver Canucks]

What’s the bigger issue? The Canucks’ PK, or how many penalties they’ve taken?

In many ways, it’s a credit to the Vancouver Canucks that they have managed to split their first 14 games with a penalty kill below 70%.

After allowing a pair of power play goals – including the tying goal late in the third period in Nashville on Monday – the Canucks are now tied with the Ottawa Senators, allowing the most power play goals (15) in the National Hockey League. The kill has sunk to 27th in the league at 69.4%.

Obviously, there are reasons for that. The team is without three of its top penalty killers in Conor Garland, Teddy Blueger and Derek Forbort. Beyond that, the Canucks got the short end of a questionable call on Evander Kane, whose reputation clearly preceded him against the Nashville Predators, when he was called for high-sticking on Luke Evangelista with 4:37 remaining in the third period, with the Canucks clinging to a 4-3 lead.

soft call on Kane, but 15 PPGA now in 14 games. Give Teddy Blueger and Derek Forbort raises

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) November 4, 2025

While much of the attention has been on a porous penalty kill that has returned to levels last seen late in the Travis Green era and continuing under Bruce Boudreau, perhaps the bigger issue is the sheer volume of penalties the team is taking at a time when the penalty killing isn’t sharp.

The easiest penalties to kill are the ones you don’t take. Unfortunately, only four teams in the league have been shorthanded more often than the Canucks have through the first four weeks of the season.

The Boston Bruins (62), Calgary Flames (56), Chicago Blackhawks (55) and Predators (53) are the only teams to take more minor penalties than the Canucks’ 52. The Bruins, Flames, Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings are the only teams that have been shorthanded more than the 49 times the Canucks have been a man down so far this season.

Evander Kane, Marcus Pettersson and Kiefer Sherwood lead the team parade to the penalty box. Kane’s nine minors are second only to Boston’s Charlie McAvoy, who has been whistled for 11 minors. Pettersson has taken seven minors while Sherwood has been sent off six times.

As a team, the Canucks have been guilty of far too many stick fouls. Eleven of their 52 minors have been tripping calls, while nine others have been for hooking. The Canucks have been assessed six high-sticking penalties, five for roughing and four each for holding and slashing.

Of the team’s regular skaters, Brock Boeser is the only one to appear in 10 games and not spend a moment in the penalty box. Lukas Reichel has yet to take a penalty in the six games he’s appeared in since being acquired by the Canucks.

At a point in time when the penalty kill just isn’t as sharp as it needs to be, it seems there should be a premium placed on discipline. Hockey is a fast sport with split-second decisions, and penalties are going to happen. But as much as people want to point to the struggling penalty kill, perhaps the focus ought to be on some of the decisions the team is making to put the club in peril.

Of their 14 games so far, the Canucks have had to kill five penalties twice (in Edmonton and Pittsburgh) and four penalties on four other occasions. Only once all season have they limited an opponent’s power play to just two opportunities. That was in a 4-3 overtime win against Edmonton on October 26th. In all, the Canucks have surrendered at least one power play goal in 10 of their 14 games.

Help is on the way in the form of returning bodies, but some of the injured players will need time to find their game to be able to raise the level of the penalty kill. In the meantime, the Canucks should do their utmost to demonstrate slightly better discipline to relieve the pressure on their penalty killers.

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[Vancouver Canucks]

Tom Willander impressing Canucks coaching staff with his quick learning from training camp to the NHL

Tom Willander is just four games into his NHL career, and he’s already showing the Vancouver Canucks coaching staff that he’s learning and progressing much quicker to the professional level than many initially believed.

Coming into training camp, Willander came as advertised — a smooth, agile skater. There were some concerns about him losing puck battles along the walls, but as a 20-year-old defenceman going up against bigger-framed NHL-calibre players, that was to be expected. But again, he’s young, and as he physically develops, so will that aspect of his game.

Willander began the season with the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL. Over his first set of games against the Henderson Silver Knights, Willander still looked like he was trying to find his footing, oftentimes getting a little overzealous with the puck on their stick.

However, in the following series against the Laval Rocket, Willander seemed to simplify his game, stuck to his strengths, which helped propel him into more minutes. That quick learning — and a handful of injuries on Vancouver’s blueline — earned him his first NHL call-up.

As we covered in our “The Tape” series, Willander had some growing pains in his NHL debut, but he quickly nullified those errors in the following game. That improved play saw his ice time increase from 12:37 in his debut against the New York Rangers to 19:12 against the St. Louis Blues.

That’s a big transition for a young defenceman so quickly into his NHL career. So, what are the Canucks coaching staff seeing from Willander at the NHL level that they did not see during training camp and the preseason, which has earned him some runway in Vancouver:

“Well, I think one thing we saw early on with him was his gap [control],” Canucks assistant coach Brett McLean analyzed. “Sometimes he was getting beat wide, maybe judging NHL speed — which is normal, obviously, first time seeing it — but he seems to have done a very, very good job with that lately. So if he’s able to handle the rush well against, then he can obviously add to our rush offensively like we’ve seen.”

Elias Pettersson has often been paired with Willander, offering him some comfort on the backend, being with a fellow Swede with whom he shared he’s played in years past. Pettersson told CanucksArmy last week, ahead of Willander’s debut, that the most challenging part of transitioning to the NHL for a young defenceman was puck retrievals. Willander shared the sentiment, saying the European game allows defenders time to “cool down the game, but you have to make quicker plays here.”

But as he gets more reps and playing time in the NHL, Willander is seeing that progression in his game.

“I feel more comfortable with the puck generally,” Willander shared. “I think I fit into the way we play a little bit more. But I think confidence to just kind of move and use my skating more with and without the puck.”

He’s even receiving praise from Canucks captain and fellow defenceman, Quinn Hughes:

“He moves well,” Hughes said. “He’s got good skill, good reads. He’s so young, he’s 20. So he’ll continue to get better and better and more confident, and I’m looking forward to watching that.”

While it has been a relatively successful first stint for Willander in Vancouver, he’s still aware that there is still a long way to go in his development before he gets to become an everyday NHLer.

“I think positioning,” Willander told CanucksArmy when asked what areas he’s looking to improve. “Being in good positions, reading the play better — especially defensively — being on top of guys and containing guys better, with and without the puck. Getting in front of guys and making sure I’m in the right spot for rebounds and stuff like that. There’s a lot I could go on all day.”

McLean touched on what Willander has to do to become a guy that isn’t just here for an NHL call-up, and what the message is to a young defenceman so early on in his career:

“I think confidence is the big thing, and handling those downplays and down times, which are going to happen — all young players, especially young defencemen, those are going to happen. He’s had some really good games here. But you know, when those adversity-type plays happen, if he can still build off those, and then he becomes a guy that we can really start to rely on.

“Just be confident with it, continue to work on your gaps, continue to respect that speed. But when you get an opportunity, play with confidence, play with the puck, because we don’t just want you throwing the puck away. Use your assets like you would at any other level, but make sure that you’re aware and respect the speed that these guys come at you with.”

With the Canucks starting to get healthy again, we’ll see if Willander’s long for the NHL this season, or if he’s best suited to continue his development playing top-pairing minutes in Abbotsford. But while he’s in Vancouver, the Swedish defenceman is soaking up this opportunity to learn from some of the Canucks’ veteran defencemen.

“I’m trying to learn as much as possible,” Willander said. “I played a bit with Marcus [Pettersson], and I think he’s excellent when it comes to breaking pucks out, finding those little, short passes, through people to the open ice. And I think just being here, seeing that, it’s just good experience to kind of just get the mental reps in and just kind of learn the game.”

