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!
Can you hear that sound? That resounding din of metal on the pavement? That’s the entirety of the Vancouver Canucks fanbase putting down their pitchforks.
After starting the week out with a miserable 4-1 loss on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the team finally squeezed in their first win of the season in overtime against the Florida Panthers. This may have temporarily put off a revolt for the time being, but a 3-2 OT win was still a little too close to comfort. Thankfully, the team stayed committed to their redemption comeback tour and shut out the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 in the Flyers’ home opener for their first regulation win.
Despite some lasting issues down the lineup, there’s hope yet that this group will start to look a little more like the October 2023 Canucks than the October 2022 Canucks. Let’s get into who we can thank for finally getting the team on the board.

Kevin Lankinen

There’s a wall in Vancouver, loved by many, that stands (mostly) strong against the rising tides approaching.
No, it’s not the seawall. Its goaltender Kevin Lankinen – only with 100% less rollerblading and environmental structural concerns.
At the time I’m writing this, Lankinen has been a Canuck for 29 days. In the past month, I would say he has all but sealed the deal on the starting job in net until Thatcher Demko makes his yet-to-be-determined return. Time really flies when you’re making up for the mistakes happening in front of you on the ice, huh?
The best part of Lankinen’s sudden rise is that he’s on a one-year deal with an $875,000 cap hit. This is shaping up to be a steal from general manager Patrik Allvin that could probably qualify as grand larceny. Grand Theft Goaltender usually doesn’t happen that close to the start of the season. There seemed to be an intrinsic understanding that Lankinen was desperate to play, and the Canucks were desperate for some insurance between the pipes without either party having to ever fully show their cards. It’s mutually beneficial, and I can see why Lankinen was enthusiastic to play with the elite group currently working with Tocchet — a Quinn-pro-quo situation.
Speaking of the crime of robbery, Lankinen’s shutout against Philadelphia on Saturday night was something to behold. His fourth career shutout saw him stop 26 shots and somehow made it look easy.
In all honesty, though, his first-star status was already locked in for me by the end of Thursday night’s game against the Panthers. It was clear that he was a key factor in the Canucks even making it to an overtime win scenario, holding out against the reigning Stanley Cup champs as they did everything for a game-winning goal in what ended up being a scoreless final period.
In his three starts thus far, Lankinen has gone 2-0-1, with a .953 SV% and 1.28 GAA. If he can maintain even just a little of this consistency while the performance from the skaters in front of him continues to shape up, the tides might just turn in favour of this team and settle the rocky waters they’ve faced so far.

Conor Garland

Look, I hear you. I am listening and learning and take your comments and concerns very seriously.
Conor Garland is finally a star of the week. Frankly, he has been one of the Canucks’ top performers since opening night.
Where were you when I was getting mercilessly roasted for being Team Garland? Where were you when I was on the front lines of his trade rumours the last few years with my charts, facts, and figures in hand, waving my arms and yelling, “You don’t understand, we need the scrappy energy and depth! The offence will come. IT WILL COME!” Where were you when I was devising a plan for a grassroots Garland for the All-Star Game campaign?
Long story short, you don’t have to tell me twice that Conor Garland is an asset. I don’t think you have to tell Rick Tocchet, either.
It is known the pair have a history going back to their time as player and coach with the Arizona Coyotes, and lately, Tocchet has been rewarding Garland’s efforts with top-six minutes, most recently alongside Elias Pettersson and Nils Höglander. Well, actually, rewarding may not be the best phrase when it is more out of necessity than just out of good grace.
While I’m sure many of us are missing the golden Joshua – Blueger – Garland third line, his deployment to the front end shows he can luckily drum up chemistry with more than a handful of his teammates, something badly needed as the new forwards of the group are still settling in.
This week, Garland lands the second star thanks to him putting up Vancouver’s lone goal against Tampa on Tuesday night — a power play goal in the third period, at that. It was a greasy, net-front goal that capitalized on a rebound opportunity.
We are all well aware that scoring on Andrei Vasilevskiy isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Garland saw 2:07 on the PP in this game and, interestingly, just under a minute on the penalty kill. He has been incredibly defensively reliable, which is a blessing for a team that’s been lacking. Against Tampa, he led the team in Corsi For at 68.00 Corsi For percentage (CF%) and also led with his expected goal share, so he hasn’t shirked offence as he begins his Selke Trophy journey (the newest Garland campaign trail I’m on, naturally). This game might as well have been titled Conor Garland versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, oh and also the rest of the Canucks were also there.
Garland has looked exceptional this year, not just for covering all areas of his game but for never losing that aforementioned Scrappy-Doo energy. Despite the team’s struggles thus far, he hasn’t let it dull the shine of his play or his attitude, which is essential to motivate his brothers on the bench.

Kiefer Sherwood

This is a fun one and a true “Well, because I want to” pick, but there is true merit here. Sherwood has been the forward addition I have been the most excited about this year – I had been told by some friends who had followed him in Nashville that he was “My kind of player.” I now understand what they mean.
Sherwood had a two-point week, picking up an assist on Teddy Blueger’s “Wait, that went in?” goal against the Panthers. The pair would also connect again against the Philadelphia Flyers, Sherwood scoring right off a faceoff win from Blueger with a goal that you kind of just have to see to believe.
Talk about a rough one for the Flyers. I’m grateful Sherwood has his first goal in an Orca sweater, regardless of it being thanks to a well-timed shot and a goalie taking a brief nap standing up. 
Sherwood’s best stat line, however? As of today, he leads the National Hockey League in hits at 32. 
Who or what hurt this man? Whatever it is, I’m grateful it’s given him the motivation to be an utter wrecking ball out there. Keep it up, destroyer.

Honourable Mentions

Teddy Blueger

Blueger has had a serendipitous week of faceoff wins and accidental-on-purpose goals. He also had a fantastic moment where he dropped the gloves with a Panther, sight unseen, without actually realizing it was his friend and Team Latvia teammate Uvis Balinskis.
Tyler Myers
Our beloved Chaos Giraffe celebrated 1,000 career NHL games played on Saturday night with a beautiful no-look pass to Brock Boeser. 
Congratulations, Mysie! 
The Canucks play the Chicago Blackhawks this Tuesday before heading back to Vancouver for another home stand at Rogers Arena. We’ll see you here for another set of stars next week!
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