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Floundering Canucks flirting with franchise records for futility
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Photo credit: © David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Jan 14, 2026, 15:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 14, 2026, 14:10 EST
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The Vancouver Canucks are not in imminent danger of rewriting the franchise record book, but make no mistake they are exhibiting every sign that they may soon get there. In other words, they can’t make history Thursday night in Columbus or even Saturday at home to Edmonton, however, if the losses keep mounting, this version of the Canucks is in jeopardy of joining the ranks of some of the most infamous teams in the organization’s 56-year history. 
After their 2-1 loss in Ottawa on Tuesday, the Canucks are mired on a five game losing streak and winless in eight (the National Hockey League very carefully distinguishes between outright losses and those that come beyond regulation when keeping records), Adam Foote’s crew still has a little bit of wriggle room before these current stretches reach all-time marks for the organization. 
Since their last victory on December 29th in Seattle, the Canucks find themselves on an 0-6-2 skid. The past five losses – part of the team’s current six-game road trip, which concludes Thursday in Columbus – have all been outright defeats with no points of any kind collected in the standings.
With that refresher out of the way, the Canucks are still five games away from matching both franchise records. The club’s record for consecutive losses is 10 from October 23rd through November 11th in 1997. The franchise has also suffered four nine-game losing streaks through the years.
As for winless streaks, the franchise record is 13 set back in the first half of the 1973-74 season. Of course, back then, there were ties. The Canucks went 0-10-3 over that stretch of hapless games. The hockey club has also suffered through one each of 12-game (1987-88) and 11-game (1979-80) winless stretches. 
As for more recent history, the Canucks have suffered through their share of tough times over the past decade. The Canucks had a pair of eight-game losing streaks in Willie Desjardins’ final season as head coach. The first one was a nine-game winless skid that started with an overtime loss and was followed by eight consecutive regulation setbacks. The other was eight straight losses to close out the season, which was part of an incredible 2-13-2 death spiral over the final 17 games on the 2016-17 schedule. 
The following season – 2017-18 – included a seven-game losing streak, which saw the club get shut out in three consecutive games at one point. That was all part of a tough run in which the Canucks went 1-10-2.
Not to be outdone, the 2018-19 Canucks, also struggled through a 1-10-2 rut that included seven consecutive outright losses.
With no fans in the stands during COVID, the Canucks had a pair of six-game losing streaks in the North Division series in 2021.
And who can forget the club’s 0-5-2 start to the 2022-23 season under Bruce Boudreau when the team simply could not protect a lead?
So while the current Canucks have most certainly fallen on tough times, they aren’t yet at all-time franchise levels. But unless something changes, by this time next week, the 2025-26 Canucks could find themselves on the verge of a piece of history no one on this team wants any part of.
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