Willander is projected to slot into tonight’s lineup against the Chicago Blackhawks. This game will be his fifth in the NHL, matching his AHL total already. And there may be many more to come if Willander can continue to progress as quickly as he has from training camp now to the NHL.

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[Vancouver Canucks]

The Stanchies: Kane’s 10 shots on goal not enough as Canucks fall to Blackhawks

The Vancouver Canucks may have lost 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks, but at least it was an entertaining loss? Kind of? For a couple of periods at least?

I don’t want to say this game marks the official start of “moral victory” season, but if you wanted to, you could probably file away some silver linings from it.

The good? Evander Kane had around a billion shots in this game, although the NHL officially credited him with ten at the end of the day.

The Canucks offence through two periods, while not lethal, were at least generating chances? No one will claim Spencer Knight stole this game for Chicago, but it was probably the most exciting hockey Vancouver has played this year, just in terms of tempo and shot volume.

But when asked after the game if Knight played well or if it was a failure of execution from Vancouver, Hughes had a question of his own for David Quadrelli, in a passive mic drop for the ages:

“I mean, I didn’t see any insane saves, did you?”

Put me down for a Zara jacket with that written on the back. I think we might have something here.

But curtness and snark aside from what looks to be another season of grumpy media scrums from the Canucks captain, you could almost see how this game was going to end from streets away.

As anyone who has watched hockey (and this team in particular) knows, the second the buzzer sounded after two periods with no goals for Vancouver, you got that feeling in your chest. That injection of trepidation that floods through your body when you sense something bad is about to happen, when you just know an event comprised purely of contempt and derision for your happiness is waiting right around the corner for you.

So, was the third period breakdown unexpected? Of course not. In many ways, it was like visiting with an old friend. Sometimes it’s reassuring to have that level of stability in your life, just knowing you can count on certain things to happen; it’s your totem to let you know you aren’t dreaming. When the Canucks broke down in the third period after two periods in which it felt comical they didn’t get at least one goal on the board, at least I knew the wind outside wasn’t a slowed down Édith Piaf song.

Which brings us back to the age-old question of any game early on in an NHL season: What do you take away from this one?

And while we will probably pause the Jack Adams polls for Adam Foote for a game or two, I think the takeaway is that this team remains flawed. It still very much remains a team based on the “if everything goes right…” game plan.

And so even on a night in which they probably win this game nine times out of 10 in normal circumstances, it just feels like another building block of a season that is predicated, yet again, year after year, on the idea of “get in and see what happens?”

Which, after a decade plus of that, isn’t the easiest sell in this town.

Also, any game plan that ends with a question mark lacks conviction.

Just do it?

I’m lovin’ it?

Finger Licking’ good?

It just invites a lot of questions, that’s all I’m saying.

We have so many clips to get to, so let’s dive in.

Best chaotic start

Tyler Myers LOOOOL. How is he sooo bad every game? My god. #Canucks

— Mike K (@MikeK_mode) November 6, 2025

Now that Rick Tocchet’s GOTI system is gone, I am starting to wonder if the Chaos Giraffe will appear more frequently.

Last game we saw Myers struggle to get the puck out of his own end multiple times, and he struggled with turnovers, so it wasn’t too surprising to see him continue that trend with an early pizza in this one:

I assume he was trying to get the puck to Lukas Reichel, but it’s also CG57, so for all I know, he was trying a multifaceted bank pass that involved a series of events my puny brain cannot even begin to comprehend.

Myers then followed that play up a shift later by chopping in the general direction of Connor Bedard, perhaps still angry at the Chicago forward for leaving his car in the driveway:

It’s not quite a 10/10 on the Carlo Colaiacovo jumping into your living rooms via the glass, but it was still a solid bump from the hometown kid.

Best go go power rangers

Loving the speed and pace to the start of this game #Canucks

— Tyson Cole (@tyson_cole) November 6, 2025

As stated in the intro, while it might not have been an ’80s Oilers-level of finish from Vancouver, it was still a fun pond hockey style of game for most of the night. Like, if you saw this game at Planet Ice, you would have thought it was solid action, despite the propane smell in the air from the leaky Zamboni.

Early on, you had the traditional “chance to score” from Arshdeep Bains, who continues to generate a rush on net every third game or so:

Then you had Jake DeBrusk trying some shots along with Brock Boeser:

I mean, I didn’t see any insane saves, did you? But at least the Canucks were winning the Corsi war and creating scoring chances on occasion. They were officially credited with 18 high danger chances on the night, although your mileage may vary on just how dangerous they were, especially using the “no insane saves spotted” measuring stick.

And while Chicago wasn’t producing nearly as much as Vancouver, they were still able to get good looks on Kevin Lankinen in the first period.

On this play, Oliver Moore sends the puck over to Ryan Donato, and you can see Drew O’Connor and PO Joseph both following the puck, while Aatu Räty has to scramble to close the distance, which allows Moore to sneak into the slot for a shot:

Now, don’t get me wrong; I don’t think the Rick Tocchet GOTI system would have changed much for Vancouver this season, but I will give him credit for drilling into his players where they need to be on the ice. I think that’s one of the more noticeable differences on the season, there are more breakdowns in the defensive zone under Foote.

That, and we don’t get to hear a coach sighing heavily while discussing Andrei Kuzmenko. I kind of miss that.

But there have been many times this season where you see multiple Canuck players going after the same guy, which just opens up so much space in the defensive zone for the other team. The Canucks also get caught up puck watching at times, like in this clip where Ryan Green just sort of walks into the middle of the ice and gets off a quick one timer on Kevin Lankinen:

For their part, the Canucks kept out-shooting Chicago (eventually ending the game with the 45 to 28 edge), even if, yeah, Quinn Hughes wouldn’t describe this as an insane save on Linus Karlsson:

Maybe the bar is too low for me, but I’d rather a team generate shot volume than grind out a low shot loss. You clearly give yourself more chances to have the odds be ever in your favour if you’re at least getting the puck on net and forcing the goalie to make not-quite-insane saves. Sometimes those pucks go in off of the weirdest bounces, which can help even the weakest of tributes.

I just think we’ve seen enough “dump the puck in the corner, go for a line change” to last us a lifetime in this city, and we deserve to see shots on net, damn it.

Best bend don’t break

Aatu Räty went down very awkwardly into the boards. After a brief conversation at the bench with the trainer, he walked down the tunnel, using his stick to help support him. #Canucks

— David Quadrelli (@QuadrelliD) November 6, 2025

The Canucks dance with the injury bug looked like it might continue in this game when Aatu Räty collided with the boards while trying to fend off Oliver Moore:

The Finnish forward would return later in the period so I guess that’s a moral victory?

Is avoiding injury a moral victory at this point? Maybe?

Best Kane is able

Evander Kane probably could have had 20 shots in this game, one of which would have been on this play had he not shot the puck in the general direction of the Holdom skytrain station:

See, at least you can watch that and appreciate the rush chance the Canucks generated. Elias Pettersson busts out a deke, Hughes skates with the puck and dishes it off to Garland, taking the defenceman with him to give room to Conor, and it ends with Kane getting the puck in a good spot.

Yes, it ends with the Mason Raymond special of a missed shot leading to a breakaway for Connor Bedard, but I promise you, Kevin Lankinen made a save on that clip that ends mere microseconds before Bedard shoots the puck. I can even tell you Lankinen’s glove fell off in the process. It wasn’t an insane save, mind you, but it was solid.

That’s the thing about Evander Kane, though. The dude is a beer league player; he just happens to be one of the best beer league players in the world. Defensively, he’s not about that life, but offensively, he’s going to get shots on net all night long, and on occasion, bust out a nice between-the-legs dangle:

That is an incredible move by a very skilled player, but we all live in fear of what happens when the puck goes the other way. Kane gains 5 kmph to his stride when he’s trying for offence; that’s just how beer league works.

