The Vancouver Canucks are going to open the season at home against a tired Calgary Flames team. Not saying it's a "must win", but other teams' travel is one of the few advantages being coastally-based gives. So they better.
But in among the expectations for the coming season, something is always going to surprise. What is it that will make fans and players alike blink twice at the stats pages by the time all the hardware is handed out? I pestered a couple of my bitter rivals coworkers for answers.
Yeah, I'm gaming it because I'm the one writing it up. I'll put them in what I think is least to most shocking if it happens. We're not going to bother with the impossible - "Fans convince the Aquilinis to sell!" - but any of these would be a surprise.
Did I mention I cheated? Because I asked his opinion last week, well before the mini-clinic Braeden Cootes and Jonathan Lekkerimäki put on against Edmonton. The kids showed they belonged, even if one's 18 years old, and even if it's briefly.
The magic of ten games is that's when his entry level contract burns a year, so is looked on as a hard line for NHL teams. I don't know how important that is anymore, though. A bigger line to me is when he's no longer considered a rookie going into next year, a 25-game limit.
The other barrier to his being sent down is that he can't go to the AHL, but would have to return to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL. That's a huge jump, so even if it's close the Canucks might be reluctant to send him back. It's worth talking about.
Off the deep end quick, then. This season is going to be an interesting watch for a lot of reasons, not least of which is whatever system rookie coach Adam Foote puts in place. He consulted - a LOT - with his players over the Summer, and that had to include asking them what they wanted to see.
It looks like they're pressing for offence, led by the blue line. Not a bad decision, given where the talent lies, but it's risky. Demko and Lankinen are good at breakaways, but there's only so many a team wants to give up. If it doesn't work quickly, Foote might change his mind back to a tight, controlled game.
For the record, Vancouver had no wins with a 5-goal gap last year.
This one's going to be really tough. It means either the second wild card was handed a gimmie at around 90 points compared to Vancouver's 100-ish, or that the Canucks finished the year with 105+. Not impossible, but the weaker teams in the West have stocked up a bit, and we probably won't see the level of underperformance that we did last season.
The obvious choice here is Elias Pettersson returning to form. No one else on the team is really "that kind of guy" to suddenly produce at a triple-digit pace. If Foote's system works as intended, then more players will have a chance at more points, but that'll be spread out.
If Pettersson makes it to 100 points, then everything is going perfectly. Things can still go just fine and he'll finish the year at 80-85 instead, and that's far more likely.
Okay, this is more in the "boy, I hope not" category than the "what a shock" one. It's a condensed schedule with an Olympic break, and we all know what Thatcher Demko's injury history is. If he's playing this much, it means Lankinen has been injured, Nikita Tolopilo tanked, and the race is close in February. Oof.
I'm going way out of the box with this one, but mostly because I want more people to notice Kirill Kudryavtsev. He is... disturbingly stable out there, and not just on his skates.
Have you ever heard of the 2003 movie The Cooler? William H. Macy plays a guy who is employed by a casino because whenever he's at a table, whoever else is there has a streak of bad luck. He doesn't win, but that's not why he gets a salary. He makes sure other people lose.
That's Kudryavtsev. When he's on the ice, nothing happens. Shots for, shots against, chances anywhere just dry up. It's kind of hilarious, but also a really underrated skill, especially for a sub-six-footer.
Now, for him to come to Vancouver, a lot of dominos would have to fall. With Jett Woo and Guillaume Brisebois both out long-term, Abbotsford need a stable top pair. That's probably going to be Tom Willander and recently-recalled Victor Mancini.
For Kudryavtsev to get the call, they have to need a stable player, not the swashbuckling style of those two. I'm anticipating a trade from Vancouver's blue line fairly early in the year, moving him up in the depth chart. And once he's here, I think the coaching staff will want him to stay.
So, what do you think? Too wild? Not wild enough? Let us know!
I hate this. I mistrust productive preseasons and don't care for kids being dropped into the NHL in their draft years. Vancouver's previous first-round draft picks likely won't make the team this year. This year's pick just happened to be exactly what the Canucks need, positionally speaking, which brings the Devil's Candy to mind. Desperation makes it easy to overlook flaws.
So what's going on with Braeden Cootes?
Braeden Cootes has earned his spot; let's not pretend otherwise, here. He's had some protected time on the ice in his three games so far, which is reasonable for an 18-year-old. But you can't protect a player when you're on the road and have few other options. It was a typical pre-season road game with just a few NHL veterans as the home team dressed two of the best in the world.
His line in Edmonton was with Kiefer Sherwood and Drew O'Connor. If you saw that during the season, it would be a fourth line. Here, it was their second most frequent combination. Cootes himself pulled almost 17 minutes in the 3-4 loss, a two-minute increase over his previous two games. The key may be why other players haven't managed to stick: he's not playing scared.
His second goal of the preseason was a lucky bounce off a defender, but his first was a lucky bounce off him. Is that better or worse? Answer: they all count. Cootes is getting wither the puck or himself into the right spots to score, and that's not even his best feature. Seeing him step right up to angle Leon Draisaitl away from the net, or going to the boards to fight for the puck is a delight.
