May 2nd, 2025
Alex Rickman
To call this season a disappointment for the Canucks would be like calling Tyler Myers a little taller than average. Whatever could have feasibly gone wrong managed to go wrong, and then some. While the Canucks had the occasional flash of looking like a real NHL team, and some players put up seasons that were nothing short of fantastic, others looked lost for far too much of the season. Let’s go through the Canucks roster and grade the players who suited up for a minimum of 20 games (10 for goalies) for their performances this year, and see who needs to do better for the Canucks to succeed next season.
Forwards
Teddy Blueger- B+
Teddy Blueger is not a player whose offensive game will ever wow you, but defensively, you’d be hard pressed to find a more reliable forward on this Canucks team. Blueger really excelled on the penalty kill, a weak spot in recent years that turned to a bright spot during this miserable Canucks season, where he and Pius Suter combined to form one of the league’s best PK duos. Blueger is not a player you would want to see outside of your bottom six, but as far as depth centres go, you could do a lot worse.
Blueger’s offensive numbers started the season hot, but cooled down as the campaign continued. Had he kept this pace, his grade would certainly have been higher than a B+. Blaming his lack of an offensive spark down the stretch on Blueger would be unfair, given that the team as a whole lacked any jump throughout this stretch, but it would have been nice to see a few extra goals from the pride of Riga, Latvia. Blueger is under contract with Vancouver for next season at $1.8 million, and seems likely to hold down the third or fourth line centre role.
Brock Boeser- C+
It pains me to give Brock a low grade. With that being said, however, this past season was not kind to the Canucks longest tenured player. Following a career year in 2023-24, expectations were high for Boeser in a contract year. However, last year's production was not there consistently, and what we saw from Boeser throughout much of the season was not enough to merit a higher grade than this. Boeser had flashes of looking like himself this season, but without the consistently strong offensive play we had last year, there wasn’t much to be optimistic about this year.
Around the trade deadline, it seemed as if Boeser may have been on his way out of Vancouver. This ultimately did not happen, but it still seems as if Boeser will walk at the end of this season, leaving the Canucks for free as an unrestricted free agent. If this is in fact the case, letting a player of Boeser’s calibre leave for free is some shameful asset management from the Canucks. Hopefully, I am proven wrong and a deal is found to keep Boeser in Vancouver. Even if this season wasn’t his strongest, we all know what Boeser is capable of, and if he stays, I am fully confident he will prove to everyone why the Canucks kept him.
Filip Chytil- C+
Acquired on January 31st in the deal that saw JT Miller return to the New York Rangers, Chytil only played 15 games for the Canucks this year, but seems like a relevant enough figure to merit his own grade. Chytil’s Canucks tenure got off to a hot start, capping off a mesermizing performance in his Canucks debut with a game tying goal in the third period of what would go down as one of 14 overtime losses for Vancouver this year. After that, though, Chytil slowed down, at times looking lost with his new team, and having a few moments that ended up costing the Canucks.
Chytil’s season was cut short after suffering a concussion off of a cheap hit from former Canucks Jason Dickinson on March 15th against Chicago. With Chytil’s concussion history, it’s unclear how this hit will affect him going forward, but all we can do is hope for his health. At only 25 years of age, Chytil has a bright future ahead of him, be it in hockey or his outside life, and it would be a shame to see these concussion woes take more of a toll on him. Hopefully, Chytil is healthy enough to continue his career next season, but regardless of that, we hope he is able to maintain a healthy life outside of hockey in spite of these injuries.
Jake DeBrusk- A
On a team as offensively inept as the 2024-25 Vancouver Canucks, Jake DeBrusk managed to set a career-high in goals. DeBrusk, in his usual fashion dating back to his time with the Boston Bruins, was very streaky, but his end product speaks for itself. Things were not easy for DeBrusk this year, from moving to a new team to struggling to score early in the season to not having consistent linemates throughout much of the campaign. Still, DeBrusk delivered a season that has only left fans wondering what he might be able to do if the Canucks can put together a better team around him.