Near the end of the first period, Kane and Pettersson hooked up on a partial breakaway that resulted in yet another situation in which Quinn Hughes could probably be muttering about the lack of insane saves:

Kane and that beer league energy means he’s never in a hurry to get anything done, so his slight hesitation to send that puck to Elias Pettersson on a full-fledged breakaway. And as we know about EP40, the second he feels pressure on a breakaway, the first thought that races through his head appears to be “oh dear god, how do I get out of this situation without having to shoot?” In many ways, I imagine Elias relates to Jesse Pinkman.

And of course, there is a case to be made for making that pass; you don’t watch Henrik Sedin make a million passes like that without coming to appreciate passing out of a high danger shot in order to set up a teammate.

But we’re at the point where Elias just needs to start shooting. Imagine if EP40 had ended the night with 10 shots instead of Evander Kane? They’d probably be planning the parade downtown as we speak. Freshii would be handing out coupons for wraps no one ever buys, and we’d be applauding the effort from Pettersson.

Instead, we continue to see EP40 defy all odds by finding new ways to pass out of a shot, which, I have to tell you, is starting to feel a bit silly.

Best case of the zoomies

Love watching DeBrusk use his speed to gain the zone. I knew he was a fast skater. Glad to see him using it more this season!#Canucks

— Canuck Girl (@CanuckGirl43) November 6, 2025

To the Canucks’ credit, they kept marching onwards, generating shot after shot, hoping one would find its way behind the Chicago goaltender.

Jake DeBrusk was the next player to attempt a goal, even though he’s due for another 10-game hibernation after scoring last game:

It might not have been an insane save, but you put 40+ of these types of shots on a goalie, you normally get at least a goal out of it. I do think luck was not on Vancouver’s side on this night. Probably because Crazy P scared it away, screaming in its face and demanding it cheer louder or else he would throw it down some stairs.

Best so bad he can taste it

Might be one of the best periods I’ve seen from Connor Bedard, and somehow he was pointless. Just doing everything himself out there.

— CSS (Kantserov Truther) (@ChicagoSufferer) November 6, 2025

I won’t lie, most of the excitement I get from watching Chicago play Vancouver is seeing how long they could prevent him from scoring on Rogers Arena ice. The kid can dance; he’s more talented than Grover at a handball tournament, on that we can all agree.

So when he’s out here almost beating four Canucks and scoring a goal, it’s not too surprising; you’re just hoping it doesn’t open the floodgates for years upon years of hometown torture via the Joe Sakic method:

Although I think Quinn Hughes saw that and took it personally, as he would end the period dingling his dangle in front of Bedard and almost scoring to end the period:

I appreciate Spencer Knight flopping to the ground to try and make it look like he made an insane save, but he’s not fooling Quinn on that one. It was merely decent. Average, even.

Best are you sure about that?

Reichel robbeddddd #canucks

— 44 (@canuckinsanity) November 6, 2025

Lukas Reichel is just out here trying to get his first point as a Canuck, let alone a goal:

I am going to get ahead of this one and say that I don’t think we can consider Drew O’Connor or Lukas Reichel breakaways as high-danger scoring chances. We can all appreciate that top-tier pass to set up that breakaway from Quinn Hughes at least.

Though, how bad does that have to feel that you’re out here with a breakaway and your captain after the game is like “man, sure wish we made the other goalie have to make a tough save.”

Best tightening the screw

21 shots not even half way thru the second period? wow #Canucks

— sell the team (@vancity1114) November 6, 2025

The Canucks best chance to score first on the night was during the second period, starting with Quinn Hughes rushing down the ice and ending with a shot that didn’t require insanity:

I think Hughes was looking to feed Brock Boeser, but Brock is what I would call a “methodical skater,” which is like telling someone they aren’t “traditionally handsome”, so Colton Dach is able to speed back down the ice and break up any chance of a pass.

The Canucks also had multiple looks during their power play where it felt like they were about to score, one of which was after Conor Garland broke the ankles of Frank Nazar:

I have to assume Elias Pettersson is trying to shoot-pass in the general area of Jake DeBrusk, which isn’t a bad play, mind you. Jake does his best work in the blue paint on the power play, and sometimes he does a delightful little shuffle dance with his hands after goals, and you can just picture him doing the same thing after opening up a really good pack of Pokémon cards.

But there has to be a world in which EP40 is walking into the middle of the ice to unload laser beams and not just slap passing his way through every scenario.

Still, the power play continued to generate looks on net. Conor Garland is the pick-six king on the Canucks, as he once again stole a pass and drove the puck hard towards the net:

If there was any save on the night that you have to give Knight his due on, it’s this one. I know Hughes would have preferred to see the Blackhawks goalie do a barrel roll into a scorpion save on this play, but much like Thatcher Demko, sometimes an amazing save looks far less exciting than it actually is. That’s a tough save, and Knight played it perfectly.

Which brings us back to Evander Kane continuing to pile up shots, this time driving to the slot and unloading a wrist shot:

And then near the very end of the power play hitting the post as he tried a cheeky little shot in close:

And then Kane once again in close, this time from Conor Garland who set up shop behind the net after once again intercepting the puck:

It’s a bang-bang play, and it certainly didn’t generate much of a save from Spencer Knight as he just stood his ground, but that last shot was the kind of play where, on most nights, if you keep generating chances like that, you end up scoring.

So while I agree with Quinn Hughes that execution wasn’t at the highest level, I still think the team was playing good hockey.

Go look back at the clip of Kane walking in from the slot on the power play; even getting the puck back to him was a slick setup from his teammates. There were two very well-played passes along the blue line that set up that chance in the first place, so yeah, I thought Vancouver probably deserved better on the night.

And I will say for all his beer league strategies, at least Kane is generating shots on net. It’s why I enjoyed Tyler Toffoli; sometimes you need that guy who is out there shooting for days, trying to score on every shot. Who cares if he comes back to the bench and grins at you and says “almost had him” on a dump-in from centre? I’ll take the shot volume injection in the lineup.

Best innovation

Drew O'Connor appears to have opened the scoring, but I'd expect this to be challenged for goalie interference so… who knows? #Canucks

— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) November 6, 2025

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Drew O’Connor found a new way to not score an NHL goal:

This was called off due to goalie interference, and while we could sit here and endlessly debate the call, I think it’s pretty apparent that the NHL is all vibes when deciding on plays like these. I’m more amazed the play wasn’t called dead when the puck was under Knight’s legs, to be honest.

But it was deemed that Calendar shoved Knight to the ground and was not pushed in, which, if this were a scene from Game of Thrones, would have ended in bloodshed in a future jousting tournament. But as this is real life, Drew merely skated back to his bench for a line change.

Best hello from the other side

fantastic save from Lankinen!

— Ellis (@EllisHockey2003) November 6, 2025

Kevin Lankinen’s struggles on the season continued on this night, as his save percentage continues to plummet to playoff Dan Cloutier levels at times. He did have some good saves in this game, however, and I want to show proof of that because he could probably use a pick me up:

Kudos to Elias Pettersson, who initially tries to cover Quinn Hughes’ check before hoofing it back to get back into position on defence.

Later in the period, Lankinen utilized the “Do I have the puck? Oh sh!t, I don’t have the puck” pad stack save in which you slowly fall to your side as you grab at your five hole and pray that somehow the puck hits you:

There will probably be a solid debate for a while about what the right play was in the offseason with the goalies. And ultimately, it probably made the most sense to go with Demko and Silovs just due to contracts alone. I also saw the idea behind “Well, what if Demko breaks another unknown part of his body that nobody has ever heard of again?” insurance play of having Lankinen around, though.

