5 Canucks facing the most pressure heading into 2025-26

To some extent, everyone on the Vancouver Canucks has a decent amount of pressure on them heading into the 2025-26 NHL season.

After a phenomenal 2023-24 season that exceeded all expectations and saw the Canucks come within a single game of the Western Conference Final, 2024-25 couldn’t have been much more disappointing. Long stretches of poor play and some absolutely brutal efforts on home ice destroyed much of the good will this group had built with the fanbase in 2023-24. What the club did that season was quickly viewed as a fluke for a team that hadn’t done much winning over the past 10 years.

So heading into 2025-26, the pressure is back on. The players — namely the ones who signed new contracts this offseason — seem eager and confident that things can get back on the rails next season. That alone puts a certain level of pressure and expectations on the team to succeed, which is all fans really want at the end of the day.

But individually, which Canucks have the most pressure on them heading into the 2025-26 season? Let’s examine.

5. Nils Höglander

Year one of Nils Höglander’s three-year extension with an annual price tag of $3 million didn’t go well. But it’s important to tell the story of how the Canucks and Höglander even got to this point. After showing flashes of offensive brilliance on a Canucks team whose best top six options outside of Höglander were Loui Eriksson and Jake Virtanen, it became harder for Höglander to earn the trust of his coaches in the subsequent years. As his ice time dipped, so too did his point totals. By the time Jim Rutherford and co. arrived on scene, it was abundantly clear that Höglander could use some time in the AHL as the bar began to be raised in Vancouver.

Höglander did as he was asked and put up a respectable 32 points in 45 AHL games, while being a point per game player in the Abbotsford Canucks’ six playoff games. The next season, his Energizer Bunny-esque play seemed to have won over Rick Tocchet, and in the season where everything went right for many Canucks, Höglander was a big beneficiary. He put up 24 goals, all at even strength, and earned himself a three-year deal worth $9 million. It looked like a potential steal at the time, but year one was anything but. The goalscoring dried up for Höglander, who potted just eight goals and added 17 assists through 72 games last season. He was back in a third coach’s doghouse, and despite showing some flashes, turned in a disappointing 2024-25 campaign.

And so with Adam Foote now at the helm and a decent amount of opportunity to be found in the Canucks’ middle six forward group, Höglander enters 2025-26 with a good amount of pressure to live up to his contract. After all, we know how quick this management group can be at moving out contracts they deem to be inefficient.

4. Thatcher Demko

For Thatcher Demko, it might be safe to say he’s putting more pressure on himself than anyone else. Right after finally showing the league what Canucks fans had known for years — that Demko is one of the NHL’s very best goaltenders — thanks to a somewhat competent defensive environment in front of him for the first time ever, Demko’s 2024-25 was riddled with confusion and frustration.

After finishing as the runner-up to Connor Hellebuyck for the Vezina Trophy in 2023-24, Demko didn’t get a chance to train much during the summer of 2024. Instead, he was stuck searching for answers for a knee injury he suffered in the dying moments during the Canucks’ first game of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The knee injury, which Demko described as “rare and unique” when speaking about it at training camp last fall, held him out until mid-December. Then on January 2nd, Demko exited vs. Seattle with back spasms. That was a small injury, but an injury nonetheless. Then just over a month later on February 8th, it was another injury. Only this one was revealed to be a lower-body injury that kept Demko out until the end of March. The end result? 2025-26 was something of a lost season for Demko.

Despite that, Jim Rutherford made it clear the Canucks wanted to get a contract extension done with Demko, and that’s exactly what the two sides did. Rutherford cited confidence in Demko changing the way he’s training, and by all accounts, Demko is enjoying a healthy offseason with ample time to prepare. Unfortunately, those question marks about his health won’t go away until Demko turns in a healthy season, and with a new contract in hand, he’s going to have a good amount of pressure to show once again that he can be relied upon as “the guy” for the Canucks in the blue paint.

3. Brock Boeser

Speaking of signing contracts… Brock Boeser got one too this offseason! Right before it was officially too late, Canucks GM Patrik Allvin called Boeser’s agent on the morning of July 1st and hammered out a deal that will keep the homegrown sniper in Vancouver for the rest of his career.

And while Boeser is a fan-favourite (and absolutely deservedly so), he’s also the longest-tenured Canuck. He’s been around for a lot of losing. And while it’s certainly not all his fault, some fans have already grown tired of the Canucks’ current core group of players, and many were unhappy with the team doubling down and extending multiple players who haven’t accomplished a heck of a lot in their time in Vancouver. As one of the team’s highest-paid players, Boeser will no doubt feel that pressure to perform and bring consistent winning hockey to this city after being here for so many dark years already.

2. Evander Kane

The reaction to the Canucks trading for Evander Kane was mixed, to say the least. This author admittedly was and still is a fan of the move, and thinks Kane will find success in Vancouver. That being said, the simple fact that this is a contract year for Kane, combined with the fact that he’s coming off a season where he missed the entire regular season due to injury, puts a great deal of pressure on Kane to succeed.

Kane will be playing for what might be one final solid payday in his NHL career, and the winger certainly sounded hungry and motivated when he spoke about the opportunity following the trade. Add in the restless fanbase itching for winning hockey, the overall pressure of playing in a market like Vancouver — not to mention the hometown factor for Kane — and you’ve got a pressure-packed situation for Kane to be walking into for his first season as a Canuck.

1. Elias Pettersson (the forward, of course)

Finally, it’s the player you knew would be on this list, and perhaps the player we need to write the least about. Because everybody and their mother knows all about Elias Pettersson’s struggles in year one of his $92.80 million eight-year contract — the richest ever handed out in Canucks franchise history.

You know the story by now, but in case you don’t: