Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Nucks Fan Rebuild & Retool Center - Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
If I told you that the biggest trade of the past two weeks was Sean Farrell for Sasha Pastujov, could you tell me which teams were involved? Or for the biggest one in the two weeks before that, moving Tyler Kopff for Zac Funk? It hasn't exactly been exciting times in the NHL of late, is what we're saying. We talked about John Marino's new contract, fer cryin' out loud!
After a fairly lively draft day and an interesting free agency opening, the league has gone awfully quiet. The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed a couple essential, if brief, deals with Cole Sillinger and Jet Greaves. The Chicago Blackhawks launched a thousand eyerolls by bringing Patrick Kane back, so that's something. Jason Robertson Watch extended from a month to a year with his $12 million deal a week ago.
Otherwise? Oof.
So let's take a page from the history books and talk about the state of Canucks' goaltending. Because it has a whole lot of diverging paths out there, and which one gets walked isn't entirely up to Vancouver.
Who is what, here?
Y'all know Thatcher Demko, but let's recap. One of the Core Players that Jim Benning, then Jim Rutherford, was banking on. Alas, recurring injuries requiring repeated surgeries have left Demko on the shelf more often than he has been on the bench. He's in year one of a new, three-season contract worth $8.5 million per and comes with a full no-move clause.
He made a name for himself in the Bubble Season of 2020, turning in a masterful series against the Vegas Golden Knights, and followed that with two very good years. There was plenty of reason to believe the goaltending portion of the team was in good hands. He had a nightmare start to 2022-23, but after missing two months with another injury, he closed out the year strong.
That rolled into 2023-24, where he played most of Vancouver's games, banking enough points before getting knocked out in March that the Canucks made the playoffs again. He came back with two games left, won his playoff game against Nashville, then was out once again.
The past two seasons have not been great, statistically or health-wise. In 2024-25, Demko didn't start until December and missed another month besides. There were flashes of brilliance - including a ludicrous comeback game against Dallas - so hope was he could build on that.
Unfortunately, this past season, he missed a week in November, played one period, then was gone for another month. He came back for four more weeks before shutting down mid-January for good. And now the 30-year-old is starting with a rebuilding team.
Teams like to be secretive about injuries, so it's a little hard to track exactly which injuries Demko has had in his career. We do know he's had at least three knee injuries; two concussions; surgery on both hips (one twice); at least one groin injury; a few "lower body injuries", which could be anything; a back injury; and COVID-19.
It may seem unfair to describe Kevin Lankinen this way, but this way also perfectly describes Kevin Lankinen. Signed late into the 2024-25 off-season when it looked like Demko wouldn't be coming back to start the year, Lankinen is a perfectly capable goalie who held the fort. He wasn't supposed to, as Arturs Silovs was supposed to split duties with Demko that year. Alas, the young goaltender stumbled badly under the weight, and Lankinen took his job.
Lankinen played well enough that he signed a five-year contract that February, and Silovs was shipped off to the Penguins. That was several months before Demko signed his deal on July 1st, which must have made for an interesting dynamic. Lankinen's deal comes with a full no-move this season, and a fifteen-team one for the next three years.
With Demko only playing 20 games in 2025-26, Lankinen once again got the lion's share of starts. His numbers slipped from the previous year, but whose didn't? He did provide a statistical highlight for the team, stopping 21 of 22 shots against him in the post-overtime skills competition. Macklin Celebrini scored against him in April, and the Canucks still won the game.
Nikita Tolopilo is a very interesting case. The 6'6" Belarusian played well enough for his experience level in the NHL last year, getting into 21 games and starting 18 of them. The team has some confidence in him, even if it is just as a backup to the backup for now. He has only played three years in North American pro hockey, and may well improve beyond his current markers.
Vancouver is in the odd circumstance of needing a third goalie who is reliably available, but the most obvious choice isn't waiver-exempt. Tolopilo is interesting enough that he will likely get plucked from waivers if the team moved him back and forth to Abbotsford. Whatever team takes him would need to put another player on waivers, and that probably won't be someone the team needs.
There is a legitimate case to be made for carrying three goaltenders this season, at least until Demko gets injured. The twist in the tale is that he's an unrestricted free agent once the 2026-27 season ends. Given the age of the team overall, is he good enough to keep, or might he bring something back if he plays well enough this season?
Should Tolopilo stay with Vancouver, it would be music to the ears of Aku Koskenvuo and Ty Young. Both goalies split time between Abbotsford and their ECHL affiliate in Kalamazoo. Koskenvuo took the NCAA route before turning pro, while Young played CHL hockey in Prince George. Both are fifth-round picks, the Finn in 2021 and the Canadian in 2022.
Jiri Patera would absolutely have the starter's role on the farm if he re-signed, which explains why he didn't. But with him and potentially Tolopilo out of the way, that clears the track for Koskenvuo and Young.
While you'd think the age difference would give him the advantage, Koskenvuo actually has less pro experience than Young. His 31 total games are well back of Young's 63, but neither one is what you could call a grizzled veteran. This could be a September signing, bringing in someone with experience who wouldn't mind playing third fiddle in the AHL. That goes double if the team manages to trade any of their top three goalies, or if Demko's season comes to an early end.
The Canucks are all too familiar with the risks involved in relying on a young goaltender too soon. And yes, I do still wish we had Michael DiPietro available, but at least he serves as a warning. Neither one of these guys should see the light of day in Vancouver this season, even if it means getting an extra body.
Goaltending is just one of many threads to follow in what's going to be a potentially brutal season. The situation could easily change between now and the end of September. But until news comes out about something other than a lack of White Collars on the administrative side of the team, it's something to ponder for now.
Three recently signed contracts all carry implications for the Vancouver Canucks in the coming years. Only one was signed with Vancouver, but you can bet the other two got their attention.
Let's start with the fun one: Connor Bedard signing on with the Chicago Blackhawks for another five years. At $15 million per year - $9.8 million in bonus money - that's probably a reasonable amount for both sides. Chicago is paying for the future, but after scoring 75 goals and 203 points in his first 219 NHL games, odds are he'll live up to it.
More interesting is that it is only for five years. Bedard has clearly taken a page from Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, both signing for shorter terms than the maximum eight seasons. McDavid handed the Edmonton Oilers an incredible discount, but only for two seasons. Matthews signed a five-year, then a four-year contract that now has two seasons remaining.
The message with all three is unmistakable. Show me progress, or I walk. And who can blame them? Matthews will be 30 when his deal expires, McDavid 31. Bedard will only be 25, but if Chicago seems to be improving to his liking, he'll likely sign another deal yet.
It looks like he told them of his intention before he signed, as they did what they could to improve the defence the instant free agency opened. Getting someone like Bowen Byram was essential, as Louis Crevier - the defenceman who went the other way - was Chicago's leading defensive scorer last year. It cost them substantially, and they doubled down by doubling Byram's paycheque with a 6 x $12.5 million deal.