Ultimately, I don’t think Silovs vs. Lankinen is the debate some people think it will turn out to be. I just don’t see either goalie ending up being a monster in this league, which just brings you back to “well yeah, they should have probably just paid one goalie a lot of money and gone with the cheap backup.”

I, of course, reserve the right to come back and claim this statement was made by AI should Silovs ever become a Vezina candidate.

Best never gonna happen

omg no please just let reichel get his first canucks goal already

— amy (@huggyquinnifer) November 6, 2025

Again I don’t think this is a high danger chance, but at least it’s a shot on net from Reichel?

The guy does a lot of right things, but like a lot of guys on this team, it’s really starting to feel like we’re back in a sea of Granlunds.

Fun fact: only Max Sasson ended the night without a shot for the Vancouver Canucks.

Best careful what you say

mikheyev denied yeah i’ve heard that one before

— r (@6ffside) November 6, 2025

With the game tied heading into the third, the Canucks breakdowns in their own zone started happening at a higher frequency than you were probably comfortable with.

Fortunately for Vancouver, it was old friend Ilya Mikheyev taking most of the shots early on:

Unfortunately for Vancouver, Chicago has their own blue paint specialist in Tyler Bertuzzi, who set up shop in Tim Horton’s and kind of but not quite kicked a puck into the net:

First off, that’s a fantastic play from Matt Grzelcyk. He skates around and gets the Canucks puck watching and finds Tyler Bertuzzi at the side of the net.

For his part, Tyler sort of brings his heels together, but it wasn’t enough to claim he made a kicking motion. In today’s NHL, unless you wind up and scream, “I’M HERE TO KICK PUCKS AND CHEW BUBBLE GUM AND I’M ALL OUT OF GUM,” they usually let it count.

This goal also brings up another point, though: Vancouver seems to get lost in their own zone when the other team has the puck. We saw it in the last handful of games: Canucks opponents start skating and looking for those back-door/side-of-the-net plays, and it usually results in a good scoring chance.

The structure of the Canucks in their own zone has been breaking down at an astronomical pace as of late whenever the other team starts skating with the puck in their zone.

Best I pick you

Barely even touched him #canucks

— Pat (@WestBud) November 6, 2025

Tyler Myers was then called for interference on what was a pretty soft pick:

I think they call that because Myers skates a long distance out of his way to land that pick. The pick itself was whatever; it didn’t do much, and it was a pretty nothing forecheck situation to begin with, but it’s like if I walked into a bank screaming, “I don’t have a gun and I don’t intend on robbing you!” the police would most likely still have some questions. It was a not-so-subtle, subtle pick, which is very much on brand for the Chaos Giraffe.

The Canucks got the first big chance on the penalty kill; however, when Garland and Elias Pettersson started a counter-attack that ended in, and this might shock you, multiple times where neither guy got a shot on net:

Just when you thought EP40 optics of not shooting the puck couldn’t get worse, here we have Garland and EP40 seemingly fighting over who got to the guy who didn’t have to shoot the puck.

Again, I’m just at the point where Elias just needs to shoot from everywhere. Sit him down with Kane, teach him your ways, Evander. Unlock your inner bear league beauty, Elias. Just shoot. All day. Every day.

Puck in the corner? Shoot it.

Puck behind your net? Shoot it.

Puck in the refs hand? Chop at his hand and then shoot the puck.

Like, why not at this point? This team isn’t rife with finishing ability; you’re not out here setting up 40-goal scorers. Just shoot the puck.

Otherwise, you know what happens? You don’t force the goalie to make insane saves. And you know who doesn’t like that? Your captain.

This, of course, resulted in Tyler Bertuzzi scoring with the extra man a few seconds later on a very accurate backdoor pass from Bedard:

This time Tyler had the decency to use his stick to score the goal, but the end result was the same: this game was quickly slipping out of the hands of the Canucks.

Also, how much does this penalty kill miss Derek Forbort?

Best those were the days my friend

Ilya mikheyev just scored on us, time to wrap of the season and look towards next year. #Canucks

— james cooper (@User673987) November 6, 2025

Chicago’s third goal was the result of the Canucks just sort of farting around in their own zone:

There is no structure there. There is no plan. It’s just a team reeling from letting in two goals in a game they should have been winning, losing the mental game with themselves.

Best regrets

Changed my mind

— Andy Cole (@AndyCole1984) November 6, 2025

Tyler Bertuzzi would then complete the hat trick after a bad rebound from Kevin Lankinen combined with Tyler Myers rolling around like he somehow caught fire:

From thinking they should be winning the game to being down 4-0, this one changed on a dime.

Best every time

#Canucks score finally and I turn the TV off…

— Mark (@MrkDvd) November 6, 2025

Thanks to Mark turning off the TV, there were three more goals in this game. But unlike that magical comeback against the Dallas Stars, this was merely scoring in junk time.

First up, Räty got a nice goal off the rush for Vancouver:

You’ll notice how it was just a random shot from the middle of the ice, much like many of the other shots they got on the night. This is what I’m saying, most nights they get a couple of those goals just on shot volume alone.

Then Evander Kane, he of 10 shots, finally got one through:

Which, again, through the first two periods, these were the kinds of chances they generated. Knight doesn’t have to make an insane save there, even if he were to stop it. The Canucks are just putting on volume and trying to score. This is why I give them credit for the first two periods because this is a team that has struggled to do even that at times. It’s not like the Canucks just busted out two highly skilled goals in the last few minutes. All they did was keep shooting and waiting for Knight to let one in.

But the comeback was stopped there, and even worse, Bedard finally got his first goal on Vancouver ice:

That’s an empty net goal, so how good can that feel, really, but the end point remains: Chicago won the hockey game.

Up next a double tap of Columbus and Colorado on the weekend.

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/stanch...ugh-vancouver-canucks-fall-chicago-blackhawks

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Projecting Canucks prospects for the 2026 World Junior Championships

Are you in the holiday spirit yet?

With Halloween now in the rearview, the daily reminders are everywhere — the Christmas season is fast approaching. And you know what that means, don’t you? That’s right, the World Junior Championships are just around the corner.

This year’s tournament takes place in Ottawa, Canada, and as per tradition, it all kicks off on Boxing Day. Vancouver Canucks fans have been spoiled in recent years. Not by the quantity of players sent, but the quality of those who have represented.

Whether it was Jonathan Lekkerimäki dazzling his way to tournament MVP honours and a silver medal in 2024-25, Tom Willander holding down Sweden’s blue line the past two events, or Sawyer Mynio cracking Team Canada last year, Vancouver’s prospect pool has consistently provided a higher calibre prospect worth cheering for.

This year, things may look different. As it stands, the Canucks have nine eligible prospects (by age) who could take part in the event. That said, the realistic number of players who may earn spots is three. It would be four if Russia were eligible to participate (Aleksei Medvedev).

Let’s take a look at the most likely candidates to don their nation’s colours in the nation’s capital.

Basile Sansonnens, LD, Switzerland​

We’ll start with Basile Sansonnens, a Swiss-born defenceman and the lone Canuck prospect who looks like a lock to make his team.

The steady, defensive-minded blueliner has been a mainstay in Switzerland’s international program for years and got his first taste of World Junior action at last year’s event. Now a year older, he’s expected to take on a larger role.

Currently skating amongst men with Lausanne HC in the Swiss National League, Sansonnens is averaging just under 11 minutes per night. His new role offers valuable experience for a player expected to help Switzerland play its usual dark-horse role at the tournament.

