The end of one year and the beginning of another is a time of reflection for the average person. A chance to reflect on what you’ve accomplished in the previous 12 months and what you hope to improve in the 364 days to follow.
Hockey’s internal calendar is a little different; teams and players make their New Season’s resolutions on September 1, while January is closer to the dog days of summer than a winter break.
In 2024 the Canucks learned a whole lot about themselves. The good, the bad and, near the end, the ugly. And 2025 is shaping up to be one of the most pivotal years in franchise history. And with the Canucks reaching the halfway point of the season tonight against Carolina, it’s time to take stock of who these Canucks are and their biggest storylines so far.
Some are feel-good stories, some are dramatic, and some present alarming trends. But they all have something in common: the ability and time to change.
Quinn Hughes is an MVP
Hughes has, for the entire season, seemed to be the only player keeping the ship from sinking. Hughes’ 45 points are 15 more than his next closest teammate – who would’ve expected it to be Conor Garland – and 35 clear of the next highest-scoring defenceman, Tyler Myers.
That difference illustrates just how much Hughes has had to carry the Canucks’ blue line this season, averaging nearly five more minutes per game than the next closest defender (also Myers), who’s played more than 21 games. In the four games without him, the Canucks have been outscored 14-8 (plus a shootout winner).
While the Canucks defence beyond Hughes (as well as Filip Hronek) have done a decent job protecting the net and limiting scoring chances overall, the lack of puck movement when their captain isn’t on the ice is a glaring issue. The next best option for creating offence has been Erik Brännström, but his weaknesses in his own end have made him a frequent scratch for Rick Tocchet. That’s left the Canucks relying on the likes of Noah Juulsen and Vincent Desharnais to try and push the play up the ice, an exercise in futility.
The Canucks need to provide Hughes with additional help on the scoresheet is going to be pivotal as Hughes nurses an injured hand while still taking the bulk of the ice time. The decision to stack the blue line behind him with big and tall defenders hasn’t panned out, and the need to replace some of them with reliable and fast puck movers is only getting more and more pronounced.
Even though he’s been passed on the defensive points chart by Cale Makar and Zach Werenski, Hughes’ overall value to the Canucks cannot be understated. He is arguably the biggest reason the Canucks are clinging onto a playoff spot this deep into such a trying year. If they’re able to hang on and make it to the dance, it’ll be because Hughes has put together a campaign not only worthy of defending his Norris Trophy title, but he’ll be a heavy favourite for the Hart Trophy as well.
If the season ended today, he’d certainly deserve both.
The Pettersson-Miller elephant in the room
I know a lot of you are tired of this conversation. I am too. But it would be disingenuous to ignore it as one of the most important storylines through 41 games.
To say this season hasn’t gone the way either Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller wanted would be an understatement. Neither have been able to match their scoring paces from a year ago, whether due to injuries, a lack of confidence, rotten luck, or some ‘all of the above’ mixture. But the open secret about the pair’s frustrations with each other has added another level of distraction to a team that has enough on their plate already. The locker room vibes are bad enough that the Canucks’ front office is actively fielding trade calls for both Miller and Pettersson, hoping to find a good enough deal to sign the divorce papers with one of them.
But players who aren’t best friends have coexisted on plenty of sports teams before. It’s a matter of being able to put those issues aside and remember that you’re supposed to be pulling in the same direction. That might be easier said than done, but it’s frankly something we’ve all dealt with at different points in our lives, be it with a coworker, a classmate or even family members.
If Pettersson and Miller are serious about staying in Vancouver and being part of a Stanley Cup-winning solution, it’s not too late for them to figure this out. But the only people who can make that happen are themselves.
The rise of Kevin Lankinen
With Thatcher Demko having missed all but seven games, the Canucks’ season could’ve been over a long time ago if not for the work of one man. Kevin Lankinen’s meteoric rise from late training camp arrival to 27-game starter has been one of the best stories of the year.