They kept adding, giving Cole Smith a 3 x $3 million deal, and Ian Cole $4 million for one year. That's three pieces of the defence replaced, and fr good reason. Giving your kids some ice time is good and all, but Wyatt Kaiser and Anton Levshunov probably shouldn't have had as much as they did. Not just yet, anyway. And having a bodyguard like Jordan Greenway
The bottom line is that after five years of scraping the league floor, it's time to move up. Bedard's deal let them know that in no uncertain terms. And if they do, well, sorry Canucks fans who dreamed of his early return. That probably won't happen in 2031. Call again in 2036.
It's probably not entirely fair to call John Marino "average". He's certainly in the top half of most six-man squads in the league, and top-pair on a few. The Utah Mammoth needed him to step up before they got MacKenzie Weegar out of Calgary, and he did. But a second-pair role is probably where he fits best. Which begs the question: is that where teams should put $6.75 million?
There is a premium for the position as a right-handed defenceman, certainly. And again: he's a perfectly acceptable player. But even with an increasing salary cap, that deal seems a little optimistic. He's not a power play specialist; he hasn't scored five goals in a season since he was a rookie; and he doesn't inspire fear in the opposing forwards. I'm fine with him going out there in the last minute when we're up a goal, but probably not when we're down one.
I'm asking for a friend I happen to know who has a couple young defencemen coming up. They're looking for their second contracts, and frankly, no one's completely sure where they're going to end up as players. Zeev Buium is probably going to be an excellent offensive player; Elias Pettersson the Defenceman will probably be a solid defensive one with a bit of offensive pop. What would $6.75 million on a long-term deal look like to them?
Buium has played one NHL season, and Pettersson just 98 games over two. If the Canucks could get Buium's name on a long-term deal at anything close to Marino's numbers, then his agent is either asleep or has been told to do it. Pettersson might never reach the minutes per game Marino has, but brings very different qualities. In three years, or less, that might well be his number.
Given ownership's reluctance to pay full value right now* the odds of any player being handed a long-term deal seem remote. But if any of them want the stability of an eight-year contract, they'll have to do it before September 16th. And that might be worth waving in front of them.
The Canucks did finally get their man in Abbotsford, signing Ryan Papaioannou this week. Papaioannou has won titles in the AJHL and BCHL, and reached the conference finals in the ECHL last year. That being said, last year was his first year at the professional level. He has a typically short contract, running through 2027-28, but is probably going to get a lot of leeway for those years.
We don't know how much he'll be paid, but that's likely a reason for the short deal, too. If he succeeds with Abbotsford, he's going to want a raise or an opportunity. And fair enough, that's what the AHL is for, both with coaches and players.
The notable thing about this hiring is that apparently the OHL's Coach of the Year, Memorial Cup winner Jussi Ahokas, was interviewed and turned the job down. It had nothing to do with the opportunity, and everything to do with the money. The offer, according to sources, was below what he was making with Kitchner. Ahokas is now with Colorado's AHL squad, and Papaioannou is in Abby.
This definitely tells fans what the team's priorities are for the next few years. Ownership wants cuts, and not just the on-ice payroll. Compared to last season, the team's about $12 million below last year's cap-bumping level. If they want to lower it by another $8-10 million, then that pretty much puts the kibosh on bringing in bad salaries to juice up the return in trades.
Last time Vancouver put saving money as a top priority, the disastrous 2020-21 season was the result. Every free agent was allowed to walk after the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season, and it showed the next year. What had been an optimistic return to the playoffs and pushing Vegas to seven games became a crash-and-burn return.
This time, the savings are being reflected in off-ice decisions. That's not a great sign, even if Alexander Edler is essentially volunteering to work with the kids. Enthusiasm isn't expertise, and while he played over 1,000 NHL games, that doesn't mean he can teach the skills that let him.
Going to be worth watching. It's one thing to want the prospects to develop, and it's another to pay for it.
*Foreshadowing!
Radio stations vanish, schedules drop, and rumours abound (kind of)!
That's a pretty up-and-down week for local Canucks - and sports - fans in and around Vancouver. We got the schedule release, which is always fun to comb through, and some actual rumours to play with. Well, one rumour. Well, more of an incidental statement. But it involved the Canucks, so it counts!
But I guess the biggest news is that the news has stopped. News 1130 was among the six radio stations that Rogers has decided to abandon, including Sportsnet 650. And much like when Bell pulled TSN 1040, they didn't bother telling their employees. Instead, workers there found their passwords non-functional or the equipment simply disconnected. A coward's retreat.
Rogers still owns FM stations in town, so they might broadcast games through Jack FM or somewhere similar. Whatever broadcast team they put together likely won't travel, recording from monitors when the team is on the road. Calgary has been completely abandoned, with broadcasts dropped in their entirety.
There has been some talk of people somehow getting together to start a sports radio station in Vancouver. It's obviously an underserved region, but the costs are HIGH. It's hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the frequency, though much less to keep them annually. The idea is to follow the lead of CHEK TV, which is North America's only employee-owned television station.
Obviously, folks are plenty angry about how employees were treated by Rogers (and Bell), but Don Taylor's hopes of a private owner seem faint. Personally, I think the CBC has an opportunity to do the funniest thing right now...
The league has released their full schedule, and there are a few points of interest for Canucks fans. They have 13 home games on a Saturday, for one. Owners who are clearly nervous about lowered gate revenues next season can relax a bit. Though in a slightly odd statement, the team's release says there will be "eight Saturday night games starting at 8:00".
Whether that means 8 PM for us locally, or it's an announcement intended to warn those areas which do not have the daylight-savings changes we do, I don't know. On the calendar, it says the usual 7:00 start time. It's not every night game, either, as 11 home games are scheduled for the 7:00 start time, with one at 4:00 (guess who that is) and an early afternoon game against Anaheim.
One change this year is the increase in the number of games from 82 to 84. Not my dream of scratching ten to get to a more livable 72, but there it is. That's causing a domino effect throughout the year: the Canucks start the season in September for the first time in team history, opening against Edmonton on the 29th. They finish April 10th, in what both teams no doubt hope is an entirely meaningless contest.
It's not much of a year for "revenge games" with the team in an acknowledged rebuild. Boo Quinn Hughes on October 25th if that's your thing, but otherwise, the only special days are when your second/least favourite team is in town.
Another effect of the extended schedule is reducing the number of pre-season games. So much the better, but if you're curious, they only have two at home: September 24th against Edmonton and the 26th against Seattle. The Oilers match could be an interesting precursor to the season opener three days later.
Speaking of Seattle...
Didja hear Shane Wright likes Vancouver? He said he did, and that's great! He wouldn't block a trade here, so obviously-
Quick intervention, here. He's on year three of his entry-level deal, and he's a right-shot centre. Wright's got no trade protection for a very in-demand position. Seattle ain't selling him cheap, and he can't force a move. Back to our regularly scheduled wishcasting!