It's not completely fair to use a first-round pick as a comparison to players who were drafted much later, or even not at all. But where Cootes is now is so much farther along than where Danila Klimovich or Nils Åman or Arshdeep Bains were in their first training camps. He isn't bothering to think about not making mistakes because he's doing what he needs to do.
That AHL championship win has helped so many of Vancouver's prospects, no doubt. There is a lot of pressure coming up the ranks right now, and that's fantastic to see. The confidence that Bains, Linus Karlsson, and Max Sasson played with last game is what they needed. Any of them could start with the NHL club this season, with Bains probably having an edge there.
Cootes didn't need that. His Seattle Thunderbirds have not been good, with several veterans graduating in his second year. That's the same year he was named captain of the team as a 17-year-old. That in itself speaks volumes about what he's bringing alongside his skills. His skill set gives him a subtle advantage over, say, Jonathan Lekkerimäki. He's ten pounds heavier, and what he does with it matters.
Braeden Cootes has been put on a simple regimen. Play well enough in this game, get to play in the next one. That's fine for the preseason and all, but when the season starts, the consequences of not being able to keep up are far higher. The pressure that Vancouver has put upon itself to not just make the playoffs this year but to "show promise" for the future is through the roof.
Can they afford to have a player who hasn't played a single professional game on the team? It's a tougher call than you might think.
On one hand, there is a lot of depth in that bottom six right now. The Canucks have loads of players who can fill those spaces, many of whom have NHL experience. It could easily be argued that they are better than Cootes right now - or will be better by season's start. But will they be better in two or three months?
As we've said before, Cootes can start on a fourth line. He has appropriate skills for the position. If the team wants him to ba a "two-way player" then there's little harm in it. He'll not only play against the best in the world, he'll also practice with them and be coached by them. Even if he only plays ten or twelve minutes a night, everything around him being at this level is still there.
Now, the tough part is accepting that if he is used this way, he might only get 20 points or so in his first year. In this season, that just might be how he helps the team the most. If he has low point totals _and_ he's a healthy scratch, they can still send him down to Seattle at any time. This ain't a mysterious yellow wood, here. We can switch trails whenever we want.
On the other hand, Cootes is looked upon as the leader of a rebuilding Thunderbirds squad. He could absolutely gain experience as The Man relied on to score every night. In the WHL he'll be relied on to do everything for his team, including being a physical presence. He could get twice the ice time in Seattle that he would in Vancouver.
But if he did that, it would be against WHL players on a WHL team. His top priority wouldn't be learning how to angle Leon Draisaitl away from the net, that's for sure. It would be to rack up points for a team that's probably going to have difficulty scoring, and let the rest sort itself.
This is why sports is the ultimate Reality TV. Any plan the team comes up with might work, but we're not going to know until it resolves.
"We need to convince Hughes to stay with Vancouver!" Yeah, okay. I'll do this quickly.
As amazing as his vision, his skating, and his passing are, Quinn Hughes' single best feature is his brain. He thinks the game incredibly well, which is what was so disturbing last season. Watching him realize the best play he had was shooting from the point because of his disfunctional forwards was just ugly.
The best way to keep Quinn Hughes in Vancouver is not treating him like an idiot.
Want to make a trade to improve the team this season? He's perfectly aware of what you're giving up to do it. Losing draft picks is one thing; losing players, another. If you're bringing in a UFA at the expense of a potential future scorer, you better be ready to re-sign him. And they had better contribute. Don't rush a bad deal and think he'll be happy about it.
The Vancouver Canucks are finally back in action against an opponent SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! The first of six pre-season games will kick off in Seattle at 5:00 p.m. in Climate Pledge Arena. We don't know who will be tapped for the game, but there are some things to watch out for.
The vibe coming out of training camp has been full-bore optimism. Pretty standard boilerplate for any pro sports squad, though. Even players on teams that know they are in tough will praise the new faces/signed veterans and "plans for the future" and all that. That's not the case here. The team has sounded more relaxed, oddly enough.
A lot of this is coloured with Retr-O-Spect Glasses(tm), but this group that missed the playoffs sounds more confident than last year's bunch, who were coming back from the third-highest point total in Canucks history. They sound ready.
The biggest difference between now and a year ago is probably health. Thatcher Demko's knee, Dakota Joshua's cancer, and whatever was going on in the dressing room had everyone on edge. None of that is around the arena this year.
As is typical with these pre-season games, only some of the established veterans will play tomorrow. With that in mind, here's a quick look at what we're looking for.
Demko says he is completely healthy and looking forward to the season. And, with the extra time put in, he's figured out how to best work around his popliteus injury. There was a lot of second-guessing how to best protect his knee while still being effective as the season went on last year. That resulted in the worst numbers of his career. That's not going to happen again.
He and Lankinen are obviously sharing the workload this season, but then who? Jiří Patera's injuries last season also kept him off the ice, and he didn't show up in Saturday's scrimmage. Patera has NHL experience and was signed with the intention of being the Canucks' third goaltender behind Demko and Arturs Silovs. That... didn't work.
