These are the bets the Canucks are making for the 2025-26 NHL season

National Post

03-07-2025

So they're just going to run most of it back, eh?
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That is where the Vancouver Canucks stand after two days now of this summer's free-agency window.
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After all the chaos of this past season — and sure, players can deny it publicly all they want, but there's no doubt this season was a mess internally — it's give-them-another-chance time.
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And at a certain level, what else was management really going to be able to do?
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Changing your roster wholesale in the NHL is not an easy thing to do. The era of the mega-blockbuster trade — think of the nine-player trade that brought Doug Gilmour to Toronto, or the six-player deal that brought Geoff Courtnall and Cliff Ronning to the Canucks — those are well and truly deep in the past.
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You can still get a big name in a deal — Mikko Rantanen was traded twice this past season, and the Canucks did move J.T. Miller — but those moves are complicated beasts.
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Thank the salary cap for that.
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Despite big, bold talk about finding a second-line centre in a trade, about needing to re-shape the group here … that didn't happen.
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Instead, president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin have made a series of bets, ones that will all have to land in order for this latest edition the Vancouver Canucks to find themselves back in the playoffs this coming season.
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• First of all, that Elias Pettersson, freed of his split with J.T. Miller, will regain the swagger and scoring last seen in January 2024. The Canucks need him to be the No. 1 centre he is being paid to be.
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• That Brock Boeser will continue to be the dependable, although not flashy, scorer he has always been. (This is the most reasonable bet out of all of these.)
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• Do you remember that Thatcher Demko was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 2024? He was outstanding that regular season — and then he damaged the popliteus muscle in his left knee. It's been a tough road since. It took until December for him to be ready to play, and then almost two months before he really found his groove … and then he got hurt again.
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It was truly a season to forget. But Demko and the Canucks obviously believe that he can find the elite form he showed two seasons ago and hinted at plenty in previous seasons. Still there's the injury worry. He's had a significant injury three seasons in a row. Having Kevin Lankinen in the fold suggests that the Canucks are hopeful he will lessen the load on Demko, and that such a lessened load will reduce the chance Demko gets hurt again.
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• Adam Foote has a short CV as a head coach, but the Canucks believe his 2.5 seasons as Rick Tocchet 's assistant gives him a chance to deliver at the top level. This is a big bet, but it's not an unprecedented one. Martin St. Louis had minimal experience as a head coach — only in minor hockey — before he was named head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, and the Habs have steadily improved on his watch.