-there's a deal to be made, right? Of course! It's just a matter of whether either side wants to make it.
Wright is a young, contract-controlled, right-handed centre who hasn't yet broken through. He was a fourth-overall pick in 2022* and got a couple eight-game dry runs before joining the team full-time in 2025-26. He had a very good rookie season, slipping back statistically in the boxcars a bit in his second year. Under the hood, though, he slightly outperformed his teammates at even strength.
Wright is clearly a little frustrated, limited to bottom-six minutes, but he has only been in the league for two years. A bit of patience from him now could pay dividends later. On the other hand, Matty Beniers and Chandler Stephenson are definitely ahead of him to start 2026-27, and it's hard to improve your offence from the third line.
The pressure on Seattle is to start making the playoffs regularly now, after just one appearance in five years. They have taken big swings at free agents, both in the market and with offer sheets, but haven't had a taker yet. Using Wright as a trade chip to bring in a more reliable veteran is a bit of a last-resort move, but one they might feel they have to make. And the NBA returning soon isn't helping.
Jake DeBrusk is a good hockey player.
DeBrusk is a consistent scorer, but only if you look at the year's end. He's going to score around 25 goals, though they might be six in one week, nothing for a month, seven in another week. He did mention that he doesn't want to go through a rebuild at thirty years old, and that's understandable. It's not what he signed on for when he accepted a seven-year, $5.5 million per deal.
He's a very good power-play producer, much to everyone's surprise. His 5-on-5 numbers were a nightmare last season, but whose weren't for the Canucks? He works great down low, but more to Seattle's liking, he can work with speed, too, and can do it from the second line. And he has five years remaining on what is a very reasonable contract. As a bonus, he's also said he wants to stay in the West, and you can't get much further West than Seattle.
Now, if there is a deal to be had involving these two players, Vancouver will need to give more up. Neither one is a real play driver, but a solid addition to one. DeBrusk has proven himself to a greater degree than Wright has, but by the same coin, Wright is six years younger. Add his positional premium, and DeBrusk isn't enough by a long shot. He'd provide the Kraken with a top-six scorer under contract for another five years when they need a star.
At first glance, it might seem like an awkward fit for the Canucks as well. They've fortified their centre position recently, and Wright would be starting again in the bottom six. That being said, one of the players above him is Filip Chytil, so it could be a matter of waiting a month for the opportunity to present itself. Or maybe moving Chytil to the wing, which sounds better.
Folks might hate me for saying it, but getting a young player is one of the reasons a team collects draft picks. Vancouver has two second-round picks next year, neither one theirs, and I'd be fine with them including one in a package for Wright.
I know, I know: trading a second-round pick for a younger, some would say "doubted" player can cause PTSD in this market. But not all second-round draft picks are the same: the ones we have are from San Jose and Dallas. San Jose can make the playoffs next season, putting their spot in the early-50s at best. The Stars' pick could easily be in the 60s. We're getting close to single-digit percentages whether a player drafted there will hit 200 NHL games, never mind one that scores 25 goals a season.
It's not a slam dunk for either team, but DeBrusk is expendable for Vancouver, and Wright might take too long for Seattle. The risk is heavier on Vancouver's side, where the younger player might not get beyond what we've seen, and the draft pick might strike gold. But that's the nature of being a rebuilding team, and I don't think the risk is unbearable.
If both Braeden Cootes and Caleb Malhotra work out as NHL centres, having Wright already here lets the team move other players. And if one of them doesn't, for whatever reason, he's a safety net. That seems worth the deal to me.
For Seattle, if they don't move up as they should, DeBrusk is still a tradable asset come the deadline, and they'll have a second-round pick plus what he brings back. Or maybe he's enough to get them past that playoff line, and they keep him - plus the second-round pick.
*Cue death glare
That was a more interesting opening of the free agent market than I expected, gotta say. But between that and the start of the Vancouver Canucks opening development camp, the future is here for all to see.
After a straightforward draft day, including what was officially Ryan Johnson's first trade as the Vancouver Canucks general manager, little was expected today. And for the most part, it lived up to those expectations. A quiet start had the team picking up a couple AHL players in Trey Fix-Wolanski and Akil Thomas, adding to the farm's depth. Luke Schenn and Paul Cotter shore up the NHL team on one-year deals, and Jamie Oleksiak won a two-year deal for a very specific reason...
The big deal of the day for Vancouver was clearly moving Marcus Pettersson to the New York Rangers for a first-round pick. It's top-ten protected, but that's fine. It's still a LOT more than anyone expected Pettersson to return. The trick is who's going to be around to use it, since it doesn't happen for another four years.
Akil Thomas was a second-round pick back in 2018, 51st overall. He was a high-skilled guy who could fight for his ice, and pulled decent numbers in the AHL, but hasn't managed to break through into the bigs. He had a fine playoff run last year, but he is a veteran AHLer. That's not a bad thing, and having a championship-level AHL team when the NHL team is stumbling makes it a good place to grow prospects.
The same can be said of Fix-Wolanski, though the road he took to get to where he is today is radically different from Thomas'. The 5'7" Fix-Wolanski was drafted in the same year as Thomas, but in the seventh round, 204th overall. Built like a fire plug, he racks up points and penalty minutes in the junior circuit. If you think Vancouver is too depressing to watch, you might want to take a trip to Abbotsford. Add these guys to Braden Cootes finding his pro game, and they should be worth the drive.
Paul Cotter might not be a player you're all too familiar with, and for good reason. Cotter's a solid NHLer, but a fourth-line one. He's got great speed and good size, but indifferent hands. Think a slightly less points-productive Kiefer Sherwood. He's not going to take a lot of ice from the kids coming up unless Coach Malhotra decides to put him on special teams. Is just over $2 million a bit much for a fourth-line veteran? Probably not, after this season. That cap has gone up, baby!
Veteran and three-time Canuck Luke Schenn, you know. The 36-year-old has been in the league since he was 19, and not all have been good. But it could be argued that the best of those years happened in Vancouver, riding shotgun with a young Quinn Hughes. He is the embodiment of Been There, Done That and Here's How. He loves the city, loves the team, and knows perfectly well what he's getting into. Even if he's scratched, you know he's going to practice hard against the kids.
Got Mass? Jamie Oleksiak, brother of seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak, is a physical specimen. He stands 6'7" and weighs 250 lbs, increasing Vancouver's average size all on his own. He's spent the last five seasons in Seattle, spending a lot of time on the penalty kill there. That's going to let the younger players get what time they earn, instead of being forced into the role out of desperation.
Oleksiak has a two-year deal, front-loaded with a $1 million signing bonus in 2027, which is very tradeable. He has a 12-team no-trade list, but that leaves more than half the league to choose from. His cap hit is $5 million per year, but the actual cash outlay in year two is just $3.5 million. If a player comes up and forces the team's hand, they can find a place Oleksiak will be happy with. But until then, he's a solid player for the role.
