It was a season full of injuries, drama, and regression, leading to the Canucks missing the post-season for the fourth time in the last seasons. That begs the question: Did they do enough this off-season to push for the playoffs once again?

Let’s find out!

How the season went

After finishing with 109 points to finish first in the Pacific Division, the Canucks battled for a wild card spot for most of the season. They held on to the spot as late as mid-March but went 6-5-3 to end the season, finishing six points out of the final wild card spot.

While it was a solid season on paper, the Canucks overachieved heavily in 2023-24, and there appeared to be a lot of drama behind the scenes. And as the saying goes, where there is smoke, there is fire, as J.T. Miller was traded on Jan. 31 to the New York Rangers for Filip Chytil and a protected 2025 first-round pick. Jan. 31 happened to be the one-year anniversary of the Elias Lindholm trade.

Anyway, the Canucks flipped that first-round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Marcus Pettersson, adding a third Swede with the last name Petterson to the team. Elias Pettersson (the forward), scored just 15 goals and 45 points in 64 games, far below the production you’d expect for a player making over $11 million annually.

Brock Boeser’s game also saw regression, as he went from 40 goals and 73 points in 2023-24 to just 25 goals and 50 points in 2024-25, which is around where he’s averaged for his career. Thatcher Demko dealt with injury throughout the season, and finished with an .889 save percentage and 2.90 goals against average. The only reason the Canucks had a chance to make the playoffs was because of the strong play by Kevin Lankinen.

As expected, defenceman Quinn Hughes continued to be one of the best defencemen in the league. When health, he scored 16 goals and 76 points, but missed 14 games due to injury. There’s a legitimate chance things could’ve been different had he stayed healthy through the season.

Drafted players

The Canucks had six picks in the 2025 draft. With their first-rounder, they selected Braeden Cootes 15th overall. They went with a goalie in the second round, selecting Alexei Medvedev from the London Knights with the 47th overall pick.

In the third round, they drafted centre Kieren Dervin from St. Andrews College, an Ontario high school. They didn’t have a fourth-round pick, but selected Swede Wilson Bjorck with the 143rd overall pick. In the sixth round, the Canucks drafted Gabriel Chiarot, followed by Matthew Lansing with their seventh-round pick.

It’ll still be a handful of seasons before any of these players make an impact, but Cootes scored 26 goals and 63 points in 60 Western Hockey League games last season. Expect him to make a significant step in 2025-26.

Trades

The Canucks were busy before and after the draft and free agency. Their first off-season move saw them trade a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Edmonton Oilers for Evander Kane and his full salary. On Jun. 28, they acquired Ilya Safonov from the Chicago Blackhawks for future considerations.

After all their free agent signings were dealt with (more on that later), the Canucks traded young netminder Artūrs Šilovs to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Chase Stillman and a fourth-round pick in the 2027 draft. They also traded Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2028 fourth-round pick.

Free agent signings

The area where the Canucks were the busiest was in free agency, and more specifically, re-signing and extending their players. They extended Derek Forbort in early June and re-signed Aatu Räty.

On the opening day of free agency, they extended Conor Garland to a six-year deal worth $6 million annually, as well as Thatcher Demko to a three-year deal with an $8.5 million cap hit. Their biggest move on Canada Day was re-signing unrestricted free agent Brock Boeser to a seven-year deal worth $7.25 million annually.

Departures

As for the Canucks’ departures, their biggest without a doubt was Pius Suter, who signed a deal with the St. Louis Blues. Last season, he scored a career-high 25 goals and 46 points, production that Evander Kane might be able to replicate. Dakota Joshua was traded, and Noah Juulsen departed for the Philadelphia Flyers.

One other departure was their head coach, Rick Tocchet, who parted ways with the team and joined Juulsen in Pennsylvania. They replaced him with Adam Foote.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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