The Vancouver Canucks had a disaster of a season in 2025-26. It's hard to imagine how much worse things could have gone for this team. Elias Pettersson and his teammates spent most of their season at the bottom of the NHL. They ended the season with the worst record in the league.
Vancouver knows that things can only go up from where they were last year. This offseason saw wholesale changes within the organization. This is nothing to say of a major change midseason, with Quinn Hughes being traded to the Minnesota Wild before Christmas.
Vancouver has a new general manager in Ryan Johnson. Behind the bench, former NHLer Manny Malhotra takes over for Adam Foote, who lasted one season. The Canucks hope this new perspective can help turn the tide beginning this coming season.
This much change inherently begs some important questions that must be answered in 2026-27.
How long will Elias Pettersson remain with Canucks?
A lot of the Canucks offseason has revolved around Elias Pettersson. The once superstar forward has had a brutal fall from grace over the last couple seasons. It has led to Vancouver searching the trade market to see what they could get in a deal.
Pettersson remains with the Canucks for now. Teams across the NHL are likely waiting to see if the Swede can recapture his 100-point form. At the very least, they want to see if he can come close to it.
He is making north of $11 million so a trade will be difficult to pull off midseason. But how long will Pettersson remain in Vancouver? Is a trade possible anytime soon, or will the Canucks continue searching for some time?
Can Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi take a step?
Article Continues BelowThe Canucks received three NHL players and a draft pick in the Quinn Hughes trade. Zeev Buium and Marco Rossi were two of the players in that deal. Both had shown flashes of brilliance with the Minnesota Wild. Their time with Vancouver, though, was less impressive.
There were still some flashes, but the overall picture was just not that great. Rossi did well, scoring 22 points in 33 games with Vancouver. Buium was bang on average to begin his time with the Canucks.
Both of these players are vital to Vancouver's future success. If the Canucks are to do anything this coming season, both of them need to take that step forward and become more effective NHLers.
Can Buium and Rossi make that leap so soon? Or will it take another season in Vancouver to unlock the potential they have?
Will Thatcher Demko be healthy?
At one point, Thatcher Demko was among the best goaltenders in the NHL. It wasn't too long ago that he was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the league's best puck-stopper. Now, it's hard for him to simply find a clean bill of health.
Demko has struggled mightily with injuries the last couple of seasons. He played just 20 games last year, and 23 before that. He underwent hip surgery in January and is trying to work his way back from that procedure.
Demko has the potential to raise the floor for this team if he's healthy. Getting him back at 100% is the most important thing for the Canucks at this time. Can he find that clean bill of health? If so, the Canucks could play spoiler at some point this season, especially if the playoffs are out of the question for them.