With Suter and Joshua gone, which forwards will Canucks lean on to kill penalties next season?

Both by raw time on ice as well as on a per-game basis, the Vancouver Canucks have lost five of their top 10 penalty killing forwards from last season.

Change comes with the territory in professional sports, so some turnover has to be expected from season to season. But in a specialized facet of the game like the penalty kill, that roster churn could have a massive impact on an area the Canucks have worked hard at over the past couple of seasons to turn a glaring weakness into a true strength. 

It wasn’t that long ago, under Travis Green and Bruce Boudreau, that the worst penalty killing in the league cost the Canucks hockey games on a regular basis. Last season, however, the Canucks finished with the third-best success rate while a man short (82.6%) and the best percentage in the Western Conference. 

But success can be fleeting, especially when the likes of Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua have been subtracted from the mix. Suter was the most-used penalty killing forward last season, logging 185:24 – or an average of 2:17 per outing – of shorthanded ice time. Those 185 minutes ranked Suter ninth among all forwards in the NHL. So that’s going to be a huge hole to fill. Joshua, on the other hand, wasn’t relied on as much as a penalty killer last season as he was the previous one. In 2023-24, Joshua ranked second among Canucks forwards in total shorthanded ice time logged.

Beyond those two, JT Miller, Danton Heinen and Phil Di Giuseppe all finished in the top 10 in total ice time and PK shifts per game last season. So the door is wide open for new candidates to step up and assume prominent roles on the Canucks penalty kill next season.

It stands to reason that Teddy Blueger will be the first one over the boards. He and Suter formed the team’s top penalty killing duo and performed admirably. Kiefer Sherwood developed into a trusted and consistent penalty killer for the Canucks and may earn even more of an opportunity next season. 

Elias Pettersson will likely have to re-establish himself as a trusted penalty killer. A two-way beast when at the top of his game earlier in his career, Pettersson saw just 10:09 of shorthanded ice time after Christmas last season as he battled injuries and the Canucks moved others into that role.

Drew O’Connor will certainly be looked to for penalty killing utility. Despite joining the team at the end of January, the newcomer was fourth among all Canucks forwards in shorthanded ice time after Christmas. And Conor Garland quietly emerged as a regular penalty killing option for the hockey club, which isn’t a huge surprise given his fearless nature and the fact that his motor is always running. 

Of the returning penalty killers from last season, Blueger was the best of the bunch, with the Canucks averaging 3.49 power play goals against per 60 minutes of shorthanded ice time. After Blueger, it was Sherwood (5.8), Garland (7.46), Pettersson (9.07) and O’Connor (9.86). 

As a natural centre, Pettersson may be relied on to handle defensive zone faceoffs if Blueger is unavailable or tired after starting a PK shift. Otherwise, there may be a wide open path for Aaty Räty to step up and lean on his faceoff prowess to earn him a regular role on the penalty kill, even if it’s to win the draw and get off the ice. Of course, Räty needs to prove that he is fully healthy after missing most of the American Hockey League playoffs, and he has to earn a roster spot before the team can pencil him in on the penalty kill. 

After those players, the options get fairly thin pretty quickly.

Brock Boeser, Evander Kane, Filip Chytil and Nils Höglander don’t kill penalties, and Jake DeBrusk saw next to no shorthanded ice time last season. It’s possible that a player like DeBrusk could be asked to adapt to the role. It’s also possible – albeit a much longer shot – that the Canucks could work with Höglander to use Garland as his example and channel his hustle and determination into traits that could, in theory, make him an effective penalty killer. However, his three previous head coaches in Vancouver have all, at times, had issues with Höglander’s defensive game, so the idea of a rookie head coach being willing to go down that road seems remote. 

That leaves the Canucks with a handful of Abbotsford hopefuls looking to add value to their bids to make the big-league club. Both Max Sasson and Arshdeep Bains were among the Calder Cup Champs’ top penalty killers. Is it possible they could be further developed into penalty killers at the NHL level? Much like Räty, they need to make the hockey club first, and then they could be looked at as options to round out the penalty killing ranks.

As it stands right now, Blueger, Sherwood, O’Connor and Garland seem like the locks to start the season as the team’s top penalty killing forwards. But in a world of short shifts, most teams like to have a minimum of three PK duos up front that they can trust. And it’s not just picking the six guys the team thinks are best suited for the challenge. Effective penalty killing requires chemistry and an ability to read off and work with the other players on the ice. So it may take a while before the Canucks dial up their optimal penalty killing duos up front. 

The Canucks should be solid in goal, and they have plenty of options on defence to get the job done while shorthanded. But with the losses of Suter and Joshua, the Canucks are now very much a team in transition when it comes to penalty killing forwards. It’s going to be an area to watch in training camp – or perhaps it will take until the preseason to truly get a read on what the club has planned. Either way, there will be new looks to the Canucks penalty kill next season. The big question is, can the results look anything like they did last season?