The 19-year-old is currently with the Swiss U20 team at the Five Nations tournament, an annual pre-World Junior event featuring Switzerland, Sweden, Czechia, Finland, and the USA. He logged second-pairing minutes in their opener against Sweden, which is a strong indication that his role will expand when the World Juniors begin.

Known for his defence-first, shutdown presence and reliable penalty-killing, Sansonnens should be a fixture in key defensive moments for the Swiss squad.

Wilson Björck, F, Sweden​

Wilson Björck wasn’t named to Sweden’s Five Nations roster for two reasons. First, as a Colorado College freshman, NCAA players generally don’t participate in the mid-season event. Second, he’s been sidelined since mid-October with an upper-body injury.

That said, Björck remains firmly in Sweden’s plans. He impressed at the World Junior Summer Showcase, finishing tied for second in scoring across all participants with six points (one goal, five assists) in five games.

Before his injury, he was adjusting nicely to the NCAA game, posting a goal and two assists through five contests while playing top-six minutes for Colorado College.

At 6-foot, 173 pounds, Björck may not intimidate with size, but his motor, edge, and willingness to battle in hard areas make him a handful for opponents. Offensively, he’s creative and unpredictable, able to generate chances in multiple ways.

His recovery timeline is still unclear, so it remains to be seen whether he’ll be healthy in time for the tournament. But if he is, expect him to contend for a roster spot — possibly alongside his younger brother, Viggo, a projected top-10 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

Braeden Cootes, C, Canada​

When the season began, it seemed unlikely that 2025 first-rounder Braeden Cootes would crack Team Canada’s lineup. Given the country’s elite depth, it’s always an uphill climb for 18-year-olds to make the final cut.

Then came training camp, where Cootes came in and blew the doors off. His three-game NHL stint proved he has the pace, compete level, and intelligence to at least enter the conversation for a roster spot.

Cootes has a strong history with Hockey Canada, having most recently captained the U18 squad while leading the team in scoring at last spring’s World Championships. Combined with his newfound NHL experience, that pedigree could help him sneak onto the final roster as a responsible, high-motor, two-way center.

Back with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, Cootes is firing at over a point-per-game pace with seven points (three goals, four assists) and winning 56.5% of his faceoffs as team captain.

He’s intelligent, mobile, and poised beyond his years and is quickly becoming one of the most exciting young additions to the Canucks’ prospect pool.

Overall, the Canucks may not have a large contingent in Ottawa this year, but the few who do make it could provide some exciting moments.

Sansonnens looks like a sure bet for Switzerland, while Björck is a strong candidate if healthy, and Cootes — the organization’s newest blue-chip prospect — could make things interesting for Team Canada’s brass.

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/projecting-vancouver-canucks-prospects-2026-world-junior-championships

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

It’s almost certainly time for the Canucks to rebuild: Canucks Conversation

On Thursday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal tackled a topic that’s been hovering over the Vancouver Canucks for years – whether it’s finally time to stop running from the inevitable and commit to a full rebuild.

After a 5–2 loss at home to the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks, patience has worn thin, and the guys admitted the current direction just isn’t leading anywhere close to contention.

“What this Canucks team needs to be championship calibre over the next few years, I don’t see a realistic path,” Harm said. “I can see a path for, if things break right, making the playoffs, but is that really the bar we want to throw up there? The goal is just making the playoffs?”

It’s a question that hits at the core of where the organization has been stuck for nearly a decade – good enough to chase the bubble, never good enough to climb higher.

“We often think through the lens of ‘this organization won’t rebuild,’ so we don’t talk about it,” Quads said. “We’ve looked at it as, what can this team do to get there without a rebuild? I’m at the point now where, best case scenario, this team can’t get to a point where they’re contending for a Stanley Cup without a full rebuild. You have to do the hard work and go through those painful years.”

The painful years, as Harm pointed out, have already happened – just without the payoff.

“The crappy thing is, they went through the painful years – they had all the pain and more of a rebuilding team, they’ve been bad for eight years, but because they took shortcuts, they had too many self-inflicted wounds,” he said. “It’s not even so much that 10 years ago they had to commit to a rebuild, but at every checkpoint, they’ve shot themselves in the foot by trying to accelerate too quickly.

“In 2015, why did you need to trade a 19-year-old Jared McCann for Erik Gudbranson? Look at the player McCann has become. When the 2021 season ended, coming off the bubble playoff run, then the disastrous year in the All-Canadian division, there was only one year left of pain with the Eriksson, Roussel, and Beagle contracts. It was such a layup to ride that out, and they’d have had all this cap space when cap space was king, but they went out and made the OEL trade, and that draft pick traded away ended up becoming Dylan Guenther. Just so many missteps along the way, and now you’re at a point where you’re stuck in mediocrity.”

The guys agreed it’s not yet time to blow it up completely, but any talk of buying or adding more short-term fixes should be off the table.

“This early into the season, we’re not sitting here and saying they have to blow it up this minute,” said Harm. “However, we clearly have a lot of concerns about this team and at the very least, they’re in a position where buying should be off the table. I can’t say trade Quinn Hughes yet, it’s too early for that and you have to see how the season plays out, but at this moment as the Canucks, you can’t be in on Pavel Zacha, for example. You’re not a Pavel Zacha move away from righting the ship, and you can’t take the risk of mortgaging additional future assets.

“You’re going to have to ride it out the way you built this roster, and if it leads you to a bottom-10 finish in the league, then you have to have some conversations down the road. At the bare minimum, this team should not be discussing trading for help because it hasn’t proven it deserves those reinforcements yet.”

Quads pointed to the pattern of half-measures that have defined Vancouver’s front office approach for a decade.

“There were years where publicly the ownership and management were saying, ‘We really like our young players, we’re going to commit, we have to stick to our timeline and our process,’ but it was always a shortcut here and there,” he said. “It was one foot in the rebuild pool while the rest of their moves were trying to win now.”

That constant hedging, Harm added, is exactly how the Canucks ended up with a roster that lacks the foundation of a true contender – especially down the middle.

“The team’s biggest issue is its centre depth right now. They have one top-six centre in Pettersson, but when you retrace the steps, why does this team have centre issues?” he said. “They had Miller and Horvat, and they moved those guys to address some of the holes on the back end. The first-round picks in those trades indirectly became Marcus Pettersson and Filip Hronek.

“If you had accumulated draft picks while you were rebuilding, drafted maybe a single defenceman outside of Quinn Hughes, maybe you wouldn’t have been in this spot. If you have other young defencemen coming, you don’t have to trade Miller and Horvat to address back-end needs. If you had just done it properly the first time, you would have perhaps been able to keep those assets down the middle and had a proper team rather than robbing from your centre depth to pay for your back-end goals.”

For Quads and Harm, the message was clear: Vancouver’s decade-long attempt to skip the hard part has only delayed the inevitable. If the Canucks want to truly contend one day, they’ll have to stop patching holes and finally do what they’ve avoided all along: rebuild, for real this time.

You can watch the full replay of the show below!

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/its-al...ancouver-canucks-rebuild-canucks-conversation

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

The Farmies: Abbotsford Canucks forced to turn to an EBUG in Loveland, Colorado

This season officially has everything — and we mean everything.

Sporting an eight-game losing skid, the Abbotsford Canucks rolled into Loveland, Colorado, with half a roster, one healthy goaltender, and a prayer.

But by the third period, that prayer fell short.

After a strong 18-save performance, starting netminder Ty Young exited with injury, forcing Abbotsford to turn to an Emergency Backup Goalie — a 21‑year‑old Farmers Insurance sales rep from Denver — to close out the third period against the league‑leading Colorado Eagles.

Because of course it did.

While he made a commendable effort, it failed to bail them out of their predicament, as the visiting Canucks would drop a ninth straight game in front of a sold-out crowd at Blue Arena.

