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!
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For the second week in a row, we are looking at an overall disastrous week for the Vancouver Canucks, punctuated by a win pulled off by the skin of their teeth. This may be a running theme for the foreseeable future, considering they haven’t won back-to-back games in nearly two months. Both of those games – on the road against Buffalo and Detroit on November 29th and December 1st – were won in overtime after Vancouver failed to hold onto goal leads and let their opponents regain battleground in the third period. Surely, this isn’t a harbinger of how this team’s game for the rest of the year. Of course not.
There have been two weekend wins in a row when they’re donning the home skate jerseys during Hockey Night in Canada. However, last week’s win and subsequent Connor McDavid suspension-gate was punctuated by a painful 6-2 rematch against Edmonton, allowing three in the first period alone. The Canucks failed to account for a pissed-off Leon Draisaitl without his Art Garfunkel in tow. Thankfully, the Canucks aren’t set to meet Simon &amp; Goal-funkel and the rest of their band again for the rest of the season Let those tensions simmer for another year.
The honestly predictable 3-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabres is a night I will never forget as a participant in the sixth iteration of the Botchford Project. I cannot speak highly enough about the kindness and mentorship I received as a card-carrying member of Canucks media for a day. It is an invaluable program that honours someone dearly missed by those who knew him and loved him, whose voice and influence are missed in this market now more than ever. 
The game itself, however? Forgettable with a capital ‘F.’ As I remarked in the dying minutes of the final period, hope long gone of the Canucks tying up the 3-2 score, “This game could have been an email.” Three Stars of the Week is increasingly looking like it should be renamed to “three players who at least looked like they wanted to be there, except for Quinn Hughes, who may look like he doesn’t want to be there because he’s scared he left his oven on, but it’s fine, he just looks like that all the time.” Is that too much of a mouthful for a column title? I’ll take it to my editors. 
“Three stars” may be an increasingly ironic statement, but I will be here as long as the team keeps playing. Which Canucks struggled the least this week? Let’s get into it.
Quinn Hughes
Signed, sealed, and delivered, he’s back again at First Star. I’m not sorry.
I don’t have to say much. I know, you know, your grandmother knows; I’m pretty sure the worms in the dirt know that there is no Canucks team without Quinn Hughes. Three points in three games, including a two-goal night, all while he is still sporting a brace for his hand injury suffered in December. An injury he is nursing while getting pushed around by opponents more than a nerdy kid in an 80s movie, while his teammates fail to stand up for him or do literally anything to help. The Canucks haven’t always failed to protect or retaliate on behalf of Hughes, which is why this year’s turnout (or lack thereof) is perhaps so distressing. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Quinn Hughes has factored on 39.7% of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> goals this season, tops among all NHL defencemen
&mdash; Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNstats/status/1883292018090430601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
&quot;I&#39;m just extremely impressed,&quot; said Kevin Lankinen about <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> captain Quinn Hughes. 
&quot;Just how he drags guys along and takes over games is remarkable. I&#39;m just really, really happy to be witnessing that and be on the same side of that show.&quot;
&mdash; Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) <a href="https://twitter.com/noahstrang_/status/1883410240911388847?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Drags guys along,” and finally, someone has the bravery to say it. Every clown car needs a driver, after all.
The Hart Trophy should be awarded to the player most valuable to his team. Who is more valuable than the person you literally cannot play without? Right now, Quinn Hughes is the team. We’ve got him. The Vancouver Canuck. 
Kevin Lankinen
As the days pass on this NHL season, Lankinen is looking more and more like a Holy Grail pickup by the Canucks management.
Although he only started in one game this week, against Washington, he put up a stellar performance against an Ovechkin-led team that has dominated the league this season. He backstopped the team with a .970% save percentage (SV%), denying 32 of 33 shots and only letting in one late-game high-danger shot from Pierre-Luc Dubois, of all people, so it honestly shouldn’t even count. If this team has hope of falling upwards into a Wild Card slot, they’re starting Kevin Lankinen in net once they’re there. They might be starting him in net to get there.
This compliment towards Lankinen is not an insult to Thatcher Demko – a drafted, beloved, home-brewed Canucks goaltender. He is facing <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-injury-popliteus-muscle-report">an injury so rare that has essentially never been seen in the NHL</a>. Just because he is back in net does not mean he is fully recovered. Worst case scenario, he might not play to the level and familiar style we have seen before again. Best case scenario, he still has a ways to go to look like himself again. The sooner this tough reality is accepted, the sooner the question marks around the Canucks net may be cleared up. 
<h3>Phil Di Giuseppe</h3>
What can I say, I liked what I saw from him this week, both through the screen and with mine own eyes. Besides, he is cool enough to have an initial moniker. RBG. LBJ. PTA. PLD (sorry…I know he’s a sore subject right now). 
I honestly missed him in the Vancouver lineup, if not for his actual efforts, for the vibes alone. That said, he has been drawing in well on the fourth line and, believe it or not, I got to witness my very first in-person PDG goal against the Buffalo Sabres assisted by…Carson Soucy and J.T. Miller? Sure, I’ll take it.
Regardless, Di Giuseppe seems to be making the most of being back with the parent club, and he had a great numerical show out against the Capitals. <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/statsies-kevin-lankinen-turns-away-nearly-2-goals-above-expected-vancouver-canucks-win">He led the team</a> in corsi (62.50 CF%) and in expected goals for percentage (68.78 xGF%), which, for my fellow math-averse folk, roughly translates to, “He shot real good in hot zones, and they did real good when he was on the ice.” I hope this makes sense in layman’s terms. 
<h3>Honourable Mentions</h3>
<h3>Elias Pettersson</h3>
(&#8230;the other one, but I never turn down a chance to mention EP40).
Defenceman Elias Pettersson made his NHL debut against the Washington Capitals and put up a solid performance. He looks like a young, developing AHL player because that’s exactly what he is, but he didn’t appear to freeze up or lose confidence when set loose with the big guns. His return to Abbotsford is inevitable, but the call-ups this year have been a promising look at what very well might be the future of depth on this team. Besides, if you unfocus your eyes a little and only look at the ‘Pettersson’ on the backs of two different jerseys, you can pretend there are Swedish twins playing on the Canucks again.
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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!
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For the second week in a row, we are looking at an overall disastrous week for the Vancouver Canucks, punctuated by a win pulled off by the skin of their teeth. This may be a running theme for the foreseeable future, considering they haven’t won back-to-back games in nearly two months. Both of those games – on the road against Buffalo and Detroit on November 29th and December 1st – were won in overtime after Vancouver failed to hold onto goal leads and let their opponents regain battleground in the third period. Surely, this isn’t a harbinger of how this team’s game for the rest of the year. Of course not.

