The start to the Vancouver Canucks‘ 2025-26 regular season hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. The team managed to beat the Calgary Flames in their home opener, but has followed that up with back-to-back losses; first to the Edmonton Oilers, then to the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

A common theme after both the win and the two losses has been new head coach Adam Foote not getting too high or too low in his postgame remarks. In Edmonton, the Canucks’ only bright spot was Thatcher Demko, who turned aside countless grade-A chances to give the Canucks a real chance to tie the game up late despite getting heavily outplayed by the home Oilers. And while Foote acknowledged that Demko was sensational in that game, he didn’t allow himself to get too frustrated with the play of the rest of his team. Save for a couple comments about the Canucks’ lack of discipline in that game, Foote focused on the positives following that loss; the big one — aside from Demko, of course — being a hot start to the third period, where the Canucks nearly brought themselves back into the game.

And on Monday night, when the Canucks really didn’t have much going for them aside from some excellent flashes from Kiefer Sherwood, who potted his second and third goals of the season in a 5-2 loss to the Blues, Foote took a similar approach.

When asked if he needs more from his star players following last night’s loss, Foote preached patience.

“Well, you know what, it’s early in the season, we’re at game three, and you know, we’re not going to get into that. Like, the top guys know… I’m sure they’re thinking about their power play. You know, it’s been three games, and we want to get it going, but we’re not going to overanalyze that at this moment.”

Captain Quinn Hughes has seemed frustrated with the Canucks’ start to the season, likely in part because he hasn’t been able to put the team on his back the way he normally does. The Canucks’ power play is still looking for its first goal of the season, and has failed to convert on its first seven man-advantage opportunities of the season. But you won’t see many in this town putting much blame on Hughes, and that includes this author. If anyone gets the benefit of the doubt, it’s Hughes. We know it’s only a matter of time before he finds his next gear.

But the same can’t necessarily be said for Elias Pettersson, who is coming off a disappointing 2024-25 season. Pettersson has just one shot at 5v5 through three games to begin the new season. That’s not good enough from this team’s highest-paid player. Pettersson’s line as a whole, featuring Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser, hasn’t exactly looked like a top line. That trio was split up halfway through Monday night’s game, with Filip Chytil and Pettersson swapping places in the top six. DeBrusk blamed himself for his line’s lack of impact to start the new season.

“I’ve got to be a threat out there,” DeBrusk said. “I feel like I haven’t really been a part of anything. And that’s my fault. I have to be better on that. I can’t allow that to happen anymore.”

So as much as Foote doesn’t want to talk about it because it’s still early in the season, the truth is, the Canucks do need more from their star players. Obviously, the head coach is hoping that production from his stars will come before he’s asked about it again.

Foote did, however, point to a key mistake in the game without naming names, instead choosing to use the term “we” a lot. The moment came on the heels of Kiefer Sherwood’s shorthanded goal, when the Canucks pulled back within one and finally looked to have swung the momentum in their favour. Evander Kane dove in when he should have been covering for Quinn Hughes, who activated from the point down the right half wall and got a shot off on Jordan Binnington. Because of that decision from Kane, the Blues were able to break back with numbers and managed to score a goal off the rush to immediately give themselves a two-goal lead once again.

“They hit the late guy,” Foote said of the goal. “I thought maybe we could have been there with him, who knows? I just felt we pressed it a little bit too much. We were diving in. You get so excited when you get it to 3-2. When you feel the energy of the crowd, we know we got this, we know we’re humming, and maybe overtrying at that moment going all in, then they get a bounce and go the other way and make it 4-2. It’s a little bit deflating, but we’ll learn from that. We’ll learn when there’s seven minutes left in the second period, there’s lots of hockey left, and we’ll learn from that. It’s early in the season we’ll just know that we’ve got to make a little bit better reads on those ones and not force it too much.”

Today’s editorial isn’t meant to be a critique of Foote. Far from it. In fact, his strategy of avoiding overreactions in an attempt to maintain the good vibes of the preseason might even be a smart one for a first-year head coach leading a fragile team that had everything go wrong for them last season.

But the numbers don’t lie. Through three games, the Canucks’ stars haven’t been stars, and that will need to change in a hurry.