Welcome back to Stars of the Week at CanucksArmy! Every week, we’ll be bringing you our Top Three best and brightest performers on the Vancouver Canucks that week. Disagree with our picks or have your own stars to nominate? Let us know in the comments below!
It was a big week if your name is either Filip or Pettersson or if you were recently on a plane bound westward from the Metropolitan Division. The Vancouver Canucks have now gone undefeated against the Toronto Maple Leafs this season, shut out the Colorado Avalanche, squeezed out an overtime win against the San Jose after the most noneventful fourty minutes of all time, and only fell to the Red Wings in overtime. Let’s dive right in.

Filip Chytil

I like Filip Chytil. I liked him in New York, I like him now.
Taking that into consideration, I still did not expect him to make quite an impact in Vancouver so early on. Coming in and immediately slotting into a top-six centre spot is not what I had in the cards for Chytil, but it’s what we received.
Last weekend’s debut of the new Canucks against the Red Wing saw Chytil score his first goal in a Canucks sweater, and he ended this week with three total points. 
Chytil looks fast and sharp with an offense-driving edge that has been severely lacking on the Canucks’ top end this year. Is this energy here to stay, or is it just a matter of time before this bright-eyed bushy-tailed campaign is crushed by Rick Tocchet’s allegedly suppressive system? Who’s to say?
There are some areas where Chytil is not perfect, and that’s okay. Despite his 2017 draft year, Chytil has hardly played a complete season due to his struggles with concussions. He’s still only 25 and has just under 400 total games played, with several years of playoff experience at his age. Still, ‘two-way centre’ is not exactly how I would describe Chytil, with his backchecking skills visibly lacking during his time on the Rangers. A top-six Canucks centre who can score in clutch moments but has some serious defensive lapses in judgement sounds oddly familiar. Chytil is not J.T. Miller, though, for better or for worse. In this case, it’s so early on, let’s just say it’s for the better until we have evidence to the contrary.
It is obviously hard to justify the idea of Chytil being an exact 1-for-1 replacement for Miller because he isn’t, and he won’t be, but it’s clear Miller is not the only player who needed a change of scenery to bring back his game. Welcome to Vancouver, new friend.

Filip Hronek

Filip #2 (or Filip #1, since he was here first) has had phenomenal (Filnomenal?) form this week. Leading the defensive group in Quinn Hughes’ absence is a task in itself, but leading the group while they have new faces in an unusual configuration is a process. New Canuck Marcus Pettersson has been changing things up along with new-old-young Canuck Elias Pettersson², and last night Hronek was even paired with…Derek Forbort? Derek Forbort. And they played, for the most part, kind of alright together. We don’t have the time to unpack that in full.
Hronek struck first against the Leafs on Saturday night, was a huge contributor to Vancouver’s 3-0 statement win over the Avalanche, and overall a four-point week. Hronek is also Chytil’s countryman and his three-time World Championship teammate, and he has been helping the new forward settle in. He’s a multi-talented guy, what can I say?

Drew O’Connor

Who wins a game in overtime with a penalty shot? This guy. That’s who.
The game against the San Jose Sharks went scoreless through two periods, which is embarrassing enough because it is the 2025 Sharks, but more embarrassing when you consider that it went to overtime. The unusual scenario of receiving a penalty shot in overtime is one thing, but Drew O’Connor ending the game with a successful shot on Vanecek is even weirder. I’m also pretty sure he killed Macklin Celebrini’s dreams in the process.
I did not expect Drew O’Connor in any hypothetical deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, nor did I expect him to net an empty-net game-winner against the Avalanche mere days after his arrival in Vancouver. This is not to say that Marcus Pettersson was not well worth it, too – the blue line has had a burst of energy akin to a Mountain Dew Kickstart even without Quinn Hughes – but O’Connor has been an unexpected middle-six star pick up. Petey³ will have his big week in 3 Stars soon enough, I am sure of it.
Yes, the man they call Doc was not the major acquisition in the deal with the Penguins, and yet he has two game-winning goals in four games with the Canucks thus far. That’s serendipity right there.
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