No matter how long the hockey-less summer gets, no matter how deep into the dog days we are, there’s always something more to talk about in the world of the Vancouver Canucks, and there’s always something not being talked about.

Even though we’ve spent hours upon hours talking about the potential roster for the Canucks in the upcoming 2026-27 season, there’s still plenty left unsaid, and at this point, there are some names that probably haven’t been mentioned near enough.

This is a collection of some of those names and why they might be slipping through the cracks of attention.

It’s easy to see how the 25-year-old Safonov has been lost in the shuffle of a bunch of younger and more exciting prospects. But he’s the exact sort of incoming talent that Vancouver fans would have obsessed about the potential of in years past. A few summers ago, we probably would have talked about Safonov too much.

There’s an awful lot to like right off the bat with a 6’4” centre who was acquired for free by the Canucks after the Chicago Blackhawks drafted but did not sign him. Safonov had been playing in the KHL since his teens and most recently posted a season of 16 goals and 33 points in 68 games. Those aren’t eye-popping numbers, but they’ve been achieved in a top pro league. And most of Safonov’s key traits are those that will serve him well in a bottom-six role, anyway, including his physicality, netfront presence, and ability to win faceoffs.

So long as Safonov’s game translates decently well to North America, he looks like an excellent candidate to be the Canucks’ fourth line centre. He might even be the leading candidate. If Braeden Cootes goes to the NHL, the Canucks’ top three centres should be Elias Pettersson, Marco Rossi, and Aatu Räty. The fourth spot, then, would come down to a battle between Ty Mueller (who is still waiver-exempt), Matthew Stienburg (who we’ll mention later in this article), and Safonov. And while Safonov will remain a bit of a mystery box until he hits North American ice, for now he seems like the candidate with the most potential to make an impact in both the short- and long-term at that position.

Mancini gets mentioned in most roster mock-ups, so he’s not exactly forgotten. But usually, he’s pencilled in as an extra defender on the right side behind the trio of Filip Hronek, Tom Willander, and Luke Schenn. There’s no real doubt that Mancini’s NHL time for the Canucks has been a bit of a letdown, and that’s caused him to drop in the estimation of most. But perhaps it’s been too far of a drop, and folks might now be underestimating his remaining potential.

Mancini wasn’t just a part of the return for JT Miller; he was a key part and perhaps the key-est. Filip Chytil was always a risky acquisition. The first-round pick was nice, but was quickly dispatched for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor. Mancini is the piece that the Canucks zeroed in on as the ‘future asset’ they wanted out of this trade, and at the time, it was easy to see why. (In fact, this author, in particular, didn’t believe the Rangers would even put Mancini on the table, and said so.)

He was an astonishingly quick riser for the Rangers. Mancini was drafted in the fifth round at 159^th overall in 2022. He played two more years in the NCAA before joining the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL for a 10-game playoff run. And then, in his first actual NHL camp as a recent fifth-round pick, Mancini really beat the odds and made the team outright. He’d go on to play 15 games for the Rangers in that season before being sent down to the AHL and then subsequently traded to Vancouver.

Sure, Mancini hasn’t looked great in his 40 games for Vancouver so far. But he’s already made up so much ground so quickly in his career, it makes sense for him to hit a lull at some point. There’s nothing to say he’s done rising permanently, and his play in Abbotsford suggests there is still plenty of untapped potential here.

Everyone expects Mancini to make the team, but what might be getting overlooked is the chance that he could take yet another big step forward and actually make an impact on the lineup. There’s still a real shot that he can push Schenn out of the lineup on a lot of nights.

Speaking of that Miller trade…

The topic of Chytil is a complex and nuanced one. It’s tough to separate those who don’t believe he has much of a playing future in the NHL with those who hope he doesn’t for the sake of his own health. This author has certainly been guilty of leaving Chytil out of the discussion simply because it’s easier to do so.

In the end, however, that distinction comes down to Chytil and his personal decisions. And all indications are that Chytil is healthy again, skating again, and planning on a 2026-27 comeback.

It must be said that Chytil has been pretty good on the ice for the Canucks. Sure, nine points in 27 games is nothing to write home about, but the eye test has reflected well on Chytil and especially his ability to move the puck up and around the ice. If he’s healthy all the way through Training Camp, then Chytil will make the team and earn a spot on the top-nine on the merit of his talent alone. Probably on the wing, but then a return to centre is always still possible.

And if he manages to stay healthy well into the season itself, then the conversation around Chytil will begin to change. At this point, it’s hard to imagine the rebuilding Canucks making any sort of long-term investment in a 27-year-old with his injury history, but perhaps Chytil could turn into a reasonable trade asset with a long enough run here.

Some may already have forgotten that Bains made the Canucks out of camp last year and played 28 games (with five points) before being sent back down to Abbotsford for the rest of the year.

It didn’t really go all that well for Bains at the NHL level, and despite some early positive underlying numbers, he mostly struggled to keep up with the pace of the league. But it’s been a long summer, and Bains has had time to work on some things. Most seem to be discounting his chances of making another run at the team in camp, but maybe they shouldn’t be.

Bains, after scoring 24 points in 24 playoff games en route to the Calder Cup in 2025, has to be a Manny Malhotra favourite, to some extent. If any coach is going to see the best in Bains and believe in him, it’s Malhotra.

Does that give Bains a leg-up when it comes to making the team? Probably not, with camp set to be so competitive, but it at least gives him as good a chance as anyone. Bains has the potential to put himself back into a conversation that he’s fallen out of with a good summer and an even better camp.

Another new face. As of this writing, Stienburg is the Canucks’ most recent acquisition, signed on July 2, a day after the Free Agent Frenzy began.

The 25-year-old from Halifax has only played eight NHL games to date, and scored zero NHL points, but is an interesting player all the same. Standing at 6’1” and a little under 200 pounds, Stienburg doesn’t look like a bruiser, nor does he have an inordinate amount of PIMs. But he’s said to be one of those players who hits everything that moves as hard as he can, and who plays with a sort of reckless abandon, as evidenced by his decision to fight (and beat!) Nikita Zadorov in his first NHL game.

That’s the sort of gumption the Canucks need in their lineup, and it’s easy enough to imagine Stienburg standing out in camp and preseason with a Kiefer Sherwood-esque showing, and making the team as a result. Of all the so-called “AHL signings” the Canucks made this summer, Stienburg stands out as the one most likely to spend time as an NHL player this year.

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