There have been two weekend wins in a row when they’re donning the home skate jerseys during Hockey Night in Canada. However, last week’s win and subsequent Connor McDavid suspension-gate was punctuated by a painful 6-2 rematch against Edmonton, allowing three in the first period alone. The Canucks failed to account for a pissed-off Leon Draisaitl without his Art Garfunkel in tow. Thankfully, the Canucks aren’t set to meet Simon &amp; Goal-funkel and the rest of their band again for the rest of the season Let those tensions simmer for another year.

The honestly predictable 3-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabres is a night I will never forget as a participant in the sixth iteration of the Botchford Project. I cannot speak highly enough about the kindness and mentorship I received as a card-carrying member of Canucks media for a day. It is an invaluable program that honours someone dearly missed by those who knew him and loved him, whose voice and influence are missed in this market now more than ever. 

The game itself, however? Forgettable with a capital ‘F.’ As I remarked in the dying minutes of the final period, hope long gone of the Canucks tying up the 3-2 score, “This game could have been an email.” Three Stars of the Week is increasingly looking like it should be renamed to “three players who at least looked like they wanted to be there, except for Quinn Hughes, who may look like he doesn’t want to be there because he’s scared he left his oven on, but it’s fine, he just looks like that all the time.” Is that too much of a mouthful for a column title? I’ll take it to my editors. 