But now he finds himself in third place behind Nikita Tolopilo and Ty Young in Abbotsford. Young played in Kalamazoo before joining Abbotsford as an injury replacement, and he showed well enough that the team wants him moved up a level. Sure, keeping Patera in the system would be great insurance, but he won't be happy about life in the ECHL.
Quinn Hughes can switch onto frikkin' cruise control for another two weeks. He's ready to go. But we want to give the young guys a chance beside actual NHL veterans. We know who the top four are going to be, so it's up to the rest of the set to sort themselves out. Pierre-Olivier Joseph is the barrier any of the kids need to clear if they want to start in the NHL, and he's not making it easy for them.
Joseph has looked really good in scrimmages, adding pressure onto even Elias Pettersson to prove himself. As good a skater as Tom Willander is, he hasn't been up to speed against this level of competition yet. And that's not including the startling Kiril Kudryavtsev, who I didn't expect to get this far, never mind doing it in three years. Victor Mancini is also likely ahead of Willander at this point, and that's fine. A year - or even a few months - in the AHL won't do him any harm.
But it's going to be very interesting to see who gets that 6/7 spot. Derek Forbort was a penalty-killing anchor on last year's squad, so whoever pairs with him will probably need those chops, too.
We'll have to see who is sent to Seattle and who will kick off their season in Abbotsford. There will be enough veterans to keep things interesting, and on a guess, Coach Foote will want his top lines to be the lines he wants to start the regular season with. Wherever Brock Boeser goes, he'll probably have Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk with him. Likewise, Filip Chytil, Evander Kane, and - surprise, surprise! - Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
The other nine forwards will probably be a mixed bag of veterans and rookies or new arrivals. The point isn't really to win these games but to see who can work where in Vancouver's system, either full-time or as a call-up. So far, two players have really stood out in a pleasant way.
Filip Chytil looks angry. He knows his reputation as being injury-prone and not good at protecting himself from hits. It's not great to say, but given the nature of concussions, that's going to haunt him until he has an extended period completely healthy. But man, when you see him going at full speed, you can see why he really can be the answer to Vancouver's missing 2C. They can really use his puck-carrying ability.
Speaking of things I don't want to say, the other player is Braden Cootes. I am loath to put any more pressure on a rookie who JUST HAPPENS to be a right-handed centre with a high hockey-IQ and leadership tendencies, but he's not looked out of place. And he, unlike Lekkerimäki, could start his career getting ten to twelve minutes a night on the fourth line and still be contributing. Yes, I am thinking of Bo Horvat when I watch Braden Cootes. Dammit.
Don't get me wrong, here. I'm looking forward to seeing him regularly with Vancouver. But he's 18 years old. And he's exactly what the Canucks need right now - if he happened to be two or three years further along in his development. Patience is a virtue, but so is building a team Quinn Hughes wants to stay with. Dammit.
There are six (ugh) pre-season games on the menu this season, and no doubt we're going to read way too much into all of them. So let's get to it.
The Vancouver Canucks have a lot riding on this season, but when haven't they? There is a unique aspect to a yo-yo team, expected to get good results but stumbling instead. Improving by 26 points, then falling by 19 the next season, is one hell of an impact. It leaves psychic damage. That kind of thing makes a fan want to curl up with a book and a bottle and stare at the fireplace instead of cheer.
Screw that! The season's kicking off October 9th, pre-season literally next Sunday. Find a feed, subscribe to a network, switch on the radio and LET'S GO!
After a year of compounding disasters, things just have to get better, right? Sure. Probably. A disturbing amount of this game is luck-dependent, and teams mitigate against it as best they can. Using the resources you have in the best way possible, preparing but not over-preparing, and managing workloads and workouts. All that's part of it, split between the players, coaches, and management.
That all being said, for all we know, fans clutching their lucky charms and lighting incense at their Trevor Linden shrine might make all the difference. But what should they ask for? We're here to help! In descending order of likelihood, five distinct wishes for the 2025-26 season.
Vancouver's (Eleven-point-)Six Million Dollar Man* is back in town. There is a lot of concern about how his scoring didn't just drop, but plummet. Sure, injuries played their part, but his goal scoring and his point production were half his career average. And they weren't all that great through the last quarter of 2023-24, either.
It's not like he abandoned the team, though. He was still defensively responsible, with him, Brock Boeser, and Jake DeBrusk putting up a modest expected goals against per 60 minutes. But that isn't really what Elias Pettersson is on the team for, is it? He was on the ice, and his numbers were fine for a second-line centre - touch of irony there. But Vancouver needs more.
They'll get it, too. Yes, there are plenty of jokes about him putting on 6 kg because he got married. I did much the same, with a far less modest 15 kg in one year. Did you know that when you get married, sometimes your spouse likes having food around? Like, ALL THE TIME and not just once a week? Weird.
Anyway, the odds of Pettersson suddenly turning fat are zero. Zip. None. He's going to be 27 years old this season, and he was embarrassed by last year's results. He has something to prove, and I, for one, would be uninterested in standing in his way. I think his drop in play was mental. Again, some injury bumps and bruises are part of the game, but that doesn't explain the lack of aggression that killed his numbers.