The 2025-26 season has quickly become a matter of survival rather than playing out a legitimate hockey season.

Starting  lineup​

These days, all you can do is laugh. Jujhar Khaira did not take the trip to Colorado, Nikita Tolopilo was still unavailable, and Jiri Patera was called up to Vancouver before the team left. Game by game, this team is left with further holes as they scrounge bodies to make ends meet.

Sure, Kirill Kudryavtsev rejoined the team, but he can only make such a difference.

Ravinskis–Aman–Berard
Alriksson–Mueller–Klimovich
Durandeau–Labate–Kambeitz
Kunz–Wouters–Bloom

Schuldt –Mynio
Knyzhov–Kudryavtsev
Arntsen–Daschke

Young

Scratched: Jayden Lee
Injured: Jett Woo, Guillaume Brisebois, Nikita Tolopilo, Cooper Walker, Chase Stillman, Jujhar Khaira

First period: Surviving in Colorado​

Despite playing the American League’s top team, the Canucks made strong work of the initial five minutes, limiting the Eagles to zero chances.

The way things have gone lately, that’s considered a win.

Of course, they may have dodged an early bullet, as T.J. Tynan blasted a seeing-eye laser from the point that caught iron for the best chance of the early game.

But the visiting team was just as eager, with their third line doing some nice work on the transition.

Breaking up the ice, Arnaud Derandeau and Dino Kambeitz nearly connected on the cross-crease play to open the scoring. Unfortunately, it was deflected just wide of Vancouver alumni, Trent Miner.

But as expected, the play was primarily tilted in the visiting end, with Ty Young seeing the puck well.

Things were relatively stale as the period progressed. But with just under two minutes on the clock, the Canucks were handed the game’s first power play, after Danil Gushchin tripped up Jimmy Shchuldt in the slot.

But that opportunity lasted all of 10 seconds after Colorado had won the initial face-off clean to send themselves on an early shorthanded odd-man rush. Ben Berard was given a hooking penalty on the play.

Having nearly survived the opening period, Danila Klimovich got a little overzealous on the forecheck, taking a very late penalty to hand the home team the man advantage for the start of the second period.

Another game, another poor penalty from the top-line winger. That was the most we’d see of the sharpshooter, as he was held off the score sheet for the seventh consecutive match.

But all things considered, they’d take a 0-0 draw after 20 minutes and run.

Shots: ABB 3, COL 11
Score: ABB 0, COL 0

Second period: Seal broken​

The good news is that Abby’s penalty kill bailed Klimovich out, allowing no shots against through the two minutes.

As was the case for much of the first, Ty Young was strong and standing tall against all the Eagles’ chances.

And there were tons of them.

First, Ivan Ivan provided a nice drive against Jimmy Shchuldt, going in and out before testing Young in tight.

Second, after several minutes of sustained pressure, the Eagles combined for a heavy one-timer chance, which Young remained composed on the effort.

By this point, the Canucks were merely surviving this game. After several minutes of pressure in their own end, the Canucks would send a Hail Mary outlet pass in an attempt to kick off a transition.

But really, nothing was working, and it was all Eagles.

And just before the midway point of the period, the Canucks took a penalty, and the home team made it count.

Just before the goal, Ty Young made an incredible save, robbing Danil Gushchin of the one-timer attempt.

Colorado goal – 1-0 – Danil Gushchin from T.J. Tynan and Sean Behrens

But just seconds later, the same trigger man got a second chance, and he made no mistake to wire one to the top corner for his league-leading (tied) ninth goal of the season.

The way this game was trending, it felt like a matter of time before the home team drew first blood, as Young could only hold the fort for so long.

And later in the period, the Eagles pounced again.

Colorado goal – 2-0 – Tye Felhaber from Ronnie Attard and Wyatt Aamodt

Ronnie Attard showed terrific poise and patience at the blueline, walking around Vilmer Alriksson on his drop-in hockey-esque fly by. With his head up, Attard sent a perfectly placed backdoor pass to Tye Felhaber at the far side, who beat out Danila Klimovich on the backcheck.

With just 11 seconds remaining in the frame, the Canucks were finally gifted some good news. Getting his stick stuck in an Abby skate, Ivan Ivan took a late tripping call for the visiting team to enjoy with a fresh ice clean in the third.

Shots: ABB 6, COL 20
Score: ABB 0, COL 2

Third period: EBUG to the rescue​

As if things couldn’t get any worse for the Abbotsford Canucks’ season, the third period began without a crucial member of the team: Ty Young.

With Ty Young out, Nikita Tolopilo injured, Jiri Patera in Vancouver on an emergency basis, and Aku Koskenvuo down in Kalamazoo, who was left to tend the net?

Meet CJ Kier, a Farmers Insurance Sales Development Representative in Denver. At 21 years old, Kier had played NAHL hockey for Danbury Jr. Hat-Tricks in 2023-24 and was asked to attend the game before puck drop.

There’s no way he could have predicted that he’d actually play.

Believe it or not, he kicked off his newly found pro career with a pair of saves, getting the shoulder on a nice shot up high.

But his debut was spoiled quickly, as the team in front of him hung him out to dry as former Canuck Tristen Nielsen welcomed him to the pros.

Colorado goal – 3-0 – Tristen Nielsen from Alex Gagne and Keaton Middleton

Getting behind the defence, rookie defender Alex Gagne found the “bulldog” with a stretch pass. Going to his bread and butter, Nielsen pump-faked before tucking it between the sprawled-out Kier.

But wait, the Canucks grabbed life.

Abbotsford goal – 3-1 – Vilmer Alriksson (unassisted)

Following a missed shot from an Eagle, the puck rang around the boards to spring the young Swede.

Following up on his initial shot, Vilmer stuck with the puck, jamming the rebound past Miner to put his team on the board for his second of the season.

Down by just a pair, you could imagine the buzz on the Abby bench, pulling themselves together to play hard to grab a win for their new netminder.

And boy, was Kier battling for them.

With time ticking down and the Canucks down a pair (the score clock was wrong), they made several attempts to get Kier out of the net in an effort for a final push.

But with the Eagles pressing, they could not find a time to get him out.

Finally, they called him off, and just as he was getting to the bench, the Eagles fired the puck in the back of the net as Kier watched in disgust.

Colorado goal – 4-1 – Alex Gagne (unassisted)

Firing the puck into the empty net from his own end, rookie Alex Gagne scored his first career AHL goal.

Although he couldn’t play hero, CJ Kier made five saves in the period in his uncalled-for professional debut.

Final shots: ABB 10, COL 27
Final score: ABB 1, COL 4

Final thoughts​

Given the roster that is being dressed on a nightly basis, it’s hard to expect a win from the Abbotsford Canucks. Up against the best team in the AHL, the odds were incredibly stacked against them, and with an EBUG fending the Eagles off for an entire third period, you could say they actually put up a good fight.

CanucksArmy three stars​

First star

CJ Kier – We are handing out one star from this game, and that star goes out to the Insurance Rep who came out and put together a solid effort in the third period. It may be the only time he sees the ice at the professional level, so shoutout to him for his effort.

What’s next?​

The Canucks will be back at Blue Arena on Saturday for Game 2 of their weekend series. Puck drop is at 6:05 pm PT. Who will start in goal for the Canucks? Tune in and see.

Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/farmies-abbotsford-canucks-forced-turn-ebug-loveland-colorado

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Abbotsford Canucks series primer: Canucks look to snap 8-game losing skid vs. Eagles

The Abbotsford Canucks are back on the road.

Following a difficult six-game homestand, the team now heads to Loveland, Colorado, for a weekend doubleheader against the Colorado Eagles. The two-game set marks a fresh opportunity for the struggling Abbotsford Canucks, who enter the series riding a league-worst eight-game losing streak.