Lankinen’s stat line might not look crazy impressive in a vacuum – a 15-7-6 record with a save percentage of .905% – but when you factor in how he ended up here, it’s nothing short of a small miracle. Lankinen wasn’t a Canuck until September 21 when he signed a one-year deal worth just $875k, making his season so far one of the biggest bargains in the entire NHL. He officially began the year as Arturs Silovs’ backup, but it only took one start for Lankinen to yank away the starter’s role.
Beyond the numbers on his stat line, Lankinen has also been one of the most fun Canucks to watch. In a league where the majority of goalies use their frame to play deeper in their crease and stick to a rather strict structure, Lankinen is far more aggressive. His willingness to challenge shooters farther beyond his crease and throw his whole body across the ice to block a shot attempt feels like a bit of a throwback to the last generation of netminders, albeit with more reverse VH sprinkled in. And his strong play hasn’t gone unnoticed; in February, Lankinen will be one of the three goalies representing Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Even after Demko’s return, Lankinen has taken the lion’s share of the work while the incumbent has adjusted to his body’s new reality. And that reliability might be why the pending UFA ends up with a hefty raise from the Canucks, or potentially another team, in the offseason.
Home struggles, road warriors
Last season the Canucks had one of the best home records in the NHL. Halfway through 2024-25, they’ve already matched their entire loss total at Rogers Arena from a year ago.
The Canucks have just seven wins in 21 home games so far, a long way off from the 27-victory pace they put up in 2023-24. They’ve yet to even win just two games in a row in Vancouver through three months of play, which is an alarming stat for a team with playoff aspirations. The situation has gotten so dire that Rick Tocchet felt the need to apologize to the fans for their lacklustre playback in mid-November, and things haven’t gotten much better since.
But despite their inability to cook at home, on the road, the Canucks have actually been more than decent. Their 11-4-4 record away from Rogers Arena is good enough for the second-highest points percentage in the league, behind only the 15-3-3 Minnesota Wild. In two fewer games, the Canucks have the same number of regulation wins (7) while allowing 25 fewer goals in opposing buildings than they have in their own.
That big discrepancy in success has sometimes been attributed to the added pressure of playing in front of the home crowd, but that’s not the kind of answer fans paying around $100 a ticket want to hear. With the playoff chase heating up, the Canucks need to figure out how to find the same success at home that they have on the road if they want to keep their spot. Or maybe they’ll play 4D chess by keeping the same pace, holding onto the final wild card spot and avoiding home-ice advantage.
The Overtime Twilight Zone
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension where even strength becomes 3-on-3, and five minutes becomes infinity. It is the middle ground between a win and a loss, between regulation and shootout, and it lies between the pit of a team’s fears and the summit of their knowledge. It is an area which we call “The Twilight Zone.”
Consider, if you will, the Vancouver Canucks; a team that can survive a 60-minute gauntlet, only for a five-minute fire drill to rip out their hearts.
The Canucks have gone beyond regulation 14 times this season, amassing three wins in overtime, one in a shootout and a shocking 10 losses in extra time. Rick Tocchet’s squad opened their season with a pair of blown leads (a story within itself) that ended up as OTLs and haven’t looked back.
The glass-half-full approach would say that’s resulted in 10 additional points the Canucks desperately need. The glass-half-empty says there were another 10 points left on the table, enough to jump all the way in front of the Edmonton Oilers and into second in the Pacific behind only Vegas.
Teams have had entire seasons undone by their struggles past the 60-minute mark. Just ask Calgary, who missed the 2023 postseason by three points thanks in large part to a jaw-dropping 17 losses after regulation. The 2023-24 Canucks are on pace to blow that mark out of the water.
And yet, even with all those missed points and the other struggles we’ve outlined today, the Canucks are still holding onto a playoff spot, their fate firmly in their own hands. And therein lies the real overarching story of this season: The chance at redemption.
Maybe in the second half of the season, the Canucks will be able to figure out how to play more loose and free in overtime, as well as on home ice. Maybe Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller can remember how to coexist on a winning team and get back to their high-scoring ways. And just maybe, the front office will find some help for Quinn Hughes, freeing him up to take back the scoring lead and the hardware he deserves. If they can sort even a few of those situations out, these first 41 games could end up looking like speed bumps on the road to greatness.
Stranger things have happened in the Twilight Zone.
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