I think his mind is in the right place now, and it will show early and often. The trick is finding who will work best with him.
Odds: 9/10
The last time Evander Kane was in his contract season, he scored 22 goals and 49 points in 56 games. The time before, he impressed San Jose with nine goals and 14 points in just 17 games, to go with 25 minutes in penalties. Before that? His second contract was signed on the back of a 30-goal, 57-point season. The other years are a bit of a mixed bag.
He is well-known for antics not only on the ice but in the dressing room. That's not great. Bringing in a player famous for discipline problems is an odd choice for a high-stakes season. But his lack of headlines in recent years has eased some of those fears. Troubles off the ice include assault accusations from sexual partners, a very complicated relationship with his former wife, and a gambling addiction while with the Sharks.
These all seem to be in the past now, as his time in Edmonton was relatively calm. Clearly, Canucks management is hoping that streak continues with his hometown team. And, of course, he has another end-of-contract season. He doesn't need to hit 50 goals or anything, but 25 with his usual truculence on the ice and a lack of drama off it would be a win.
Uh, no one tell him I said this, okay?
Odds: 8/10
The odds of this one coming true are improved just because there are so dang many of them. There aren't a huge number of spaces available to the promotable rank-and-file, but there are some. There still may be a trade or a free agent signing between now and training camp, but if not? It's not unreasonable to say there are two or three spaces among the forwards and one regular spot on the defence.
Since we last looked at the offence, Dakota Joshua was moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That opened up a space on the wing, where Vancouver has a decent amount of talent. They want talent down the centre, but right now we'll take what we can get. I don't think we're too far off in pencilling in Aatu Räty at 3C and leaving Teddy Blueger behind him to anchor the fourth.
If Räty is one young gun, Nils Åman, Linus Karlsson, Arshdeep Bains, and Max Sasson are looking to make their mark, too. Each of these guys has advantages, but they're young-ish, not young. For a young guy up front, it's Jonathan Lekkerimaki. However, he's not a player to start on the fourth line to work his way up. If he's not in the top six, then let him cook in the minors a bit longer.
The defence, on the other hand, has options. We can confidently pencil Elias Pettersson in to start the year. Beyond him, Tom Willander has made it clear he wants to be in the NHL now, not later. That's going to be a tough call, and if he makes it, it'll more likely be as a mid-season replacement. He's had a good showing in Boston and internationally, but didn't really build on the previous year.
But there's also (more than one young prospect! Amazing!) Victor Mancini. Mancini showed well in his NHL tryout last year, split between the Rangers and Vancouver. He's got very good size, though he's not much of a hitter. He skates well enough to get his mass into position and get the puck up when he has it. Like Willander, he will probably start in the AHL with expectations of dominance, possibly lining up with Jett Woo in the top pair.
If two of these guys can break through as solid, contributing regulars on the squad, then the team gets all that much deeper.
Odds: 7/10
Okay, yes, we're going to mention injuries a few times in this list. For good reason, too: the team's most important players each missed a dozen games or more. Thatcher Demko has played more than 50 games in a season twice and was brilliant in both of them. The rest of the time? He didn't play 50 games because he couldn't play 50 games.
In an ideal world, one in which GM Patrik Allvin has signed the team on to, Demko splits his time with Kevin Lankinen. Lankinen doesn't get overworked and let any sloppiness get into his game; Demko doesn't overstress any of his, well, anything. Lankinen is a perfectly good 1B, though a better heavy-use backup.
There are a couple guys in Abbotsford who should be able to step in if needed between Nikita Tolopilo and Jiri Patera. Ty Young might get a look or two, but if so, it better be because he's blowing people's doors off in Abby.
Bottom line is that when Demko is on his game, he's a top-five goaltender. That would be real nice to have available come the playoffs.
Odds: 6/10
Okay, hear me out. I know the team was second last in the entire league last year for shots on net. Their 24.5 per game was still one full shot more than the Chicago Blackhawks managed, and they finished... Ah, right. Let's not use them as an example.
Unlike the Blackhawks, the Canucks were also very good at limiting shots against last season, finishing seventh in the league. That level of discipline isn't likely to vanish, especially with the transition from Rick Tocchet to Adam Foote behind the bench. Foote played his entire NHL career as a defensive specialist and was responsible for the defence under Tocchet.
That being said...
He has the talent here to push the game up. No offence to Derek Forbort or Pierre-Olivier Joseph, but there's no offence to Derek Forbort or Pierre-Olivier Joseph. But the top two pairs on this club are more than capable of trying for mid-ice stops, catching opponents in the neutral zone. All four are strong skaters, and it could be worth the defensive risk for more offensive chances.
Heck, if either Mancini or Willander do play well enough to make the team, that can give the Canucks a pleasant surprise in the third pair. Getting the puck out of your end is one thing. Stopping it from getting there in the first place is another. But that's also asking a rookie coach to take a chance in a very high-pressure season.
Odds: 3/10
Right, now let's drop the dang puck! But let me grab my bottle first, just in case I need to celebrate.
*Whose bionic abilities include being able to run in boot heels. Man, the '70s were weird.