“Three stars” may be an increasingly ironic statement, but I will be here as long as the team keeps playing. Which Canucks struggled the least this week? Let’s get into it.

Quinn Hughes

Signed, sealed, and delivered, he’s back again at First Star. I’m not sorry.

I don’t have to say much. I know, you know, your grandmother knows; I’m pretty sure the worms in the dirt know that there is no Canucks team without Quinn Hughes. Three points in three games, including a two-goal night, all while he is still sporting a brace for his hand injury suffered in December. An injury he is nursing while getting pushed around by opponents more than a nerdy kid in an 80s movie, while his teammates fail to stand up for him or do literally anything to help. The Canucks haven’t always failed to protect or retaliate on behalf of Hughes, which is why this year’s turnout (or lack thereof) is perhaps so distressing. 

https://twitter.com/SNstats/status/1883292018090430601

https://twitter.com/noahstrang_/status/1883410240911388847

“Drags guys along,” and finally, someone has the bravery to say it. Every clown car needs a driver, after all.

The Hart Trophy should be awarded to the player most valuable to his team. Who is more valuable than the person you literally cannot play without? Right now, Quinn Hughes is the team. We’ve got him. The Vancouver Canuck. 

Kevin Lankinen

As the days pass on this NHL season, Lankinen is looking more and more like a Holy Grail pickup by the Canucks management.

Although he only started in one game this week, against Washington, he put up a stellar performance against an Ovechkin-led team that has dominated the league this season. He backstopped the team with a .970% save percentage (SV%), denying 32 of 33 shots and only letting in one late-game high-danger shot from Pierre-Luc Dubois, of all people, so it honestly shouldn’t even count. If this team has hope of falling upwards into a Wild Card slot, they’re starting Kevin Lankinen in net once they’re there. They might be starting him in net to get there.

This compliment towards Lankinen is not an insult to Thatcher Demko – a drafted, beloved, home-brewed Canucks goaltender. He is facing <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-thatcher-demko-injury-popliteus-muscle-report">an injury so rare that has essentially never been seen in the NHL</a>. Just because he is back in net does not mean he is fully recovered. Worst case scenario, he might not play to the level and familiar style we have seen before again. Best case scenario, he still has a ways to go to look like himself again. The sooner this tough reality is accepted, the sooner the question marks around the Canucks net may be cleared up. 
<h3>Phil Di Giuseppe</h3>
What can I say, I liked what I saw from him this week, both through the screen and with mine own eyes. Besides, he is cool enough to have an initial moniker. RBG. LBJ. PTA. PLD (sorry…I know he’s a sore subject right now). 

I honestly missed him in the Vancouver lineup, if not for his actual efforts, for the vibes alone. That said, he has been drawing in well on the fourth line and, believe it or not, I got to witness my very first in-person PDG goal against the Buffalo Sabres assisted by…Carson Soucy and J.T. Miller? Sure, I’ll take it.

Regardless, Di Giuseppe seems to be making the most of being back with the parent club, and he had a great numerical show out against the Capitals. <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/statsies-kevin-lankinen-turns-away-nearly-2-goals-above-expected-vancouver-canucks-win">He led the team</a> in corsi (62.50 CF%) and in expected goals for percentage (68.78 xGF%), which, for my fellow math-averse folk, roughly translates to, “He shot real good in hot zones, and they did real good when he was on the ice.” I hope this makes sense in layman’s terms. 
<h3>Honourable Mentions</h3>
<h3>Elias Pettersson</h3>
(...the other one, but I never turn down a chance to mention EP40).

Defenceman Elias Pettersson made his NHL debut against the Washington Capitals and put up a solid performance. He looks like a young, developing AHL player because that’s exactly what he is, but he didn’t appear to freeze up or lose confidence when set loose with the big guns. His return to Abbotsford is inevitable, but the call-ups this year have been a promising look at what very well might be the future of depth on this team. Besides, if you unfocus your eyes a little and only look at the ‘Pettersson’ on the backs of two different jerseys, you can pretend there are Swedish twins playing on the Canucks again.

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