In an ideal world, a 28 goal campaign should not be enough to lead a team in goals, at least if the Canucks are to get where they want to go. However, on a team that looked as lost offensively as the Canucks did this year, still finding a way to approach the 30 goal mark is nothing to sniff at. DeBrusk just always manages to be in the right place to put one home when the team needs it. Hopefully, the Canucks can find a way to fix their forward core this offseason, because as good as Jake Debrusk is, in an ideal world he should be a second liner rather than your teams leading scorer.
Phil Di Giuseppe- C+
He’s just kinda…..there. A favourite of Rick Tocchet, PDG won’t hurt you to have on the ice in any situation, but won’t be particularly impressive much of the time either. It’s clear why a coach like Tocchet, who likes to play things incredibly safe and values defence from his forwards seemingly more than he values offence at times, loves Di Giuseppe, but at the end of the day, he just doesn’t do enough one way or another to earn a higher or lower grade than this.
PDG is a very good player to have in your organization. It’s important to have a veteran forward in your system who can be called up when your team needs some help. Knowing what you’re getting is important in the NHL, and Di Giuseppe can give you just that. However, if the team is in need of a dynamic presence who can give an important spark and maybe win you a game, you won’t get that from Di Giuseppe. PDG is a UFA this summer, and his future with the Canucks is unclear, but I’d be happy to see him stay as a player for the Abbotsford Canucks who can join the NHL teams fourth line in a pinch.
Conor Garland- A
To give Vancouver’s favourite angry little elf anything but an A would be a near criminal offence. Garland is one of the league’s premier buzzsaws, never giving up on a play and doing everything in his power to make life a living hell for opposing forwards. For being one of the lightest forwards in the league, as well, Garland is incredibly difficult to knock off the puck. Playing with a wide variety of linemates throughout the year, Garland makes whoever he is playing alongside better, giving a spark to a Canucks team that spent most of this season looking lifeless.
There was reportedly some interest in Garland around the trade deadline this year, so we will see if this happens again. It’s easy to see why teams around the NHL would have interest in a player like this, but ultimately, I hope that the Canucks don’t move out the former Arizona Coyote. Garland has been one of the only players whose game does not change regardless of the circumstances the Canucks are in, and at the end of the day, that presence is desperately needed in this organization.
Nils Höglander- B+
Is recency bias inflating Höglander’s grade? Perhaps. But, following a start to the season that put his future in Vancouver in severe doubt, Höglander had a second half to be proud of, and I think has earned a better grade off the back of that. Like Garland, Höglander is a buzzsaw for the Canucks when he’s on his game. Early in the season, this side of Höglander was being outweighed by defensive mistakes, a cardinal sin in the eyes of Rick Tocchet. Höglander looked like he had lost his swagger, and a move appeared imminent. Then, he turned it around.
Höglander eventually seemed to regain his confidence, and the pucks started going in again. As well, during this stretch, his defensive game got better, and he looked like the Nils Höglander who put away 24 even strength goals in 2023-24 again. Hopefully, that secured Höglander a spot on the team for the 2025-26 campaign, where I think he’s due for big things. If not, it’s been great having him as a Vancouver Canuck, and I wish him well wherever he may end up.
Dakota Joshua- B
Coming off of an offseason cancer diagnosis, Joshua’s production may not have looked the same as it did last season, but this cannot remotely be blamed on him. Without a proper offseason, training camp, or preseason, and with what must have been an immense amount of stress, Joshua’s circumstances were far from easy. Even with this, however, Joshua didn’t look bad at all this season, and really regained his swagger down the stretch, giving hope to fans that he will be fully back to himself next season.
Joshua’s energy and tenacity were there from day one, but the finer details of his game took some time to sharpen. Joshua’s offensive game would eventually arrive, however, giving us glimpses of the player who scored 18 goals and was a key part of the best third line in the NHL in 2023-24. There is no doubt in my mind that, come next season, Dak will be back. A few players on this Canucks team will be going into next season with something to prove, and Dakota Joshua will absolutely be one of those players. Expect him to prove any and every doubter wrong.