Thomas Drance got a brief interview with Calder Cup-winning coach Manny Malhotra recently, published in The Athletic.* Malhotra was on the (very) short list of replacement head coaches when Tocchet left, but remains the top dog in Abbotsford for now.
The interview brought to mind the huge differences between the NHL and their closest league, the AHL. As static as the Vancouver Canucks have been, their affiliate must change. That's simply the nature of the feeder league, and it's true in every sport. They, like Vancouver, aren't quite in their final form. But general manager Ryan Johnson needs to wait for Vancouver's final decisions before he can make his own.
The Abbotsford Canucks won the franchise's first-ever championship since the Dallas Black Hawks won the Central Hockey League's Adams Cup in 1979. Their head coach was John Muckler, and more than a few Canucks appeared. Stan Smyl played the only three games of his minor-league career there.
Can Vancouver get a new Stan Smyl out of last year's batch in Abby? It's not as unlikely as you might think. Maybe not a 13-year career guy, but a long-term, rock-steady player? There are a surprising number of options.
Linus Karlsson and Max Sasson are name-dropped specifically by Malhotra as guys who got their call-up and came back with the same energy that earned it. That attitude of knowing what they can do and knowing it gets rewarded is essential for AHL players. These are two very different guys: Sasson carries the puck with speed, and Karlsson gets his points in front of the net. How they play is the similarity.
Sasson's skating made him stand out among the AHL sampler set last year. He's a lot more productive in the AHL, sure, but he's also getting first-line ice there. The same can be said of Karlsson's more, ah, "methodical" skating and play. But they play the same game in Abbotsford as they did in Vancouver, even if it's for fewer minutes.
When Malhotra talks about what success means in Abbotsford, it's exactly what you want to hear. Winning games is important, especially in the playoffs, when players aren't collecting a paycheque. A winning atmosphere is something players can carry with them the rest of their careers. But that isn't all.
The goal, which they make very clear to the players, is for them to graduate to the NHL. That ambition can best be realized with their parent club, sure, but if it's with another team, so be it. Play well enough to have your value recognized, and someone else will come calling. That's what happened with Artūrs Šilovs. Sammy Blais is getting another NHL shot in Montreal. Heck, John Stevens is extending his career in Finland.
And it's all because each individual has bought in. That means mostly playing like the team in Vancouver does, but with some flexibility for the different talent available. It's why you might see a top goal scorer like Danila Klimovich stay down, but low-scoring defenceman Elias Pettersson move up. It's not just blindly taking the most talented player, but who fits best for what Vancouver needs.
Aatu Räty has likely graduated already. If he's not pencilled in for a bottom-six centre spot, it's because they used ink. If anyone is getting the "next Steamer" vibe, at least Räry has the provenance. He knows how to put points on the board, worked hard to get where he is, and is only 22.
The most interesting player in Abbotsford, as far as I'm concerned, is Arshdeep Bains. He is a furiously hard worker, and he's reached the AHL through sheer determination. Overagers in the CHL don't often translate into NHL regulars, but he's doing everything he can to get there. The problem is, while he's a creative and adventurous player in Abbotsford, in Vancouver, he plays scared.
Not physically, of course. He wouldn't have lasted three minutes for Tocchet if he avoided contact, never mind 13 games. His first NHL goal - and only point - came from him charging the net for a rebound. While Vancouver doesn't expect brilliance from a call-up, they do need more results than that. And Bains has the talent to provide them, but is second-guessing himself on the regular.
Watching him in the AHL is fun. He works the boards, goes in on the forecheck, and is a very good passer. He'll send linemates in with spin-o-rama passes or go between the legs of opponents when they're mucking in the corner. Those kinda vanish with Vancouver, where he focuses more on not making mistakes.
The bad news is that we probably won't see Malhotra ever coach in Vancouver again. Ideally, anyway. Adam Foote has the job, and presumably, he's safe for the year unless we're all thinking Gavin McKenna thoughts in December.
It's difficult to shake off the "professional assistant coach" label when it's applied, and that was one reason why Malhotra took the job with Abbotsford. Being an assistant coach as your first job? Of course, that just makes sense. The third time you're an assistant coach in the NHL? That label gets sticky. The only promotion he wants now is to a head coaching job in the NHL.
Has he earned it? Working in Vancouver's favour is that last season was Malhotra's first as a head coach anywhere. Exciting as that is, there's not much of a track record there. Hitting a bullseye on your first throw could be skill. Or not. Teams are going to see a lot more throws before they take a chance with the flagship of their $2 billion franchise.
Malhotra has one more year plus an option right now. If he gets an offer from another team, the Canucks can block his move if they want. But if they do that, Foote should be looking over his shoulder.
*Apologies for the New York Times subscription. I only read it for the sports articles, I swear!
You can be excused if you forgot Vitali Kravtsov's previous Vancouver Canucks incarnation. It lasted all of 16 NHL games and wasn't exactly a blockbusting deal when he arrived. With one goal and one assist in that time, why did general manager Patrik Allvin decide to bring him back?
Kravstov was drafted ninth overall back in 2018, mostly because of his skating. He was moving between the MHL and VHL (the junior and minor KHL feeder leagues), so had played some time against adults by the time he was picked.
