If there is one position the Vancouver Canucks can consider a strength, it's their defence. And it's not because of one player, though that player is one hell of a strength.
A recurring theme over the past two months - yes, before the season ended - has been Operation Keep Quinn Happy. He is, without any question, the most important player Vancouver has. His contract can be extended in almost exactly one year, and many pixels have been spent in anticipation. Hughes himself has said absolutely nothing about playing anywhere but where he is captain.
But this is Vancouver, and Canucks fandom is nothing if not trembling on the edge of hysteria at all times. Having Hughes under contract isn't a story when the possibility of losing him two years from now is right there! Free panic, ours for the taking!
But until then, let's see how the Canucks might use their defence come October - assuming no changes between now and then.
Story is that management was pondering how to best use their top two defencemen. The hosts on Canucks Central got word and put it to Hughes, who gave a very conclusive answer: "Don't fix what's not broken." So we won't.
The top two was far and away the Canucks most frequent pairing, as you'd expect. Both players lost time to injuries last season, which is just one chapter of the disastrous 2024-25 season. But while they were intact, they dominated with a 57% Corsi (attempted shots). The risk of overplaying them is real, and a temptation every coach must fight.
Hughes' hockey sense is exemplary, and his control of the puck on the blue line is unmatched in team history. An 18th-century Polish encyclopedia opened its entry on "Horse" with "Anyone can see what a horse is." That's kinda what it feels like to describe Quinn Hughes' game. He's brilliant. Just watch.
Hronek is a lot more than his caddy, too. Or jockey, maybe, if we're sticking to equestrian terms. He's a top-pair defenceman in his own right, but more in the two-way type Canucks fans are used to. A solid, defensively-responsible minute-eater who can get you some points and play both special teams. Alex Edler and Doug Lidster come to mind. Now put them beside Hughes, and here we are.
Marcus Pettersson - Tyler Myers
Every new coach Vancouver gets has the same clever idea: why don't we move Myers down a pair? With his speed and size, he can take advantage of weaker matchups, pushing the puck up the ice if we get control in our own end. Brilliant!
And, as the night follows the day, Myers works his way back up the lineup, returning to his customary 21-22 minutes per night. That's because he tends to work best with better players. Yeah, not really that much of a surprise, I suppose, but it keeps happening. Myers played almost 400 minutes with Hughes last season, both during Hronek's injuries and late in games when the team needed a goal.
Once Marcus Pettersson came to town, that gave Myers his own Hronek, but with less offence. Far less, in fact, but between he two of them, they are a decent shut-down pair. It takes some of the tough minutes off the Hughes - Hronek pairing and lets them focus on being holy terrors.
On a guess, this won't be the pair at the start of the season. I say this because the Canucks have a new head coach, and you know what that means.
Derek Forbort - Elias Pettersson
Pettersson is a given. He played beyond his years in his brief call-up last season and brought size and snarl with him. He even engaged in his first on-ice fight in any league, surprising Logan O'Connor and pretty much everyone else at the time. Given how he plays, he was going to have to drop the gloves at some point and certainly didn't shy away from it.
There's an old-school element to Pettersson's game, and it's very welcome here.
Derek Forbort is back on a one-year deal and was a large part of Vancouver's excellent penalty kill last year. Pettersson can play both sides of the ice, so expect Forbort to get his preferred left side slot. That, and all the PK time he can eat.
It sounds like the team is going to give Tom Willander every opportunity to make the Canucks next year. He caught the attention of scouts by being utterly relentless in pursuit of the puck, short-circuiting plays entering his side, and just being in the way. He was with Cole Hutson at Boston University, so no idea what he'll bring on offence, but his defence looks annoying as hell in the best way.
Victor Mancini, like Pettersson, also got his first taste of NHL play last season. A good skater for a big man, he's got a lot of jump to go on the attack. But he's still something of an adventure, missing his check on occasion and not reading situations he should be more careful in. Still, those are problems of experience rather than skill.
Pettersson, Willander, and Mancini are all waiver-exempt, making them a zero-risk choice to send to Abbotsford. That would be a much better spot for them than in the press box as an extra, even if the pay is ten times worse. Depending on length, one of Willander or Mancini could be called on for road trips as an extra extra defenceman along with Joseph.
The newly signed Pierre-Olivier Joseph is most likely destined for the seventh man slot. His experience is handy for when the injury bug calls, and he's smart enough to know how to stay ready. That's a skill on its own. He lacks Noah Juulsen's physical punch, but is a bit more reliable when he has the puck.
It's always nice to see when young guys make the coach's job hard. It's even better to know that it's because he has to decide who to leave off the team rather than who he's forced to bring on.