Linus Karlsson- B
Throughout most of his NHL games with the Canucks, Karlsson has been a fairly insignificant piece, a guy who won’t hurt you but won’t help much either. That changed near the end of this season. Following a March callup, Karlsson played 14 strong games for the Canucks, providing not only strong defensive hockey, but chipping in with a few timely goals. Karlsson was also a key player for much of the season in Abbotsford, contributing greatly to a regular season that saw them finish second in the AHL’s Pacific Division.
Linus Karlsson ultimately isn’t much more than a fourth liner, but if he keeps up what we saw at the end of the season, you could do far worse in a fourth line winger. Karlsson is under contract with the Canucks next year, and could well earn an NHL roster spot with a good showing in training camp and the preseason. Whether or not this happens is one thing, but it’s nice to see a player who works as hard as Karlsson got some results from his effort down the stretch.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki- B+
This kid could be something special. After making his NHL debut in November against the Calgary Flames, Jonathan Lekkerimäki proved to everyone why the Canucks took him with the 15th overall pick in the 2022 draft. While his numbers may not jump off the page, anyone who watched Lekkerimäki play can tell you that he has the tools to be a key piece for this team for a long time. Not only does Lekkerimäki have one of the best shots on this team, he is not afraid to use it, an issue that has plagued the Canucks throughout much of the recent past. Lekkerimäki’s shootout goal against the New Jersey Devils that prompted a Jacob Markstrom crashout demonstrated the confidence he played with, confidence that could make him a lethal weapon for Vancouver.
Lekkerimäki will likely spend the bulk of next season in the NHL, where both he and the organization will be hoping that he can contribute in a big way to getting this team back where they need to be. Some even think Lekkerimäki could be the player deemed by the team as the heir to Brock Boeser’s role. While it would be irresponsible to put too much stock in a young player delivering in a way similar to what Boeser has done in Vancouver, it’s hard not to be excited by Lekkerimäki’s potential.
Drew O’Connor- B-
Like Filip Chytil, O’Connor was acquired by the Canucks on January 31st, this time in the trade that brought Marcus Pettersson to Vancouver. Also like Chytil, O’Connor impressed out of the gate in Vancouver before regressing a little bit, this time settling in more or less as an upgrade over Danton Heinen, who was part of the package going back to Pittsburgh in the O’Connor trade. DOC was by no means bad at any point during his time with Vancouver this season, but definitely lost his spark after some time, looking like just another player by the end of the year rather than the breath of fresh air he and Chytil were when first acquired.
The positive here is that O’Connor only looked lifeless when the rest of the team also did, and the version of him we got when he first arrived gives me hope that next season could be a strong season for him. With some more time to get used to playing with his new teammates, and some time away from the factory of sadness that was this season's Canucks could do O’Connor well, and perhaps bring back the player we saw early in his Vancouver tenure. Overall, while O’Connor may not have set the world on fire, I’m happy to have him as a Canuck.
Elias Pettersson (EP40)- C-
A review of EP40’s season could well be its own article. From the frama between him and JT Miller that ultimately led to Miller being shipped to the Rangers to the slump to end all slumps to a bounceback near the end of the season that started to peter out before a season ending injury, it was a rollercoaster of a year for the Canucks $11.6 million man. I cannot remember a Canucks player having a season quite this weird, but ultimately, Pettersson needed to get better results, and was unable to consistently be the player this team needs him to be.
Pettersson’s future with the Canucks doesn’t seem entirely set in stone, but if he remains a Vancouver Canuck after July 1st, expect him to be here for the long haul. In order to ensure that he stays in Vancouver for the foreseeable future, Pettersson needs to prove to the front office quickly that he is ready to work to right the ship, and will need a strong offseason to get this done. If he is a Canuck next season, Pettersson needs to have a major bounceback year. Otherwise, the Vancouver Canucks are in deep, deep trouble.