If there’s any consolation, it’s that Abbotsford has had success against the Eagles in recent memory. Last season, the Canucks dominated the season series with a 6-2-0-0 record, followed by a 3-2-0-0 run in the playoffs en route to their first Calder Cup championship. But this isn’t last year.

The 2025–26 campaign has proven much less forgiving, and Abbotsford arrives in Colorado sitting near the bottom of the entire league, while the Eagles sit comfortably atop the AHL standings with a 9-2-0-1 record. But help is on the way.

The depleted Canucks lineup finally received a much-needed boost this week as Kirill Kudryavtsev was reassigned from Vancouver and is expected to draw back into the top defensive pairing immediately.

Despite sitting idle in the press box with the Canucks, Kudryavtsev still sits tied for second in Abbotsford team scoring with five assists on the season. His return will bring some much-needed relief to Jimmy Schuldt and Sawyer Mynio, who have been shouldering heavy minutes over the past four games.

However, the team also absorbed more roster blows. Forward Vitali Kravtsov, who signed over the summer, was placed on waivers for mutual contract termination and has returned to Russia. Though he had only two points through the early stretch, any subtraction from an already thin forward group is a tough pill to swallow.

On Friday, Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie & Dhali reported that Jujhar Khaira did not make the trip to Colorado. Later, the Vancouver Canucks announced that goaltender Jiri Patera was recalled on an emergency basis and will stay in Vancouver.

Players to watch​

Kirill Kudryavtsev, LD

Riding in on a white horse is the Russian defender, who’s been stewing in the Vancouver press box for the last two weeks. Despite being gone, he still sits in a tie for second on the team in points with five assists on the year. He’ll provide some relief to Jimmy Schuldt and Sawyer Mynio, who have been shouldering far too many minutes over the team’s last four games.

Sawyer Mynio, LD

As a result of a much-needed reinforcement, Sawyer Mynio’s minutes could come back down to earth ever so slightly. However, he has proven that he’s capable of not only logging heavy minutes but standing out in them. He now leads the defensive corps with two goals on the season.

Key injuries​

Jett Woo (upper body): Injured during the 2025 Calder Cup run, which he played through. Woo is listed as month-to-month.

Guillaume Brisebois (lower body): The full extent of the injury is unknown, but he is expected to miss significant time, with a possible return not anticipated until early 2026.

Nikita Tolopilo (lower body): We have yet to receive an official update on his status, but Nikita Tolopilo has missed the last five games after sliding awkwardly in the team’s home opener on October 28.

Jujhar Khiara (undisclosed), Chase Stillman (lower body) & Cooper Walker (lower body).

Familiar faces in Vancouver​

A significant chunk of Abbotsford’s core is currently with the big club, including:

Mackenzie MacEachern, Arshdeep Bains, Max Sasson, Linus Karlsson, Jonathan Lekkerimäki (injured), Aatu Räty, Victor Mancini (injured), Tom Willander and Jiri Patera

What’s ahead​

After the weekend set in Colorado — Friday, November 7 and Saturday, November 8 (both at 6:00 PM PT) — the Canucks will return home to face the San Jose Barracuda for their first matchup of the season. That two-game homestand begins Tuesday, November 11 and continues Wednesday, November 12 at the Abbotsford Centre.

Projected lineup (not line combinations)​

Forwards

Ben Berard – Nils Aman – Danila Klimovich

Vilmer Alriksson – Ty Mueller – Joseph Labate

Josh Bloom – Chase Wouters – Anri Ravinskis

Arnaud Durandeau – Jackson Kunz – Dino Kambeitz

Defence

Jimmy Schuldt – Kirill Kudryavtsev

Joe Arntsen – Sawyer Mynio

Nikolai Knyzhov – Derek Daschke

Jayden Lee

Goaltenders

Ty Young

Aku Koskenvuo (has yet to be called up, but should be the next man up)

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/abbots...-look-snap-8-game-losing-skid-colorado-eagles

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Instant Reaction: Canucks hang on to beat Blue Jackets 4-3

The Vancouver Canucks‘ Wednesday night loss to the Chicago Blackhawks sure feels like it happened ages ago. Plenty of conversations about the future of the team have been had since then, and the Canucks actually had a chance to practice! The NHL’s condensed schedule to accommodate Olympic hockey is going to make any time there are two consecutive days without games feel like an eternity. How would they follow up their last game against the Blackhawks? Let’s find out!

Starting Lineup​

Warmup #Canucks lines vs. @BlueJacketsNHL

Kane. EP40. Garland.
Boeser. Reichel. Sherwood.
O’Connor. Räty. DeBrusk.
Bains. Sasson. Karlsson.

Hughes. Hronek.
MP29. Myers.
EP25. Willander.

Lankinen

7pm on @Sportsnet650 https://t.co/J6DNM1E8Qt pic.twitter.com/KYYrbpTKYm

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) November 9, 2025

First Period​

Aatu Räty hit a post early, and Lukas Reichel took the game’s first penalty shortly after that. The Canucks’ PK has been very bad this season, and they sure came close to giving up a goal early on in this one, too. Truly, it’s almost shocking how permissive the Canucks’ penalty killers can be. They allow so much east-west passing and give up the middle of the ice for puck carriers to move into. There were multiple close calls on the PK’s first chance of the night. Kevin Lankinen stood tall on a couple of opportunities, and had some help from the crossbar behind him on one of Columbus’s chances. And perhaps worst of all: there were multiple occassions of Columbus players getting the chance to take whacks at loose pucks in the crease with little pushback from the Canucks’ defence. But you’ll see more of that in The Stanchies tomorrow morning.

Lankinen made some downright fantastic stops in the first period:

Kevin Lankinen robs Dmitri Voronkov! He's been sharp to start this game.

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/0xLfwfcEIw

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

With just over three minutes left in the first, Cole Sillinger held onto Quinn Hughes and gave the Canucks their first power play of the game. It didn’t go well. With five seconds remaining in the first, Lukas Reichel found himself with what looked like a great chance to score, but his attempt deflected up and out of play.

Lukas Reichel comes close to picking up his first goal and point as a Canuck, but the puck deflects into the netting.

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/Z8Ha18wp9N

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

Some takeaways from the first:
-Tom Willander giving a cross check to Mathieu Olivier made me say “uh oh”.
-Absolutely love that Kevin Bieksa highlighted the Willander cross check on Olivier during the first intermission. Not a great idea!

Second Period​

The Blue Jackets got another power play opportunity early in the second, and again, it was Lankinen who was the Canucks’ best penalty killer.

That kept the game scoreless and let the Canuck to go the other way and open the scoring. Aatu Räty and Drew O’Connor teamed up to set up Jake DeBrusk, who roofed a shot over Elvis Merzlikins’ glove to give the Canucks the game’s first lead.

CANUCKS GOAL

Jake DeBrusk beats Elvis Merzļikins over the shoulder in tight! What a shot!

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/4TWZvPWHlR

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

1-0 Canucks.

That lead didn’t last long, as Kirill Marchenko scored a bit of a weird one as Tyler Myers knocked the puck off the pegs as the puck went in.

Columbus ties the game shortly after Jake DeBrusk opened the scoring

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/aXtICLWUhC

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

1-1.

Moments after the goal, Mathieu Olivier hit Elias Pettersson, the defenceman, in the numbers. DPetey’s head hit the boards and he needed to be helped off the ice. That was a late hit, and the Canucks were given a five minute power play as a result.

Mathieu Olivier hits D-Petey on the numbers.

Olivier was assessed a 5 minute major and a game misconduct.