His time in the KHL came late and was heavily protected, as you would expect with a 17-year-old. There were few points, but that he got into 35 games was impressive. Even better, he showed up for the playoffs, boosting his draft value considerably.
But that wasn't what got scouts' attention. Well before the playoffs began, it was his skating. He was over six feet tall and not just fast, but quick. He didn't just charge into the zone and hope for the best, but could out-maneuver defencemen on the way.
That didn't translate well to North America. The Rangers started him in Hartford, much to his dismay, and he sulked his way back to Russia. He didn't do a whole lot there, either, and returned to the Wolf Pack after a month. Then COVID hit, and a whole lot of young players had their development thrown into a blender.
Back to Russia to kick off the 2020-21 year, where he leaned in to building a shoot-first mentality. He rejoined the Rangers when the KHL season wrapped up and didn't convince them to offer much of an extension.
The feeling was mutual, but contracts being what they are, Kravtsov started 2022-23 with the Rangers on a one-year deal. Any ideas of showcasing him for a trade were for naught, as he scored just three goals and six points in 28 games.
Good news for the Rangers, though, as they found a team desperate for size, skating, and maybe a hint of offence: the Vancouver Canucks. A trade for William Lockwood and a seventh-round pick later, and Kravtsov switched coasts.
Alas, that didn't restart his lost scoring touch. The team qualified him, but wasn't exactly shedding tears as he returned once more to his old KHL team, Traktor Chelyabinsk.
He seems to have found his feet this time around. Perhaps it's because he's more comfortable with his environment, and perhaps he's just maturing into his ability. Whatever the reason, he's scored 45 goals and 92 points in 121 KHL games and was a presence in the playoffs.
With a caveat, that is. He had more KHL playoff points in his draft year (6 goals, 11 points in 16 games) than he did this year (6 goals, 7 points in 19 games). On the other hand, he played further down the lineup when he was young and took advantage. That's a different role than being expected to lead your team.
These recent results have inspired him to try his hand at the NHL once more. So he found a team that was desperate for size, skating, and some offence that just happened to have his rights: the Vancouver Canucks.
Kravtsov has a league-minimum, two-way deal and will be hard-pressed to find a spot with Vancouver. As they are currently configured, in any case. There are plenty of players in Vancouver's system who have earned a shot at the bigs, especially on the wing.
All of them are more reliable defensively than Kravtsov right now, and that matters. If you aren't scoring, then the other team shouldn't be, either, is a mantra for any team's bottom six. And we don't know if Kravtsov can score in the NHL.
So why is he here? The Canucks need a centre, not another winger! Saying that, should a winger get moved in a trade, then having a skilled, offence-oriented replacement handy at a rock-bottom price? Very convenient, indeed.
Suddenly, it feels far more important to show up to training camp in game shape.
The KHL and the NHL have very different coaching styles, producing wildly different results. Don't expect leading KHL scorer Josh Leivo (remember him?) to return to the NHL and drop a point-per-game in 2025-26.
Players who can score in Russia are given far more leeway than they are in the NHL. Extra-long shifts, minimal defensive responsibility, and hanging around the opponent's blue line aren't always discouraged. It makes for very entertaining hockey to watch, but doesn't inspire disciplined play.
Kravtsov isn't waiver-exempt, so if he gets sent down to the AHL, there is a chance he'll get snagged by another team. The Canucks likely won't risk that if they've already traded away someone more established to bring in a centre. And to be sure there, they'll want a look at what he can do.
If this works out like hoped, then Kravtsov will be in the Canucks top-six, likely with some power play time. He has multiple weapons with which he can score, from elevating in front of the net to a quick wrist shot beyond the circles. And he's fast enough to get there, with the size to stay.
If he doesn't prove himself quickly, then the team will probably send him down. That's when he'll have the best chance to clear. If he does show why he was a top-ten pick in 2018, then he'll be a good asset to have, either in a deal or as a call-up. If he doesn't, well, Abbotsford lost some veterans and could use more.
In an ideal world, Kravtsov has learned his lesson and returns to the NHL a wiser man. He has scoring talent and speed, and the team will give him his chance. If he's ready to work his way into the lineup with consistency, he can be an unexpected bonus for Vancouver.
But we shouldn't be holding our breath.
Thatcher Demko getting re-signed as soon as he was eligible leaves a big impression. The "Team America" squad - though they are a LOT smarter than anyone in the movie - is back and happy to move forward. For that feeling to last into the season, the team is relying heavily on who tends net.
Banana splits are great. A 7-10 split when you're bowing sucks. You have to split firewood before it's useful. Splitting up with a long-time partner is a miserable experience, even if it's the right thing to do. You can see where this is going, yeah?
Thatcher Demko is a well-established starter in the NHL. Kevin Lankinen played more than 40 games for the first time last season. And Artūrs Šilovs just backstopped his AHL club to the Calder Cup, but his NHL trial had miserable results.
Demko is an excellent goaltender under normal conditions. Unfortunately, those conditions aren't frequent enough to be considered "normal" anymore. In his six full seasons, he has played 232 out of a possible 492 regular-season games and just five in the playoffs.