Aatu Räty- A-
Could Aatu Räty be Vancouver’s third-line centre of the future? It sure seems like it. During the first half of the season, Räty looked like a sound bottom six presence, giving the Canucks a faceoff specialist who played a sound two-way game and could provide a bit of secondary scoring. After some time in Abbotsford, though, the Räty we saw in the second half of the season was a different animal. In addition to continuing to play a good defensive game and winning draws, Räty found an offensive side we had yet to see from him at the NHL level. If he can keep this up, nothing is stopping him from locking down a job in the Canucks top nine next year.
Acquired as a key piece in the Bo Horvat trade, the 22-year-old Räty has not had the most linear development path, but the potential has always been there. Manny Malhotra’s coaching staff in Abbotsford have been doing a great job of getting the most out of the Canucks young talents, and Räty could be a great example of the work being done if he keeps this up. It will be exciting to see what he can do next season in Vancouver. Don’t ever forget about dear Rat Boy.
Kiefer Sherwood- A+
A fan favourite from the moment he arrived in Vancouver, nobody could have seen a year like this coming from Sherwood. We all knew that Sherwood would be a thorn in the side of opposing players, and that he was able to chip in with a little bit of offence, but I don’t think anyone expected a year in which he shattered the league’s single-season hit record and posted a career-high in goals and points. Few players could electrify the crowd at Rogers Arena like Sherwood, whose daring play and timely goals kept the Canucks in a lot of games.
No matter who Sherwood played alongside this year, his presence on the ice made the Canucks a better team. Hearing his name chanted in the arena after big moments was a highlight of an otherwise grim season, as I know it was for our own JC Clemas. Sherwood is a player I’m excited to see play a big role for the Canucks next year, and, hopefully, for many years beyond that.
Pius Suter- A
Ah, Prius, how you’ll be missed. While there is still a chance that Pius Suter re-signs with the Canucks, after the season he had, he may have priced himself out of a return. Before this season, Suter’s career-high in goals was 15, a mark he achieved during the 2021-22 season as a member of the Detroit Red Wings. This year, Suter dwarfed this total, putting away 25 goals in a season that was nothing short of stellar from start to finish. As previously mentioned, Suter and Teddy Blueger formed one of the best penalty-killing duos in the league, and Suter even managed to chip in a bit on the power play, showing that the Swiss Army Knife can truly do it all.
Many fans wanted to see Suter, who will be a free agent on July 1st, get moved at the trade deadline. Alas, this did not happen, and unless the Canucks are willing to give him a significant pay raise, Suter is likely to walk for free. If we have seen the last of Suter in Vancouver, while it would be a horrible look on the front office to potentially lose both him and Brock Boeser for free, what a run he had as a Canuck. Whoever ends up with Suter in their lineup next season, you’re getting a good one.
Defence
Derek Forbort- B
Known mostly among Canucks fans as the guy who tried to beat up a rookie Nils Höglander a few years ago, Forbort proved to be a solid defensive presence. After a first half of the season filled with misfortune, once Forbort was able to become a defensive rock for the Canucks once he was able to get a good run of games, killing penalties and making life difficult for opposing forwards. Forbort missed the final few games of the season following a dirty punch from Minnesota Wild forward Yakov Trenin, sustained in a fight he took on while standing up for his captain, which was not always something the 2024-25 Canucks did.
Forbort is a free agent this summer, and with the rise of young talents Elias Pettersson (Junior), Victor Mancini, and an impressive short stint from Kirill Kudryavtsev at the end of the season, it’s not certain that Forbort will be able to get the ice time he’d be looking for as a Canuck. However, the front office remains keen on re-signing him, and it’s easy to see why a steady veteran like Forbort would be welcomed back to a very young defence.