Speaking of finding a spot on the defence, Marcus Pettersson gets moved out after just one year of his six-year contract. He's most comfortable as a middle pair, shutdown defender, but the Canucks was not a place to be comfortable last year. Pettersson played over 21 minutes a game, and he's just not what the team needs right now.
Some people are pretending he was awful, but that's simply not the case. His game doesn't show up in the boxcars the next day, but he was the best Canuck at shot suppression with a variety of defensive partners. That's valuable - just not here, not now.
The amazing thing is that he brought back a first-round pick, which is far more than expected. Even better, it's a first-round pick in 2030. Why that's a good thing is that the team is planning further ahead than the next three years. In three years, Vancouver should be planning to leave the league's basement. Yes, expect a bottom-five finish for a few seasons yet - if everything goes right.
At the end of the 2028-29 season, they will have an additional first-round pick one year away. That's as good as cash-in-hand for any deals they want to swing, assuming they haven't moved it between now and then. Or they can keep it, given that it belongs to the Rangers, a wildly unpredictable team. It's top-ten protected, which is a bit hilarious, but their next year might be even worse; you never know.
I expect at least two more veteran forwards to be moved (Jake DeBrusk, obviously, and...Drew O'Connor? Elias Pettersson? Someone.) before training camp. But even if they stop here, that's not a bad turnover from twelve months ago. Evander Kane, Conor Garland, Kiefer Sherwood, and Nils Höglander are all gone up front; Marcus Pettersson, Tyler Myers, and, of course, Quinn Hughes have left the defence.
More on-ice changes will happen between now and the next step, whenever they take it. But if this is the team they start the 2026-27 season with, it's a pretty good start.
We got some picks, we got a trade, we're looking forward!
To be completely clear: I am not an NHL scout. Yes, I see some tape, but those tend to be highlight reels, which only show the best of a player, not the whole player. I read and heard a lot of scouting reports from folks who do the actual work, some public, some pay. What you're reading here is a combination of what I've read, heard, and seen, but it's other people putting in the real work. If you want more, hunt them down and definitely check out tape for yourself. It's fun!
Now, without further ado, what the Vancouver Canucks did done:
With the first draft under GM Ryan Johnson complete, what can we glean of their intent? Actions speak louder than words, and we haven't seen a whole lot of on-ice choices yet. This is, essentially, our first chance to see what the White Collars are thinking.
The odds-on favourite to go first to Vancouver went first to Vancouver. A lot of smoke was billowing in the week leading up to Draft Day, but when it cleared, Caleb Malhotra was their pick. There are loads of reasons to like Malhotra, on and off the ice. The phrase "future captain" comes up a LOT in his scouting reviews.
Clearly, the team decided to go to the centre instead of defence, but it is a rational decision. They didn't reach for him because there were a half-dozen players you could justify taking. Funny thing is, the player I thought of with last year's selection of Braden Cootes was "Bo Horvat light". With Malhotra, it's "imaginative Bo Horvat".
The same critique of Horvat sits on Malhotra: his skating. He knows where he needs to go, and he skates well enough to get there. And that's about it for criticism. He's very good defensively, proactive in breaking up plays and knocking people off the puck. He can pass it up and out, ideally following a teammate in and getting the return pass in the offensive zone. He protects the puck well, plays on the boards, and can score.
His floor is an excellent, third-line centre who desperate teams might move to the first. His ceiling is an excellent second-line centre that an average team has on the first. You know: Bo Horvat.
The Canucks got, possibly, a steal? Lots of scouting types were very happy with Vancouver picking up Adam Novotný at 24. Craig Button had him at 26, but the vast majority of pre-draft lists put Novotný in the mid-teens. He absolutely looks like an NHL player, little doubt there. Sturdy guy, decent skater, plays the body well, and his best offence is to get the puck off someone, skate in and shoot.
Hopefully, that straightforward game doesn't just translate well to the NHL but is the basis for some more imaginative play. Malhotra will occasionally take risks and try something different to see if he can pull it off, while Novotný takes a safer route. That "safer route" is for him, obviously, not his opponents. They're going to have a generally bad time getting past him/out of their zone if he catches them with the puck.
His NHL calling card might leave him in the bottom-six as a floor. With the right linemates, he can be the guy who plays puck retriever for the top line as his ceiling.
An 18-year-old giant at 6'7" and 236 lbs, it's a bit tough not to give Brooks Rogowski some grace. There's being awkward after a growth spurt, then there's being 6'7" at 18. At the start of the year, he looked like a guy who could reliably put in the work on the defensive side. As the season went on and he got more comfortable, he started doing things like controlling mid-air passes and no-look passes.
He's confirmed to Michigan State in two years, staying in Oshawa for 2026-26. Oshawa was lousy offensively last season and the worst team in the league. That situation can give Rogowski a lot of opportunities. It will be very interesting to see how he develops from here - and what his coaches ask of him.
Who's up for learning the Viking Row? Niklas Aaram-Olsen is the first Norwegian drafted by Vancouver, and if he makes it, will be the first to play for them. But he wasn't drafted for Pokémon reasons. Here's what he does:
I don't put a whole lot into the draft combine, but Aaram-Olsen shows up in the results repeatedly. Third in the Wingate power output test; third in the 10 metre sprint; first in the shuttle agility test, both left and right sides; seventh in bench press; tenth in hands-on-hips, no arm swing jump; and first in the standing long jump. The guy's got a physique, and he's not afraid to use it! But what's all that mean on the ice?
He's decently fast, but more than that, he's very quick. He breaks ankles when he's carrying the puck. He also has a variety of shots and gets it off at different angles, leaving goalies guessing. The risk is that he might think that those skills are enough. He played 16 SHL games last year and takes the defensive side seriously when lined up against men, but it came at the cost of his offence.
Dmitri Ivchenko played in the MHL (the Russian equivalent of the AHL) as a backup for a very good Omskie Yastreby team. He has a .922 goals against average, which sounds incredible until you realize that puts him 30th in the league overall. It's still good, but make sure you know what the stats mean when you read them.
His selling points are being a calm character. When he's in position, he has excellent control of his extremities, snapping his hands and feet into a blocking position. He does have issues outside the posts, losing track of the puck up high, and if he has to move side-to-side, he can go past his posts. Everyone remembers Arturs Silovs' second year, right? Thing is, we probably won't see Ivchenko for another three years - and that's if he agrees to go to Abbotsford. Who we'll see then is a bit of a mystery.
So first things first. Yaroslav Bryzgalov is not a good skater. And he also plays a fast game. These aren't the opposites they seem.
Bryzgalov is big in a phone booth, a player you can trust to win the puck when the battle takes place in four square feet along the boards. He's also a very good passer and knows where the puck should go before he gets it. If any opponent isn't paying attention, he'll make them play. One or two hits from him, and the entire team starts looking over their shoulders.