That's a lot less than half the available games. He has played more than 40 games in a season twice and been excellent both times. But he has more frequently been injured, trying to ignore an injury, or recovering from an injury.
Demko has one more year to go on his current contract, then the new three-year, $8.5 million deal kicks in. The assumption is that he'll be healthy for it, but that's no guarantee. He didn't start last year until December, missed most of April and March, and couldn't finish out the season.
Very, very few people knew what a popliteus muscle is before Demko's potentially career-ending injury happened. And if it happens again, that could be the end of his career. So the apparent plan is to give him frequent breaks, avoiding three-game weeks.
Spending $8.5 million on one of the best goaltenders in the league isn't unreasonable - but he should also be the clear-cut starter. Making sure Demko doesn't overtax his repaired knee means he's starting 40-45 games if everything goes well.
Suddenly, that $8.5 million doesn't look great. But if he gets hot in the right six weeks, he'll be worth every penny.
Backing up Demko will be Kevin Lankinen, who is on his third team in five NHL seasons. The plan was to split time between him and Šilovs until Demko recovered. That didn't work out, and Lankinen was press-ganged into service, appearing in 51 games in 2024-25. Twice, he started ten of eleven games, and the overwork showed.
This should be familiar with any Canucks fans who remember Jacob Markström's tenure. He was excellent, but if he played too many games in a row, his accuracy dropped. He would start to drift from his positioning or start his moves early. It seems like Lankinen needs the same breaks to keep his game on track.
Lankinen has some brilliant moments in his highlight reels, but more important is his reliability. He's got a very high floor, giving Vancouver a consistency that doesn't need highlight saves that often. A five-year, $4.5 million is high for a backup, but for a 1B getting 35-40 games, it's fine.
People will pay an awful lot for a backup parachute if their first one tears. Best to have it on hand rather than wait until you need one.
The fame trajectory of Artūrs Šilovs is fascinating. He's travelled from Who to Hero to Goat - then to GOAT - in seven months. Except for that last step, it's the Spencer Martin Story all over again.
Šilovs was given the backup role to start 2024-25 after his surprisingly steady playoff performance the previous season. It didn't work out for him or the Canucks, unfortunately. His job was taken over before the season started with Lankinen's signing, and he couldn't bring home an opening-night 4-1 lead against division rival Calgary.
Things didn't get better for him from there. Not in the NHL, anyway. The only team he could beat was the bottom-feeding Chicago Blackhawks, though he did do that twice. Šilovs was sent back to Abbotsford when Demko was healthy enough to play.
There, he rebuilt his confidence all the way to winning the Calder Cup, playing 24 games to do it and winning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as playoff MVP. His five shutouts were five more than he managed in the regular season, AHL or NHL.
That might be enough to inspire another team to claim him off waivers. His cap hit of just $850K makes him a minimal risk, but any team that does claim him will need to pass him through waivers themselves or else keep him in the NHL.
Šilovs hasn't done well in backup minutes yet, and he's not going to be an NHL starter next season. That's a big reason why his trade value is as low as it is, despite his AHL success. Trade him for a mid-round pick, or hope he sneaks his way to Abbotsford?
Speaking of which, Abbotsford has Nikita Tolopilo and Ty Young in their plans, unless Aku Koskenvuo can bump one of them down to the ECHL. Tolopilo has the inside track there, but Young showed well in his AHL call-up and was excellent down in Kalamazoo. He deserves a shot.
Sounds like I'm missing someone, right? Right: Jiří Patera. Patera started the season with Abbotsford, but only played seven games before he was injured for the season. Patera has some NHL experience and another season to go on his contract. That's an ideal description of a third-string goaltender, but the team wants Young to face tougher competition than the ECHL.
Patera is an unrestricted free agent after next season, and that alone might keep him out of the cycle. He also has yet to play since his November knee injury, so he'll need to regain the team's trust. He's NHL-capable, but if he's not a prospect that might be the end of him in the Canucks system.
As for Koskenvuo, he's finishing his college career with Harvard and wants pro minutes. He'll likely battle Young for AHL time, but both will be behind Tolopilo and his new two-year deal.
Sure, it's a mess in goal for the Vancouver Canucks. But isn't having too many qualified goalies a refreshing change?
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.
Looks like we have the Vancouver Canucks' starting lineup for October, more or less. Sure, training camp begins in September, but that should have several unique faces zooming in for a look-see, not the final product. No doubt management is looking to add a bit more to the front six, but should that not happen, what we see is what we get.
There are plenty of questions about what, whom and how, so let's dig in.
If you're concerned about seeing the same faces and wondering how that makes the team better, well, that's reasonable. No forward on the squad broke 50 points last season, and their Big Get had zero. Evander Kane had six goals and 12 points in 21 playoff games, but waited the entire regular season for it to happen.
So this is not going to be a squad that outscores its troubles. Maybe there will be some divine intervention and Vancouver will suddenly discover a power play that hits 25%. Heck, their penalty kill reached the top three last year, so miracles do happen.