Filip Hronek- B
Hronek’s first half of the season was rough. From uninspired defensive performances to a weaker offensive side than we were used to seeing, he just didn’t look like the player we all know he’s capable of being. Eventually, though, Hronek found his footing and stepped up big time when Quinn Hughes went down injured. Hronek’s time in Vancouver has come with its ups and downs, but if the player we saw during the second half this year, which looked like last year’s first half, can become the Filip Hronek we consistently get, he can be a dangerous man.
With some more consistency, Hronek could easily have gotten an A. Throughout the back half of the year, Hronek played an important role in keeping the team's playoff hopes alive. Hronek also proved that he could play well without relying entirely on Hughes, putting up strong performances leading Vancouver’s second pair alongside Marcus Pettersson. Hronek will need to be on his game if the Canucks are to bounce back next year, but the second half of this season gave me hope that this will happen.
Quinn Hughes- A++++++++
Quinn Hughes is the best defenceman in the NHL and deserves to win the Norris Trophy. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either wrong, a liar, or a Colorado Avalanche fan who has deluded themselves into believing that Cale Makar is still the better player. Throughout the season, we saw that there may not be a player in the NHL who can change the fortunes of their team quite like Hughes can, with the Canucks looking like they could beat anyone with Hughes on the ice and often looking like an AHL team in disguise without him.
In recent days, a touch of doubt has been cast upon Hughes’ future in Vancouver. Now is not the time to begin reading into this. What needs to happen now is for the Canucks to do everything in their power to put a team around Quinn Hughes that won’t waste the prime years of a player who, if he stays in Vancouver, will retire as the greatest player in franchise history. The Canucks have never had a defenceman like Hughes. Not many teams ever had, and not many teams ever will. This is a special player this team has, don’t blow it.
Noah Juulsen- D
Noah Juulsen is not an NHL defenceman and I cannot for the life of me understand why the Canucks continually chose him over Erik Brännström and other younger, more dynamic options before Juulsen’s season ending injury. Out of an unwillingness to continue beating a dead horse, that’s all I’m going to say about Juulsen.
Victor Mancini- B
He had a bit of a slow start to his Canucks tenure, and the wheels started to fall off the bus at the end of the season, but there is serious potential in this young defenceman who was initially viewed by some as a throw-in in the JT Miller trade. Mancini has a combination of size and mobility that isn’t commonly seen in defencemen that, when combined with the good puck skills and defensive instincts we saw once he settled in with his new team, gives him the potential for a very solid NHL career.
In the Canucks second last game of the season, Mancini took three penalties in a performance somewhat reminiscent of the work Vincent Desharnais was doing with Vancouver earlier in the season. While this was far from his finest work, it’s important to remember that young defencemen will make mistakes, but that these can be worked out of their game with further coaching and maturity. Mancini will likely be given a chance to earn an NHL roster spot from training camp next season, and if he can perform like he did for most of his Canucks tenure, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be a full-time NHLer soon.
Tyler Myers- B
Chaos Giraffe looked pretty good this season. Often maligned by Canucks fans throughout his tenure here for occasionally making on-ice decisions beyond human comprehension, this year Myers was able to mostly settle things down and play a simple, effective game. Myers still took more penalties than one would like to see, but had far fewer moments this season that left fans screaming at their TVs than he previously had. Myers even managed to look good playing top-pairing minutes this season, albeit alongside Quinn Hughes, who could probably make me look like at least a replacement-level NHL player.
No matter what he does, Myers will always have his haters. His first few years in Vancouver weren’t easy to watch, and he was being paid like a high-level defenceman while making mistake after mistake and costing the team. However, Myers has been a lot better than he’s been given credit for over the last couple of years, and has been cited as a key locker room figure by multiple Canucks players. I for one am glad that Tyler Myers is still a Vancouver Canuck.
Elias Pettersson (EP25)- A-
I did not expect to see Elias Pettersson, Second of His Name, spend much time, if any, in the NHL this year. However, after seeing what he brought to the table in his 28 games as a Vancouver Canuck, I firmly believe that the sky is the limit for the young Swede. D-Petey plays fearless hockey, showing an extraordinary level of calm in his game for a player of his age and demonstrating a willingness to play a physical brand of hockey that is sure to please the Canucks coaching staff. While it’s far too early in his career to say he may turn out to be this good, D-Petey’s game has been compared by some to that of a young Alex Edler or Mattias Öhlund.
