March 17th, 2025
JC Clemas
This season, Quinn Hughes has been the only player to consistently show up.
With 15 games left in a tight race for the 2nd wild card spot, that has to change now.
As of late, the Canucks have been getting solid contributions from a couple of other guys. The most notable of these is Elias Pettersson, who has posted 4 goals and 7 points in his past 6 games. However, the Canucks are just 3-3 in those games. This proves the point that the Canucks’ struggles this season should not be fully blamed on Elias Pettersson, contrary to what many fans have believed for some reason.
Filip Hronek and Pius Suter are also two guys who have found notable success in 2025. Hronek had been stepping up for the temporarily absent Quinn Hughes and was doing an incredible job of it. He was stacking up multi-point games, while also being one of their best in the defensive zone. Suter, meanwhile, has set his career high in goals (18), which is so impressive that it may price him out of Vancouver. Suter’s goal-scoring hasn’t been the most consistent this season, but his defensive play has. His work on the penalty kill has helped the Canucks revive their stats in that department from previous seasons.
Even with these positive contributions, the Canucks still find themselves failing to make considerable ground in the wild card race. They’re holding onto the 2nd spot by a thread right now, and need to play their best hockey of the season if they want to make it past the 82-game mark. The question must be asked: who needs to do more? Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson cannot get the Canucks to the playoffs by themselves.
There are some clear issues throughout the Canucks’ lineup right now. Here are a couple of players who need to step up for Vancouver to have a chance at seeing meaningful hockey this year.
Brock Boeser
Duh.
Brock Boeser has been having a brutal stretch recently. In his past 12 games, he’s put up 0 goals and 3 assists. Two of those assists have come on the power play. Two of those assists are secondaries. Sure, they all count the same, but even the points he’s occasionally putting up aren’t exactly well-earned.
In that same 12-game stretch, Boeser is a -11. Now, say what you will about plus/minus (it’s not the most reliable statistic), but when your number is THAT bad over a relatively small stretch, the statistic definitely has something to say. His defensive play has been pretty questionable throughout his career, and that number is a supporting argument for how he’s been performing recently. He hasn’t been a plus player in any of those 12 games and is actively hurting the team with his play.
It is essential that Boeser starts scoring again because he doesn’t offer the team a whole lot when his production is low. He’s one of the slower skaters on the team, isn’t physical, doesn’t kill penalties, and is not good defensively. When he’s scoring 40 goals in a season, it’s easy to forget about that. When he’s scoring a point every 4 games, the issues become a lot more glaring. If Boeser plays like this for the final month of the season, the Canucks are not a playoff team. It’s also hard to imagine a world where the Canucks bring Boeser back at this point, so if this is the end, he needs to end on a high so his Canucks’ tenure doesn’t go out sad.
His lack of a contract for next season may be bothering him. It’s really insane to think he turned down an $8 million contract extension because it’s starting to seem like he’s screwed himself out of some money. His priority is term, but will he be able to even get that in free agency if he ends the season like this? It could end up being a similar case to John Klingberg, who turned down a big contract extension from the Stars in the 2021-22 season, which ended up making him lose out on a lot of money. Could Boeser live to regret the contract extension he rejected? Maybe. I don’t care. Just start scoring.
Jake DeBrusk
DeBrusk has been quite an interesting player for the Canucks this season. Going into the year, we knew that he had been a streaky player throughout his Bruins tenure. That did not change with the new scenery. DeBrusk went on a tear in late November/early December (which was the Canucks’ most successful part of the season), scoring 11 goals in a 10-game span. Since then, he has 9 goals in his past 39 games. While he does lead the Canucks in goals this season, that’s largely thanks to the stretch from 3 months ago, and doesn’t really help the team now.
In his past 10 games, DeBrusk has 2 goals and 1 assist. That’s not enough production from a guy who’s been getting top-line minutes alongside a streaking Pettersson. DeBrusk wasn’t built for the first line, but you still need him to put up more points than he has recently. He was the big splash in free agency and has shown an ability to put the puck in the back of the net. It just hasn’t happened as much as the Canucks need lately.
I say DeBrusk is an interesting player because although he leads the team in goals, you would never be able to guess that from watching a game. When he’s on his cold streaks, he is C O L D. He’s pretty invisible out there, and while he boasts a defensive game that is a lot more sound than Boeser’s, it’s still not quite enough to be impactful. DeBrusk gets to be on the first power play unit, in a spot right in front of the net, which is where he’s scored many of his 11 power play goals this season. It’s a golden opportunity to keep himself producing consistently, but the pucks just never hit twine for him frequently enough. The Canucks do not have many stars on offence, and with DeBrusk’s expectations likely being the 3rd highest of all Canucks’ forwards (after Pettersson and Boeser), the team needs that scoring from him.
