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!

At this stage in the Canucks rebuild, two vital questions must be answered: why are they still trying to win games when they are inevitably going to come up short regardless, and what exactly is the player deployment strategy here?

The Canucks played four games this week without a single win, topped off with a particularly eye-watering 6-0 shutout at Rogers Arena at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers. A Leon Draisaitl-less Oilers group, at that.

It is one thing to go all-in on young players. It is another thing entirely to ensure those players have a positive learning experience, even through a losing season. First of all, putting rookies in positions that complement their strengths is a must – whatever was going on with Tom Willander and Victor Mancini this week, it was not the case. They cannot learn from their mistakes if they are not playing and making mistakes, but it’s much easier to make stupid mistakes when you’re not even set up for success. After a particularly bad game or two, it makes sense to scratch a young player and force a hard mental reset like you’re restarting an iPhone. Just don’t put a bad taste in their mouths before the team fire sale has even truly begun.

It’s time for head coach Adam Foote to start answering some hard questions, without bringing up any form of tree nut or Russian basement–dwellers.

Rock Bottom Stats Corner

Games played this week: 4

Games won this week: 0

Goals scored this week: 5

Goals against this week: 18

Games since last win: 10

Games won in 2026: 0

Goals scored in 2026: 14

Goals against in 2026: 40

Players traded in 2026: 0…so far.

Linus Karlsson

It is unfortunate when a player has a breakout NHL season while the rest of their team is a proverbial dumpster fire, namely because their efforts are ultimately fruitless and their success is often overlooked. When firefighters show up at a house fire, none of them are commenting on how beautiful the portico is.

Linus Karlsson is that portico. Perhaps unassuming, standing tall in front, and most definitely not the first thing to burn. Okay, maybe we are losing the analogy here.

Karlsson is an ideally balanced player for the phase of life the Canucks are entering. He’s young enough, both in human years and in rostered NHL years, but he brings a finishing touch and more polished decision-making that the Canucks rookies are lacking at this point.

This week, Karlsson set up Elias Pettersson for key goals not once, but twice, in back-to-back games. First, he tipped a Filip Hronek monster-shot to get Pettersson a rebound to open the scoring against the Montreal Canadiens. In their well-fought 2-1 contest against the Ottawa Senators, he found Elias Pettersson in the slot, being the major factor on the goal that brought Elias Pettersson into the top-10 goal scorers in Canucks history. Amongst the sea of losses, it’s the little wins that should still be celebrated.

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🚨Canucks goal🚨 Elias Pettersson gets the Canucks on the board and makes it a one-goal game! 🎥 Sportsnet | #Canucks

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2:00 AM · Jan 14, 2026

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Drew O’Connor

Given the fact that Filip Chytil has hardly played many games as a Vancouver Canuck due to multiple injuries – a known factor when he was acquired – and that Victor Mancini has spent a significant amount of time in the AHL with Abbotsford, Drew O’Connor has unexpectedly become the most consistent player to come from last year’s series of transactions stemming fom the trade of J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers. My apologies to Marcus Pettersson. He knows how he’s been playing.

Despite some rough patches, O’Connor has emerged as a consistent and imposing bottom-six forward, particularly at even-strength deployment. In no uncertain terms, DOC has that DOG in him.

O’Connor was essentially half of the team’s driving force in their 4-1 contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game that could have been an email – or even a nap. Earlier in the week, against the Canadiens, there was a two-man obstacle course O’Connor beat in order to set up Max Sasson for a goal. This game was a match-up against a far better Montreal team than the Canucks, frankly, had no business staying in as long as they did. Any attempt to put up a fight without actually overtaking the opposing team is exactly what this team should be aiming for at this time.

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🚨CANUCKS GOAL🚨 Drew O’Connor makes a great play to set up Max Sasson, who ties the game at 3-3. 🎥: Prime | #Canucks

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1:55 AM · Jan 13, 2026

Kevin Lankinen

While Thatcher Demko is still on injured reserve for the foreseeable future, Kevin Lankinen has once again taken over starting goaltender duties. Lankinen split this week’s games evenly with call-up Nikita Tolopilo – it has been a thankless job for both of them, and I do not envy the position of backing up the Canucks in the present moment.

While it is a difficult endeavour to shower praise on any member of the roster at the moment, it’s common etiquette to never place losses squarely on goaltenders, likely because it is often the truth. Phenomenal goaltending may very well win you games, but poor goaltending will rarely ever singlehandedly lose them.

Lankinen ended the week with an undisclosed illness, taking him out of commission, but he started it off strong. He made a handful of incredible saves on the road against both the Senators and Blue Jackets. This moment significantly raised my own blood pressure; one can only imagine what it did to Lankinen’s.