If he can get his foot speed up, even a little, he can get NHL minutes, though probably on the fourth line.
What's an NHL team without a Connor these days? Connor Davis is a perpetual motion machine, always skating after the puck. He likes to attack defencemen directly, and when the puck gets to the net, he'll buzz around it, looking for a jam, a wrap-around, any opportunity to get it across the line.
A re-entry, like Bryzgalov, he's a bit older than most players taken, so there's some concern he's as big as he's going to get. Still, 6' even is plenty big enough for an agitator, and he's heading to North Dakota next year to improve his skills.
When the draft gets past the 150-mark, you get players like Lucian Bernát. The 6'4", 200 lbs Bernát had an excellent statistical year in the Finnish U20 league for a rookie. His shoot-first mentality led to him being the second-highest scorer on the team. But that scoring dried up in the playoffs, and he ended up in penalty trouble instead of helping the team. He does love making contact as part of his game, but it's also a matter of timing.
We'll get a closer look this season when he joins Owen Sound.
"It's late, grab a big Swede and let's go."
-Imagined conversation among Canucks scouts at every draft
That's not entirely fair, but there are years when it feels like it. Eriksson is, indeed, a 6'6" Swede, and his focus is on defence. His first thought is to pin some poor forward that's fallen within his reach, but his second thought is to overthink it. His physical tools are plentiful, but his mind is not up to speed just yet. Practice and time might get him there, but he's drafted in the sixth round for a reason.
Yes, GM Johnson pulled off his first NHL trade on Day Two of the draft! It was:
A sixth-round pick from the 2026 draft, #161 overall, for a fifth-round pick in 2027, TBD
That is, technically, moving up in the draft. Eh, we'll take it.
Happy Draft Day(s), y'all!
The biggest event is, obviously, the draft itself and what the Vancouver Canucks will do with the third overall pick. The reason why teams want to draft as high as possible is for the options, and the Canucks have plenty.
But there's more going on than that, isn't there?
Everyone involved has finally accepted that the team is undergoing a rebuild, and they aren't hedging. The tricky part is believing management when they say so, given the past decade of desperate scrabbling for a playoff spot. There's plenty of evidence that ownership wants to cut costs, if not corners, and that raises alarms.
That being said, there is also plenty of evidence that management is unified in their determination to change. I thought Tyler Myers would never agree to leave, but off he went to Texas. Conor Garland heading out was less of a surprise, and both moves brought back draft picks rather than players. We like that.
As of this minute, Vancouver has ten picks this year, three of which are in the sixth round. That's fine, the more darts the better after the second round. They also have $22 million in cap space with 21 players signed to NHL contracts. There is zero pressure to sign anyone, improve the team for next season, or find any kind of quick fix. This is about as good a starting point as they could hope for.
Trades are fun! Everyone (except the players, usually) loves trades! But player trades might not happen before the draft starts tonight, and that's okay. It would be nice to see the team set up for the next few years in one weekend, but it's not essential. There's another draft next year, and getting picks for then is fine, too. We're looking at a long-term plan here, right? No need to force a trade just because one's available quickly.
The free agent pool is sparse. There are going to be opportunities for trades after July 1st and well before the season starts. Yes, they have to stay above the salary floor, and they're only about $5 million clear. They can overpay for a couple free agents, but you don't want to bring in players who might block the opportunity of the players you want to develop. And the players demanding the highest pay aren't likely to sign here.
We've talked about it plenty, but the team should be ready to move anyone. Literally any of their veterans should be available at the right price, and I do think they are. But selling all of them immediately is the wrong move. You do want someone who's been here to be, in effect, a guide to the city and the team. Player churn only works when you're moving secondary players around a successful core, and we don't have that yet.
Expect two of the bigger names to get moved this Summer, before the draft or after. More than that is pretty unlikely.
I know what I like here, and I like a pile of the defencemen. Assuming Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg go, then I have four defencemen ahead of any of the other forwards. Any of a half dozen players is fine at number three, though. We don't know how their careers will turn out, and the differences between them look really minute as far as skills go, but the styles are all over the map. No telling what teams' preferences will be until they draft!
Why do I like the defencemen? I think the upper result for, say, Caleb Malhotra or Viggo Björk is a very good second-line centre, where the defencemen I like are top-pair, if not #1s. Both are in demand, but of those two, I know which are harder to find. Plus, 2027 looks pretty stacked for centre options.
If the Canucks want to trade down, I'm more than happy for them to. Acquire more darts, even if you're taking a step back. The next few seasons are when they want the picks, so go get them.
It would be nice if they added some local colour in Mathis Preston or Ryan Lin or the Ruck twins, they shouldn't stretch for them. I'll be disappointed of they lose assets for the sake of getting the Rucks in the first round, for instance.
There's some fun in watching the breakdown of a team, like watching construction workers dismantle a house. A bit sad, but the foundation was rotting so it has to go. Hopefully, a much more stable one is getting built in its place.
Unlike houses, a hockey team can be built and torn down at the same time. We've seen some of the structure already, with Liam Öhgren, Zeen Buium, and Marco Rossi coming in from the Minnesota Wild trade. Next, we're getting a hit at the foundation.
Mostly what we all want to see is a design. Trades or no trades, that's going to start with the third overall pick today.
Well. Not exactly keeping the momentum going from the past week, but a few more deals worth talking about have happened since Tuesday.
Nothing yet on the Vancouver Canucks front. I can understand people being eager to see how the new White Collars will shape the team in their own image, but that might start in the draft, not before. Personally, I'm okay with that: I'd rather we get draft picks for the 2027 draft, all things being equal. But I'm looking forward to seeing what move they make for this season, too.
To Colorado Avalanche:
Fyodor Svechkov
To Nashville Predators:
2029 3rd round pick, TBD
Colorado seems to be looking to shore up their bottom-six cheaply, moving Drury out and letting Kirivanta walk. The new arrivals are both a bit younger than Drury, so maybe that's also playing a part. They have yet to live up to their first-round draft selections, and that can appeal to Colorado.
Drury is a solid, 25-ish point, fourth-line player looking for a new contract. He's good on the penalty kill, and VERY good in the circle. Bradley's had a cup of coffee in the NHL and had a great playoffs with the Colorado Eagles last year, so he could get a shot.
Effect on Vancouver:
Nashville clearly see themselves as competing for a playoff spot this season. Fewer sellers the better, say Cancuks fans!
To Buffalo Sabres:
2027 3rd round pick, TBD
To Washington Capitals:
The Sabres wanted to keep Tuch, obviously. After missing the playoffs for many, many seasons, they were hoping he would choose to return to the team he helped break that cycle. A bit of a shame, as Buffalo didn't just "make the playoffs" but smashed the 100-point barrier, winning their division with 109. They got what they could for his rights, negotiating a sign-and-trade to the destination of his choice.