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/maPqLJK3rK

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

Both of the Canucks’ power play units struggled to gain the zone, and when they did, there were only a couple of shots that made their way to Merzlikins. Side note: As Elias Pettersson (forward) got stripped of the puck after hesitating, boos were certainly heard from the Rogers Arena faithful. Not trying to pile on, it’s just worth noting. Anyways, the Canucks didn’t capitalize on their five minutes of power play time.

And then the Blue Jackets went back the other way and scored:

Dmitri Voronkov puts the Blue Jackets up 2-1

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/Htd6XWNsbi

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

2-1 Blue Jackets.

Good news: DPetey returned before the end of the second! Bad news: Forward Elias Pettersson passed up another opportunity to shoot and turned the puck over instead:

Elias Pettersson is set up in a prime position to shoot but he attempts a pass that fails.

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/AfKDUcOOPk

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

Some more good news: Drew O’Connor notched his sixth point in his last five games when he evened this game up late in the second.

CANUCKS GOAL

Drew O'Connor puts home a rebound and ties this game for Vancouver!

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/CExGZHMkMd

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

Before the end of the period, we saw one of the worst missed calls in recent memory:

HOW IS THAT NOT A PENALTY????

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/gTjz08jUyv

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

Some takeaways from the second:
-Good to see Drew O’Connor being rewarded for the strong efforts he’s turned in lately.
-Thank goodness this team didn’t lose DPetey as well.

Third Period​

The Canucks didn’t exactly press the Blue Jackets in the third, but once again, some key saves from Kevin Lankinen gave the Canucks a chance to take the lead. And take the lead they did.

After some extended time in the offensive zone, Elias Pettersson made a nice pass to a streaking and fresh Tyler Myers, who made a quick shift around Adam Fantilli to put himself into a prime scoring location. Conor Garland was then there to finish off the sequence.

CANUCKS GOAL

CONOR GARLAND FINISHES OFF A GREAT SHIFT BY THE CANUCKS WITH A GOAL! IT'S 3-2 VANCOUVER!

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/QIcrxkj3yF

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

3-2 Canucks.

Columbus didn’t go away after that, though.

Kirill Marchenko got in on another goal, this time serving as the triggerman:

Kirill Marchenko ties this game for Columbus.

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/cOSEMkc6ZT

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

That’s one Lankinen will want back. 3-3.

Quinn Hughes turned in a phenomenal shift with seven minutes left in this one. First, he broke ankles:

Quinn Hughes breaking ankles. What's new?

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/hI7LA5qKhn

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

Then he danced around the offensive zone some more and swung the momentum very firmly in the Canucks’ favour. On the next shift, with Hughes off the ice, Brock Boeser scored his seventh goal of the year when he bunted down a Kiefer Sherwood aerial pass and shot glove side on Merzlikins.

CANUCKS GOAL

BROCK BOESER PUTS VANCOUVER UP BY ONE!

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/WvFMM6Abjk

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

4-3 Canucks.

That’s Kiefer Sherwood’s first assist of the year. Brock Boeser scoring the game-winning goal on Hockey Fights Cancer night gets a big old hell yeah from me.

Aatu Räty was called for interference with 2:46 remaining, giving the Canucks’ PK their most important kill of the game…

And they did it! Canucks win!

Shoutout to Elias Pettersson, who fearlessly blocked two shots late in the game.

Petey comes up with a couple big shot blocks late in the 3rd period

: Sportsnet | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/1z86PQJpf7

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 9, 2025

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!

Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/instan...anucks-hang-on-beat-columbus-blue-jackets-4-3

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Canucks Game Day: Goaltending decision looms ahead of visit from league-leading Avalanche

The Vancouver Canucks (8-8) return to action to complete a back-to-back weekend when they host the league-leading Colorado Avalanche (9-1-5) at Rogers Arena. The Canucks are coming off a 4-3 victory over Columbus last night, while the Avs were busy destroying Edmonton 9-1.

What we know​

With the quick turnaround, the Canucks did not host a morning skate. Adam Foote will meet the media at 4pm, so it will be closer to game time before the head coach reveals his lineup for tonight. General Manager Patrik Allvin said on After Hours following Saturday’s game that Thatcher Demko was a possibility to face the Avalanche. If Demko isn’t ready, the Canucks will have to decide whether to come right back with Kevin Lankinen, who made 29 saves in the win against the Blue Jackets, or turn to third stringer Jiri Patera.

The Canucks are unlikely to make any line-up changes to their forward group. However, it’s possible P-O Joseph could draw in on defence after Elias Pettersson was shaken up on a hard hit that earned Matthieu Olivier a five minute major and a game misconduct. Pettersson left the game briefly, but did return.

Brock Boeser became the first Canuck with multiple game winners this season when he broke a 3-3 tie with 5:45 to play last night. Boeser has three goals in the past three games, has seven goals on the season and the team’s last two winning markers after scoring in overtime in Nashville last Monday.

Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Drew O’Connor and Conor Garland had the Vancouver goals last night. O’Connor had a goal and an assist last night and has had three multi-point efforts in his last five games.

After opening the season with a team-leading nine goals in 12 games, Kiefer Sherwood picked up his first assist of the season in his 16th game when he set up Boeser’s game winner last night. On the same play, Lukas Reichel recorded his first point in his eighth game with the Canucks after being acquired from Chicago two weeks ago.

Quinn Hughes had an assist and logged a team-high 27:22 last night. The Canucks captain leads the NHL averaging 26:49 per game.

The Opponent​

The Avs became the first team in the NHL to score nine goals in a game this season last night in Edmonton. Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Jack Drury and Parker Kelly each scored twice and Gavin Brindley had their other. MacKinnon also had two assists to give him 12 goals, 12 assists and a share of the NHL scoring lead with 24 points. He also leads the league with 67 shots on goal.

Makar leads all NHL defencemen with six goals and his 20 points are seven more than any other blueliner.

For all the team’s firepower, the Avs went 0 for seven on the power play against the Oilers and at 15% on the season, they rank 27th in the NHL with the man advantage. Quite remarkably, they are one for 28 (3.6%) in nine road games this season. Martin Necas has their lone road power play goal and it came on opening night in Los Angeles. Somehow, Necas, who has 18 points on the season, did not figure in any of the team’s nine goals last night.

Colorado sits second in the league in goals per game (3.93) and is the top team defensively averaging 2.40 goals against. The Avs have scored a league-best 59 goals and boast the NHL’s best goal differential at +21. The Avalanche is 4-0-1 in its last five games and during that time has had games in which it scored eight and nine goals.

Scott Wedgewood has been the busiest netminder in the league this season starting 13 of the team’s 15 games including last night. Mackenzie Blackwood is likely to make his second start of the season tonight against the Canucks. He is 0-0-1 after dropping a 3-2 shootout loss in San Jose on November 1st.

News and notes​

The Canucks swept the Avalanche in their three-game season series outscoring them 10-2 last year. That included a 3-0 shutout victory and 3-1 win in the two games played in Vancouver.

Canucks head coach Adam Foote won two Stanley Cups with the Avalanche, served as team captain for two years (2009- 11) and had his No. 52 jersey number retired by the franchise. Canucks assistant coaches Scott Young (1995-97) and Brett McLean (2005-07) also played for the Avalanche.

For the second night in a row Kendrick Nicholson will officiate a Canucks game. He’ll be joined by Cody Beach tonight.

Don’t forget to join Rink Wide Vancouver for full postgame coverage after this game – and every game. The livestream starts moments after the final buzzer. Rink Wide is the place for full postgame analysis and discussion. Join the live YouTube chat with your thoughts on the hockey game.

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Source: https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancou...looms-visit-league-leading-colorado-avalanche