But most of the game happens 5-on-5, so finding what might work there will determine the season. A healthy Demko can steal games, but it's a lot better if he doesn't have to. There is some wishcasting going on here, but we can't predict injuries. We need to assume everyone's healthy - but contingency plans never hurt.
There is a strong argument for putting the most expensive forwards on the same line together. In theory, those are your best players, and skill feeds off skill. Others swear by pairings with a useful third. I lean a little more toward a third option on the first line.
Nils Höglander - Elias Pettersson - Brock Boeser
The skill here is obvious, but Pettersson and Boeser alone miss a vital element. A passer, a shooter, and a terrier all have their roles in this trio. Sound familiar, Hank-Dank-Burr fans? Or Hanik-Danik-Janik for the Janik Hansen fans among us. Just me? Harrumph. Philistines.
Boeser still has a magic ability to find empty spaces to shoot from, but is also sound with the puck and a decent passer himself. A lot more of his goals come from in front of the net now than did in his early years, and that's not a skill that will fade quickly now that he's found it. He has an underrated boards game, and holds the puck until it's needed really well.
Pettersson, of course, has some making up to do. But I do think he will, and if this season is a fresh start for anyone, it's him. He's got some hurt pride and will want to prove he is who he was as a 100-point man. Even when he wasn't scoring last season, his control game was good. In an awful year, his Corsi and Fenwick were at career lows - just over 49%. That's not a bad floor to launch from.
Höglander is the trickier one, but a wrecking ball retriever chasing the puck carrier into mistakes is his best role. That he can also find the net will keep the other team honest, and that's what you're looking for as a third.
This is a grab-and-hold line, fetching the puck on dump-ins and waiting for the other team to make a mistake before striking. Play it with Quinn Hughes at the back, and it would virtually be a power play.
Jake DeBrusk - Filip Chytil - Evander Kane
Dakota Joshua - Aatu Räty - Conor Garland
As briefly as we saw him last season, Chytil showed something in short supply in Vancouver: entry speed. He's a big guy who carries the puck extremely well up the ice. He should work well with Kane, who has a surprisingly deft shot off the rush. And, given the nature of Chytil's injury history, having Kane as a linemate will give opponents second thoughts on taking advantage of the fragile centre.
DeBrusk was one of the Canucks' few good news stories last season, and good news! His career high in goals wasn't because of an abnormally high shooting percentage! It was higher than usual, but not by five points or anything weird. His more common number of 20-25 goals is well within reach, and he's more likely to get them if neither Chytil nor Kane scores immediately.
DeBrusk does his best work down low, and if the puck stays in the zone, it should be on his stick with Kane at the netfront and Chytil high. Call them the 30-Second Line.
Joshua's return from cancer treatments was great to know, but his return to play was tentative. No surprise, it took him a while to return to form, and spent much of the year trying to catch up to an already moving train. He did pick up five points in the last ten games of the year, and while his hits were at his usual pace, his overall play only improved late.
Garland is exactly what he says on the tin. Once he has the puck, he dares opponents to come get it. He can hold the puck until a teammate gets open or there's a line to the net, and is utterly fearless when he makes his choice.
Okay, yes, Aatu Räty is good at faceoffs when young guys aren't supposed to be. He was also mentioned as a possible first-overall pick in his draft year's pre-season, and he wasn't that, either. Ahich is a great sign, frankly. Räty changed his game to "whatever will get me to the NHL" and that means he knows how hard he has to work.
As the statistics nerds tell us, faceoffs are overrated as far as overall wins are concerned. Right up until it's the last minute to play and the game is within one, when coaches will put their best out there. To quote screenwriter William Goldman: "stars are essentially worthless - and absolutely essential."
Call these lines two and three in whichever order you like. If the opponents want to go fast and leave themselves open for counterattacks, Chytil's line could see more ice. Facing a slow-it-down, grinding team? Rely on Räty with veterans Garland and Joshua to make life miserable for them.
Things get very interesting back here. A lot of names have yet to be mentioned, especially with Räty on the third line and the Abbotsford Canucks having the best possible season. The pressure is on, but three obviously have the lead.
Drew O'Connor - Teddy Blueger - Kiefer Sherwood
This is clearly the penalty kill specialist hiding place, but it has a lot more potential than that. O'Connor and Sherwood have some speed to them, enough to take opponents by surprise and take advantage of weaker matchups. Sherwood is the player most likely to move up when an opening hits, but he's effective here as well. And if O'Connor can develop some hands to go with his feet...
Blueger isn't the fastest player, but an excellent penalty killer and got enough chances to score 26 points.
Blueger and O'Connor are probably the most vulnerable to being bumped by one of a trio of challengers waiting their turn. Nils Åman, Linus Karlsson, and Max Sasson all had excellent seasons with Abbotsford. On a guess, Åman starts with Vancouver, but there are many months to go yet.
When Rick Tocchet took over as head coach for the Vancouver Canucks, fans were cautiously optimistic. After years of defensive struggles and inconsistency, the hope was that Tocchet’s experience and focus on structure could bring some much-needed stability. Now, in the 2024-25 season, it’s time to ask the question: has Tocchet truly solidified the Canucks' defense, or are we still stuck in the same frustrating cycle?