As for the Capitals, I guess they're really doing this. Alex Ovechkin hasn't officially said he's retiring, and the team has $14 million in cap space left after bringing in Tuch and Jordan Kyrou. You don't offer big money to 30-year-old players for their seventh and eighth seasons.
Effect on Vancouver:
Making their own eight-year offerings to free agents look reasonable, I guess? Seeing Canucks Legend David Kampf is still in the league?
More seriously, Elias Pettersson's contract is already starting to look better with the sign-and-trade deals handed out. There may be a market for him building up out there. Given the increase in cap space, even though this is the least attractive year to trade him, maybe something happens.
The Pittsburgh Penguins place a minor bet on Hendrix Lapierre; the Florida Panthers add a hitter in the ancient Garnett Hathaway; the New Jersey Devils get defensive depth with Declan Chisholm and an awesome name in Amadeus Lombardi. Draft picks from the third round and later went the other way in all of these, and none of the players should be particularly impactful this year.
The Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets swapped their own "not yet"s in Hunter McKown and Luke Tuch (yes, related, brother). At least one interesting deal did go down today, though.
To Columbus Blue Jackets:
To Colorado Avalanche:
2026 2nd round pick, #43 overall
2027 3rd round pick, TBD
2028 5th round pick, TBD
Columbus and Colorado have very different goals in mind, here. The Blue Jackets are pushing for the playoffs after a six-year absence, and the Avalanche are looking for finishing touches on a Stanley Cup challenger. The pressure is on for Columbus, which has some very good young players coming up. They need to show those players that the team isn't irrelevant, and that means making regular appearances in the second season. Zach Werenski is also making noises, and fair enough.
Nichushkin isn't a star, but he is an extremely useful all-around player. He plays both special teams, adds 20 goals and 50 points to the middle-six, and will help fill the space with Mason Marchment likely gone. Colorado is running out of time for another Cup with their current roster, and this looks like a salary-clearing move. They're going to need more, though: that $11 million cap space doesn't look as good when you see they only have 17 NHL contracts on the books.
Effect on Vancouver:
Unless the Avalanche are going to make a pitch for one of the Canucks' players, not much. They're at wildly different parts of their cycles, so not a lot of relevance to each other just yet.
Okay! I think that's got us all caught up for now. At least for the next few hours, before things get interesting.
Well. THAT was interesting.
Nine - NINE - first-round picks changed hands in the past three days. go back to Friday, and it's been a half-dozen big moves in the days leading up to the 2026 NHL entry draft. The Vancouver Canucks haven't dipped their toes in yet, but you can bet they're paying attention.
Vancouver is probably the only team that is starting a rebuild this year. They should be pure sellers on talent, but they don't need to sell everything now. This is a long-term project, and the first phase of it will be done over a few years, not a few weeks.
That all being said, these prices have been something amazing. A relatively weak draft year plus a predictably increasing salary cap should have been plenty of impetus for trades, but this shit's crazy. This website being what it is, let's take a look at what those moves were and how they affected Vancouver's plans.
To Toronto Maple Leafs:
Darren Raddysh sign-and-trade
To Tampa Bay Lightning:
2026 5th round pick, #133 overall
So, most players who don't make it to the NHL until they're 25 don't get 8 x $8.5 million contracts. Raddysh has played three full seasons, and they've been good seasons. Last year was his breakout, getting 22 goals and 70 points with Tampa Bay. He's also 30 years old, which is an interesting age at which to sign an eight-year deal.
They got this one in early enough to get that eight-year deal, as the rules are changing for 2026-27. Tampa essentially got an agent's "finder's fee" for arranging the deal with Toronto. And now the Leafs can move the slightly older Morgan Rielly.
Effect on Vancouver:
If the Canucks do get a fortune offer for Filip Hronek, Rielly could fill in to some degree. But neither one of those is likely to happen. He apparently has given a list of four teams he'll agree to move to in the West, so I suppose that's an effect?
To Seattle Kraken:
To Florida Panthers:
2026 1st round pick, #25 overall
2027 2nd round pick, TBD
We covered this deal last column, and it's a swing by a team looking to make an impression soon. If Samoskevich pans out, that'll help Seattle. It's a bit hard to see him as a first-line guy, but if it worked for Vancouver getting JT Miller out of Tampa Bay, maybe the younger version will work for the Kraken.
Effect on Vancouver:
I mean, we're all expecting Seattle to be better than Vancouver for a few years, right? In an ideal world, Samoskevich is starring on a Kraken team trying to keep the Canucks out of the playoffs in three or four years. Otherwise? *shrug*
To Florida Panthers:
To Ottawa Senators:
2026 1st round pick, #9 overall
2026 1st round pick, #25 overall
2027 2nd round pick, TBD
2029 1st round pick, TBD, top-10 protected
For a forced deal, that's a pretty good haul for the Senators! They want to improve quickly, and draft picks this year aren't going to do that. But those same picks are cash money, as we'll see.
Effect on Vancouver:
Since the Canucks have neither a Brady Tkachuck, nor an interest in giving away picks, not much. A very specific situation at a very specific moment in time.
To Calgary Flames:
To New Jersey Devils:
Etienne Morin
2026 2nd round pick, #35 overall
2027 1st round pick, top-10 protected
2028 1st round pick, top-10 protected twice (it's complicated)
The Devils are losing a guy who isn't all that happy with them in 22-year old RHD Nemec. Fair enough, they keep bringing in better defencemen. Or at least ones they've given more opportunities to, which is where the unhappiness lies.
Tsyplakov is an interesting player. He's only been in the league for a couple seasons, starting his career on Long Island with a bang (and crash) before getting moved to New Jersey. From 35 points in his first year to just four in his second, we don't really know where he'll end up. He is a very physical player, strong on the boards and as a net-front presence.
Morin split time between the AHL and ECHL last season, but he is just 21. There's time for the young defender to course-correct yet.
Effect on Vancouver:
The Flames just got a bunch more annoying to play against. Great.
To Ottawa Senators:
Kasper Halttunen
Brandon Svoboda
To San Jose Sharks:
2026 1st round pick, #9 overall
I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but Sharks general manager Mike Grier has, I think, done a phenomenal job with San Jose. His teardown of the team was remorseless when needed, but his thoughtfulness about protecting the young stars is also exemplary. He's taken swings when he can, but importantly he's had the resources to do so. We'll see how he continues with the tougher portion of the program: returning to contention.
Eklund is the draw here, obviously. Halttunen put in a good showing in the AHL, but he and NCAA forward Svoboda are still prospects. Eklund won't replace everything Brady Tkachuk brings, but that's for better and worse. He's a bit younger, a bunch cheaper, and not as prone to penalty trouble. But he doesn't have anything like Tkachuk's physical presence, and hasn't put up the same scoring numbers - yet.
