The Vancouver Canucks are looking for a bounce-back year, entering the 2025-26 season.
After winning the Pacific Division in 2024, the Canucks struggled last year. The team managed just a 38-30-14 record, finishing 10th in the Western Conference.
The organization didn't make a ton of offseason additions, but did manage to retain Brock Boeser, and extended both Conor Garland and Thatcher Demko. As a result, though, the Canucks' hopes for improvement rest more with internal improvement.
Heading into the new year, the Canucks still have some decisions to make. Below are some of the more interesting roster battles for Vancouver ahead of opening night.
Canucks' goaltending set with Thatcher Demko, Kevin Lankinen
One area the Canucks don't have to think much about is in goal. Vancouver will run with a tandem of Demko and Kevin Lankinen, who each signed extensions with the Canucks this year.
Demko has spent his entire NHL career in British Columbia, playing 242 games with the team. At his best, Demko can be one of the league's better starting goalies, posting a .918 save percentage with the team across 51 games in 2023-24. However, injury trouble remains a concern, and Demko is also coming off a poor 2024-25 season, in which he posted an .889 save percentage across 23 games.
With Demko unavailable, Lankinen was tasked with the bulk of the workload last season. He played 51 games, managing a .902 save percentage.
While the tandem is clear heading into the year, the question is how the workload will be split. If Demko gets off to a hot start, he'll have the opportunity to take control as the clear starter. If he struggles though, the Canucks could look to split the workload a bit more evenly.
Canucks have a battle on the blue line
The Canucks already have five defenders with established spots on their blue line. These would be: Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson, Tyler Myers and Derek Forbort.
However, the Canucks still have two spots up for grabs (or up to three, if they go with eight defensemen). These spots likely come down to Elias Pettersson, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Victor Mancini, and Tom Willander.
Pettersson seems like a frontrunner to get a spot. The 21-year-old defender split last season between the AHL and NHL, playing 28 games with the Canucks. Pettersson didn't take on a huge role, but was a good fit in his limited action.
Meanwhile, Victor Mancini is another option. Mancini was acquired from the New York Rangers in January, as part of the J.T. Miller trade. The defenseman played 16 games with the Canucks following the trade, and then played a big role in the Abbotsford Canucks' Calder Cup win.
Pierre-Olivier Joseph is also competing for a spot, after signing with the Canucks this summer. He split the 2024-25 season between the St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins, playing 47 games. Joseph also isn't exempt from waivers, and could be claimed if he doesn't crack the season-opening roster.
Perhaps the most interesting option is Tom Willander. The blue liner was selected 11th overall in 2023, and spent the last two seasons in the NCAA with Boston University. While Willander has the highest ceiling of any other the ‘bubble' defenders, he also has yet to play professional games in North America.
But regardless, the final spots in the defense group will taken by some combination of the players above.
Final spots in Vancouver's forward group are in question
Perhaps the most interesting questions for the Canucks come within their forward group.
The team has 10 forwards who are established NHLers: Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Evander Kane, Conor Garland, Filip Chytil, Nils Hoglander, Drew O'Connor, Teddy Blueger, and Kiefer Sherwood. However, Hoglander is expected to miss the start of the season after surgery, and should start the season on injured reserve.
As a result, there are up to five spots available in the forward group. Among the group competing for these are Aatu Raty, Linus Karlsson, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Nils Aman, Arshdeep Bains, Max Sasson and Vitali Kravtsov.
Between Raty, Karlsson, Lekkerimaki, Aman, Bains and Sasson, all forwards split time between the NHL and AHL last season, to varying degrees. Raty played the most games of any player from the group, and is likely to get a spot down the middle. Meanwhile, either Karlsson or Lekkerimaki could push for a top-nine role on the wing, with Hoglander unavailable.
However, Vitali Kravtsov is another interesting possibility. Kravtsov was selected ninth overall by the Rangers in 2018, and acquired by the Canucks in 2023. He wasn't able to solidify an NHL role for himself earlier in his career, but has another opportunity this season. Kravtsov is coming off an impressive KHL season, in which he scored 27 goals and 58 points in 66 games.
There's also the chance Braeden Cootes could earn a roster spot to start the season. Cootes is just 18 years old and was selected 15th overall by the Canucks this summer, but this seems like more of a longshot. Keeping him in the NHL this season would also notably burn a year of his entry-level contract. Still, it'll be interesting to see what the forward core looks like when Vancouver starts the 2025-26 season against the Calgary Flames on October 9.
