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Can Linus Karlsson take another step forward after strong rookie season?
Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Aug 6, 2026, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 5, 2026, 18:35 EDT
Let Linus Karlsson play.
That seems like it should be one of Manny Malhotra’s mantras in his first season as Vancouver Canucks head coach. Not only is Malhotra familiar with Karlsson’s game from their fruitful time together in Abbotsford, but with his play last season, the 26-year-old Swede has earned more opportunities to show what he can do in the National Hockey League.
Karlsson had a share of the Canucks team lead with 13 goals at 5-on-5 last season and added two more on the power play. More than that, he was the most productive Canuck at even strength, registering a team-high 31 points. With his rangy frame, he has shown a willingness to engage in board and netfront battles and somehow finds a way to more than hold his own.
As he established himself, Karlsson went from a season low of just 6:49 of ice time in a November 26th game in Anaheim to logging a career-high 18:05 just three months later on March 28th in Calgary.
Karlsson caught fire around the holiday season and scored five times in a six-game span between December 20th and January 2nd. That prompted the Canucks to sign Karlsson to a two-year contract extension worth $2.25M per season.
His overall production as an NHL rookie came with Max Sasson and Teddy Blueger as his most frequent linemates at 5-on-5. It begs the question of what might be possible if Karlsson gets the opportunity he’s looking for to play significant minutes in the team’s top six. As it stands now, the Canucks need to figure out how they want to deploy their right wingers, with Brock Boeser, Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Brendan Gallagher filling out the depth chart at that position. With Boeser showing some late-season chemistry with Marco Rossi, it may come down to a battle between Karlsson and Lekkerimäki for the opportunity to lineup alongside Elias Pettersson to start the season.
Exceeding expectations: Karlsson reaches the 20-goal mark and finishes among team leaders in goals scored
The coach-player relationship is going to be interesting to follow given how well Karlsson performed for Malhotra on Abbotsford’s run to the 2025 Calder Cup title. After scoring 23 times in 32 regular season AHL games, Karlsson led the Canucks with 14 more in 24 playoff contests. That’s a total of 37 goals in 56 games that season. Buoyed by that performance, Karlsson made the jump to the NHL on a full-time basis for the first time last season, and the hope now is that there is no looking back.
Without question, Karlsson brings an honest effort to the rink night in and night out and seems to understand how he has to play to be successful. The biggest question now is whether there is more in his game at this stage of his career or whether this is as good as it will get.
A scorer at every other level, Karlsson has shown flashes of that form in his brief time with the Canucks. With more power play opportunities, perhaps there will be more production to come.
Meeting expectations: Karlsson scores 12-15 goals and adds penalty killing duties to round out his NHL skill set
Whatever the case, where last season Karlsson was pencilled in as a bottom-of-the-lineup contributor, he’s shown he can be more than that. He seems to be a lock to make the hockey club out of training camp this time around, and now it’s up to Manny Malhotra to see if he can unlock another level to Karlsson’s production in the NHL.
It also stands to reason that, given his size, Karlsson could be a disruptive penalty killer at the NHL level. He saw just 2:02 of shorthanded ice time last season, so he wasn’t part of the club’s penalty killing deployment. But the Canucks were dead last in the league on the PK, and with the departure of players like Teddy Blueger, Conor Garland and Kiefer Sherwood, the Canucks will need to develop some internal candidates. Perhaps Karlsson can fit the bill.
Below expectations: Fewer than 12 goals and looking like a one-hit wonder
With one solid NHL season under his belt and a new contract in his back pocket, Linus Karlsson needs to build on what he accomplished last year. One area to watch with Karlsson is consistency. He needs to find a way to bring more of it to the mix. He went his first 13 games of last season (albeit with limited ice time) without scoring. His first goal of the season came on November 9th against the Colorado Avalanche. He also scored in just one of the team’s final 14 games down the stretch (a two-goal performance against the Utah Mammoth on April 4th). Now that he has a baseline for success in the NHL, he needs to find ways to avoid the lengthy stretches where he was a non-factor.
In a full rebuild, a player like Linus Karlsson should get ample opportunity to perform. It’s going to be interesting to observe what he does with his chances and whether he takes another step forward or suffers any kind of sophomore step back.
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