Effect on Vancouver:
San Jose will almost certainly pick the best player available - they usually do - so Ivar Stenberg isn't making it to #3. Sorry, Canucks fans.
To Washington Captials:
To St Louis Blues:
Milton Gästrin
2026 1st round pick, #16 overall
Seriously? Kyrou FINALLY got traded? Smoke 'em if you got 'em, folks! It's been, what, five years he's been on the trade boards, either at the deadline or in the offseason? Maybe six? Well, he's got to be relieved that it's over, whether he wanted to get dealt away or not.
McMichael has been a decent young centre, but he's been passed on the depth chart by similarly-aged players. He should be a top-six centre with the Blues. Gästrin has played a single game in North America, so it's wait and see for him.
Effect on Vancouver:
The Blues moved Kyrou, which is great for the Canucks. But they also have four first-round picks this draft. They aren't finished yet.
To Chicago Blackhawks:
To Buffalo Sabres:
2026 1st round pick, #4 overall
2026 2nd round pick, #45 overall
Chicago certainly got tougher to play against, and their defence certainly improved a large amount. How much, you ask? Louis Crevier was the Blackhawks' highest defensive scorer last season, that's how much. Crevier isn't a bad player, exactly, but he's not going to be a needle-mover.
This looks like a deal where someone told management that Connor Bedard was considering how long to sign his second contract for and they panicked. Byram and Greenway make their team better, but they are both unrestricted free agents next year.
Effect on Vancouver:
Counting the days until 2030 when Bedard becomes a free agent. Still, maybe Chicago will improve enough that the Canucks won't accidentally pass them this season.
Alex Tuch to Washington? Hoo, boy. I'm gonna be doing a few of these this week, never mind a draft recap.
Hat tip to PuckPedia, of course
Interesting times, with a week yet to go before Draft Day(s)! The NHL announced not just an increase in the salary cap, but what that increase will be over the next three seasons. Rich teams are looking for innovative ways to spend it, and smaller teams are trying to take advantage. Vancouver is in the in-between, being a rich team but also selling players. The only question is who, and when. Okay, fine, two questions.
Jason Dickinson isn't a bad player.* The 30-year-old centre has pretty good speed, runs around 50% in the circle, and can kill penalties in a pinch. He'll get you about 25 points in your bottom-six, which is...some. That he is also, apparently, a five-year, $20 million man to the Edmonton Oilers certainly highlights what effect the increased cap space will have on the league.
Darren Raddysh's sign-and-trade let the Tampa Bay Lightning salvage a fifth-round pick for a player they couldn't keep. How delighted he'll be with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the next eight seasons is unknown, but for $68 million, it's worth finding out.
Looking at those numbers can give any of us Olds sticker shock. Since when is $4 million a year the going price for a mediocre, bottom-six centre? And since when are teams giving bottom-six players five-year deals? And wasn't Edmonton in a perpetual cap crunch? And... Wait, where's Jack Roslovic? And as for Raddysh, at least he's been a top-pair defenceman and has a hammer of a shot. But he's also 30 years old and has all of three full NHL seasons under his belt. Toronto currently has $32 million tied up in their top-six defencemen. That's probably going to change soon.
The common thread between these teams is their stars. Auston Matthews has two years left on his contract; Connor McDavid has two left on his. The free agent lists are sparse, to say the least, so a team feeling the pressure to improve finds other ways to do it. How can Vancouver take advantage of that?
For the Canucks, neither of these deals is a good example of what they can do in moving players. Dickinson was already with Edmonton, and Raddysh was unrestricted and had the hammer. If he didn't want to go to a team, he couldn't stop the deal, but he could wait two weeks and sign anywhere else. No one on Vancouver's roster matches those conditions.
Useful as Teddy Blueger is, if he gets offered Jason Dickinson money (can't believe I typed that), it won't be by the Canucks. And given the total lack of interest at the trade deadline, Vancouver's not getting a big return from someone wanting to talk to him early.
Much more interesting is the recent Seattle Kraken - Florida Panthers deal. Mackie Samoskevich brought Florida a later first and an unknown second. Samoskevich is a 23-year-old, fourth-line winger who played some centre in junior. Seattle is almost certainly going to offer him a long-term deal in hopes that, as he ages and gets more opportunity, he will become a good value contract. He's been very productive in limited ice time, so maybe it'll translate, maybe not. But even if it falls through, Dickinson set the salary bar for guys who get limited ice time.
Seattle paid a high price, but Samoskevich's age warranted it. Yes, they're taking some risk in giving up two picks, but they also believe they are ready to improve. They want to become playoff regulars and are willing to pay for it. It's not a position that Vancouver will be in for at least four or five seasons, but when they are, they'll need Seattle's currency: draft picks.
Florida isn't a team that's building for the future. Look at their PuckPedia page, and "23" isn't an age that appears until you reach ECHL defenceman Evan Nause. This is a team of 30-year-olds and a few who are close to it. Anton Lundell is their youngest player of consequence at 24. Their first-round picks over the next three years are gone. So, no, this isn't a team thinking of winning in four or five years. Closer to ten.
Don't get me wrong! They're going to ride their current horses until they break a leg, but the team knows that's only so far. Father Time remains undefeated, no matter what the weirdly glisteny billionaires tell themselves.
This is the sort of time frame I want to see the Canucks employ.
New GM Ryan Johnson and new coach Manny Malhotra each have three-year deals. That's fine, so long as no one pretends this team will be good in three years. In three years, we want to see progress on the foundation of a team ready to compete. Depth in the minors, young stars establishing themselves under the guidance of a few veterans who know they'll get moved on, that sort of thing. But I also want to see draft picks waiting for us in the future.
We need them now, yes, and I want to see them get some more if they can now. They can come in 2027, 2028, or beyond; I don't particularly care. The ones in the next few years are getting used by the team, ideally on picks, rarely in trade. I don't want to see them bundle later selections so they can move up a few spots, I really don't. Certainly not in this draft, where even the top five prospects are all over the place on scouting lists, never mind the top fifty.
My priority here and anywhere else I've written about the Canucks has been trying to understand management's decisions. No one does things that don't make sense to them, so why did they trade for Erik Gudbranson? Why did they choose J.T. Miller instead of Bo Horvat? Why did they give Bruce Boudreau an option year, shocking the general manager they wanted to hire?
Understanding their decisions is harder with some moves than with others, but they always make sense to the person who does them. What I want from the team is to see understandable moves. I don't want to work hard at this anymore. I'm inherently lazy. I want it to be not only easy to follow along, but I also want to smile while doing it. Something long-term, outlasting Johnson's and Malhotra's contracts, but earning them renewals. The playoffs can frikkin' wait.
Beyond anything else, I want to see a plan. And I want to see it take shape with this draft, right now.
Let's go!
*I hesitate to call anyone who makes it to the NHL a bad player. Go watch John Scott skate with university players, and you'll see what I mean.
