Teddy Blueger’s depth contributions ran dry too often for the Canucks: 2024-25 Year in Review

But as things progressed with injuries and line shuffling taking their toll, Blueger was sent up and down the lineup to try and make things happen. He wasn’t a liability by any stretch, but Vancouver elevating him into the top six was done out of necessity and desperation, not because Blueger was showing that he could stick on the first or second lines.

The evidence of this can be seen right from the counting stats. Blueger came close to matching his 28 points from last year with 26 points this season. The only issue is that Blueger also played all 82 games in 2024-25, versus the 68 games it took him in 2023-24 to reach that mark.

While the centerman was a solid presence to have on the penalty kill and in a checking role, the overall effect of the Canucks’ underperformances translated to him as well. It was a painful stretch of 26 games between December 31 and March 5, during which Blueger went without a single point to his name. The saddest part about this is that the 26 points still made Blueger the 10th-highest scoring Canuck in 2024-25.

And even when Joshua returned to the lineup and the line was reunited, it just wasn’t the same. Now, it’s understandable from all perspectives, given that Joshua was returning from cancer. But the on-ice product of this trio, who were so dynamic during the 2023-24 campaign, just wasn’t there for their second iteration in 2024-25.

Blueger was solidly middle of the pack when it came to his advanced stats. He wasn’t the worst by any stretch, but there also wasn’t much to write home about either. He had a 46.64 xGF%, putting him as the 29th best Canuck in that category, while a 47.95 CF% put him at 22nd. None of these are bad metrics, contextualized with his deployment as well as his role. However, they certainly don’t suggest a player who was making a dramatic impact at either end of the ice. One could only imagine that if Blueger found the scoresheet a couple more times, perhaps it would be the difference maker in Vancouver sneaking into the playoffs.

Again, none of this is to say the Blueger was particularly, noticeably bad this past season. He probably was one of the only Canucks that came close to living up to his billing. It’s the story of a depth forward who was dealt the best hand by the team around him. Blueger should not be the determining factor for this team to win games, and at the very least, he wasn’t the reason that they lost a lot of them either. But from an overall standpoint, it was disappointing to see the lack of consistent point production from Blueger, hampering the overall ceiling of this 2024-25 Vancouver team.

Hopefully, this next year will see a slight resurgence from the Latvian (along with the rest of the team), especially when he isn’t pencilled in as the second-line centre.