Pettersson may only have played a handful of NHL games, but he has already become a fan favourite in Vancouver. We may not know now what the future will hold for the 21-year-old Swede, but if he stays on the trajectory he’s on now, there’s nothing stopping D-Petey from being a top-four defenceman for the Canucks in the near future. With some doubt now cast on Tom Willander’s future with the organization, the future for Pettersson has become even more exciting.
Marcus Pettersson- A-
While I remain convinced that Marcus Pettersson was primarily acquired to confuse writers wanting to cover this team, it’s hard to deny the impact he had immediately upon joining the Canucks. Before the Pettersson trade, the Canucks defence looked consistently disjointed, and lacked any real ability to get the puck out of their own end without Quinn Hughes on the ice. After Pettersson joined, things got better.
Pettersson was the presence the Canucks top four had been missing all season, and one really has to wonder how different this season might have been if a player like Pettersson had been a Canuck from the start of the season rather than being a late January addition to the roster. We’ll never know how different things would have been, but it’s nice to know going into next season that, for the first time in many years, the Canucks defence looks like a real NHL blue line.
Goalies
Thatcher Demko- B-
One season of healthy Demko. All I ask is that we just get one season of healthy Demko. Suiting up for 23 games following an injury that kept him out of all but 1 playoff game for the Canucks, and several injuries that caused him to miss time during the season, Demko’s ability to remain healthy is in more doubt than ever before. However, a healthy, in-form Thatcher Demko is still one of the best goalies in the NHL, and showed flashes of the player we all know and love this season.
It’s hard to say what Demko’s long-term outlook is. The Canucks are obviously a better team with him in net, but with his inability to stay healthy, it’s not easy to justify relying on him. Theoretically, however, next season should be the best situation Demko has found himself in since assuming the starting job. Not only will the Canucks have the best defence on paper they’ve had in many years, but Kevin Lankinen is already signed, giving the team a backup goalie they can trust who can shoulder a bigger portion of the load than other backups in this time. We don’t want to get our hopes too high too early, but next season could be a good one for the Canucks Californian keeper.
Kevin Lankinen- A-
While his numbers dwindled near the end of the season, it’s hard to blame Kevin Lankinen for this performance. Between the workload he was being asked to take on in the absence of Thatcher Demko and the generally poor play of the team in front of him during a lot of key games, it’s no wonder he looked burnt out by the end of the year. Before this, however, Lankinen was putting up numbers that impressed fans across Canucks nation (except for our own Trevor Steunenberg, who is yet to be impressed by a goaltender in recorded history.)
Lankinen was locked up to an extension mid-season that will keep him in Vancouver for another five years. Time will tell how this deal ages, and it does cast some doubt on Thatcher Demko’s future in Vancouver, but it shows the confidence that the Canucks organization have in Lankinen to sustain his performances from the first half of this season. Whether it be as the starter, backup, or a piece of a 1a/1b tandem going forward, Canucks fans will be seeing a lot more of Kevin Lankinen in the near future.
Arturs Silovs- D
Expectations were high for Silovs following his playoff heroics against Nashville last year. Sadly, the young Latvian netminder was unable to meet them, winning only two games this season and putting up some frankly dreadful performances during his other appearances. At only 24 years of age, Silovs does still have time to correct course and become a full-time NHLer, but this year just wasn’t what anyone had hoped to see from him.
Silovs needs to show something soon if he wants to crack the NHL roster for the Canucks. Between having Demko and Lankinen under contract, and young goalies Nikita Tolopilo and Ty Young showing some promise, Silovs may not have the leash he did at one point. However, goalie development is far from a linear process, and goalies almost always take longer in their development than other players. Let’s see what happens, and maybe, one day, playoff Silovs can return to us.