A resolution to the biggest question for the Vancouver Canucks' future might not be a big deal after all.
Lemme explain.
On straight talent, Elias Pettersson is the most skilled skater the Canucks have. With Quinn Hughes gone, it's a one-person list. The good news is that he's signed for the next six seasons. The bad news is the previous two seasons.
Two years with just 15 goals in each is atrocious, given who he is supposed to be. He scored 27 in his rookie and sophomore seasons, just by comparison, and those are his third and fourth least productive years. Even Pettersson's much-vaunted defensive game slipped, with his even-strength Corsi dropping below 50% in 2024-25. It plummeted to 46.8% last year, but whose didn't?*
It's been a precipitous drop from the century-mark high of 2022-23. Successful as it was for him, the year felt...odd. The new management had decided to go with J.T. Miller instead of longtime captain Bo Horvat, signing him to a 7 x $8 million extension before the season began. They left Horvat dangling for months before finally trading him away at the end of January. Management announced that coach Bruce Boudreau was a lame duck before the season began, but waited 48 games to fire him, a week before the Horvat trade.
Obviously, a huge "changing of the guard" happened. Rick Tocchet came in, Hughes was named captain for the 2023-24 season, and Pettersson was going into his RFA year. Now, he said in the off-season that he wanted to wait until the season was over before negotiating a new deal. Management seemed to agree. But both management and Pettersson were asked about a potential deal repeatedly throughout the year. That made sense, as the team had obviously improved, and it was going to be the most expensive deal in Canucks history, whenever it happened.
It was still a flat cap world then, and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin wanted to know what they could spend in the coming years. Getting Pettersson's deal done was vital. Meetings carried on between the White Collars and his agent from July 1st in 2023 right until the end of February, a week before the trade deadline. But a month before the deal was done, things got really interesting.
Just after the All-Star break, rumours leaked out of a potential trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. Then of possible short-term contracts instead of an eight-year one. In public, Rutherford and Allvin said how much they wanted Pettersson to stay. Pettersson, for his part, continued to say he wanted to wait until the season was over before he talked contract.
On the ice, clearly, Miller was feeling the pressure of being The Guy early. Regular outbursts, breaking his sticks, and taking bad penalties had him riding pine early in the year. But Tocchet still heaped praise on him, calling him an "emotional leader" for the team.
We know early in the 2024-25 season, Miller and Pettersson had a confrontation at practice. Word got around that the coaching staff - with the approval of management - encouraged players to "toughen up" Pettersson. It's unlikely that it started in the 2024 training camp, but well before then, and we don't know what was said in the dressing room. But we do know there were factions, with Horvat on one side and Miller on the other. Given how each player approaches the game, that's hardly surprising. We also know how much Tocchet loves Miller and who he would back if there were a divide on the team.
It's not hard to add Pettersson's reluctance to sign, the pressure to do so from management, and his treatment at work together.
Gonna talk about myself a little. Skip this bit if you want.
When I was very young - ten-ish - I was a pretty good student. School was fun, and I liked the challenges there and all the new things to discover. Not the best student in the world, but pretty good. Went into Grade Five and had a seat at the front of the class. (Don't worry, this will be over soon.) Teacher assigned some "circle the answer" homework on the first day, and I forgot to do it. Next day, he asked where it was, and I said it wasn't done.
He threw my desk across the room. Leaned into my face and bellowed for me to get out of his class.
So I was crying outside his classroom - two other kids joined me there - when he came out and chuckled at me. "What are you crying for?" He explained that he wasn't going to hurt me, obviously. He just needed to make an example of someone at the start of the year. Now I should go on back to my desk, and we'll carry on with the day. Well, with an explanation like that, what would your average ten-year-old do?
I moved myself to the back of the class and never did homework for him. Always tried to get the work done during the school day, however much was assigned. If I didn't get some done, too bad, it didn't get done. Studied and did great on tests, which helped average out my grades enough to pass. Then I got him again for Grade Six, so that sucked.
What I DIDN'T do was become a better student, because fuck him. I didn't respect him, and he didn't deserve it. I also didn't tell any other students or teachers, or my increasingly frustrated parents, because I was raised to handle stuff by myself. A terrible, self-sabotaging decision, but whaddya want? I was ten.
You can probably see where I'm going with this.
Late in January of 2024, Tocchet gave a rare public rebuke for Pettersson's play. It was deserved for the game, an overtime loss to St. Louis, where he was held pointless. But Tocchet also said he hadn't liked Pettersson's play "for the last three or four games." "We gotta get him going," and "we'll get him going" sound slightly ominous in retrospect. In the next game, the last in January, he scored two goals and three points. After that, well, it changed.
For that one month, Pettersson scored 14 goals and 21 points in 13 games. For the rest of the year, he scored seven goals and 25 points in 33 games. He pulled a few three-point games, but a lot more zero-point ones were showing up. That the best stretch of games he's played since that January was the fifteen points in ten games when Miller took a personal leave in 2024-25 doesn't seem like a coincidence.
Speaking of which, that 2024-25 season was a disastrous, turmoil-filled year for a team that somehow held on to respectability, finishing out of the playoffs with 90 points. But it was pretty clear they were going nowhere fast.
For 2025-26, Tocchet declined a return. Management took a couple high-risk swings at Filip Chytil and Evander Kane. They hoped some stability would emerge by keeping Adam Foote behind the bench. The injury gods were not kind, resulting in Linus Karlsson being the team's second-highest scoring centre. Great for him, but not so great for the team. Hughes was traded, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Petersson's form was slowly returning. In his first 28 games of the year, he scored a reasonably solid eight goals and 22 points. Then, not only was he injured, but his wife of six months suffered a miscarriage. After that terrible personal loss, a team reduced to one and a half centres, and a comically condensed schedule, this season hasn't been the best gauge of his abilities. He managed just 12 points in his first 21 games back after the Christmas break, then another 12 in the 16 after the Olympic break, then just five points in April's nine games to finish the year.
Here's the crux: if you want to trade Elias Pettersson the Forward, then this is possibly the worst possible year to do so.
His offensive numbers are rock-bottom; he's got another six years to go and a No Move Clause for all of it; and he's getting paid less money this season than he did the last or will the next. With the team expecting to lose some casual fans during the rebuild, paying $3.5 million less for one player sounds great!
There is simply no way to recoup the level of talent he has in a trade because no one knows if he can get back to that level again. You're not trading a 100-point player; you're trading a former 100-point player. And in this, of all years, there certainly isn't a free agent worth pursuing to fill the gap.
Can Pettersson come back to what he was? My opinion hasn't changed since last season's preview: I think at his best, he'll be close to a point-per-game, very good defensive centre. But before he gets to being his best, there's a very important question to ask: Does he respect who he's playing for?
*Of the players who played more than 45 games? Linus Karlsson's. That's it.