If there’s any time in this season for him to get on one of his hot streaks again, it’s right now.
Drew O’Connor
No, I’m not saying the hopes and dreams of the 2025 Vancouver Canucks should be pinned on Drew O’Connor.
He was an extension of the Marcus Pettersson trade and doesn’t have a large role in the lineup. In Sunday’s game against Utah, he was even thrusted down to the 4th line and only received 10:23 of ice time. It’s hard to produce with such a limited role.
But O’Connor was a guy who had received 2nd line minutes recently. Even then, he wasn’t scoring a lot. He has great speed and has simply failed to use that to his advantage as of late. He’s pointless in his past 7 and has just 2 assists in his past 13. Following the JT Miller trade, the Canucks lost a very significant top 6 point contributor. This increases the importance of their forward depth, who has been valuable to the team in the past 2 seasons. While I could pick out a couple of guys in the forward depth who need to provide some kind of secondary scoring, O’Connor is the one who stands out just because of how unnoticeable he’s been in March.
DOC’s play has been pretty meaningless ever since he scored the penalty shot overtime winner against San Jose on February 6th. That was the most recent goal he scored. He’s not playing hockey that contributes to the success of this team. When you consider that he was given a 2-year contract extension very early into his time as a Canuck, the concerns about the front office pulling the trigger too soon start to creep in. O’Connor absolutely has to get going more, no matter what line he’s playing on and how many minutes he gets, because the Canucks need secondary scoring to remain competitive in the playoff race.
Marcus Pettersson
The defence is far from the problem for this Canucks team (which feels weird to say), but I still feel like someone should be mentioned here. Basically, every one of them has been meeting expectations. Quinn Hughes is Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek has been steady on both ends, Tyler Myers is susceptible to the occasional blunder but has been producing well, Derek Forbort is insane defensively, and Victor Mancini/D-Petey have been average 6th defencemen which is all we can ask from the young guys. That leaves Marcus Pettersson.
Marcus Pettersson has been good since joining Vancouver, but that’s it. Exactly good. It feels like he has a lot more to offer than what we’ve seen so far. In 16 games as a Canuck, he has 0 goals and 3 assists, which is roughly half the point production that he saw on Pittsburgh this season. That part is sort of fine because it was obvious he’d have to take on more of a defensive role with the Canucks while playing behind two superior offensive defencemen. Pettersson has been slightly underwhelming in his own zone, though. He’s actually quite similar to Teddy Blueger, in that his defence on the penalty kill has been much more efficient than his defence at even-strength. He makes mistakes with the pucks that turn into goals against, can be late getting to his spots defensively, and also really seems to like falling down.
Again, none of this is to say that Marcus Pettersson has been playing bad recently. He hasn’t. He was also given the opportunity to wear the ‘A’ on his jersey recently, showing that he’s had an impact in the locker room in his month and a half with the team so far. It’s just that, out of all the defence, he seems like the guy who could especially do better. I don’t expect him to put up a lot of points as a Canuck, but he needs to be a shutdown defender. If he can play in his own end like Derek Forbort does, while also having the puck-moving skill that Derek Forbort doesn’t, then our defence is pretty much set.
The Canucks let Utah walk all over them this season, capped off by a 3-1 loss to the team on Sunday night. That’s 3 wins and 6 free points that Vancouver gave a wild card competitor this season, which is pretty unacceptable. Their odds to make the playoffs according to MoneyPuck rest at just 29.4% now, which is now the 2nd highest in that race after St. Louis (36.5%). A win yesterday would’ve gotten them to 50%. It’s time to move forward from that, though, and focus on the task ahead. After a difficult matchup against Winnipeg on Tuesday, the Canucks hit the road for 6 straight. That road trip starts with a date against St. Louis on Thursday, which will be the Canucks’ 3rd game in the span of a week that has heavy playoff implications. If they can win that one, they’re still looking pretty good. If they lose… Yeesh. It’s time for someone to step up and start scoring goals, and while I’ve listed options that have been underwhelming recently, it doesn’t matter who steps up as long as someone starts scoring goals and the Canucks start stringing together wins. At the end of the day, though we may not get to see playoffs, we can’t say we’re entirely missing out on meaningful hockey. It’s nice to be in a race for the playoffs, even if it is a disappointing season.
Optimism aside, please start winning.