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How the Canucks’ 2026-27 opening night roster compares to opening night one year ago

Photo credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images

By Jeff Paterson

Sep 29, 2026, 14:42 EDT

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As the new hockey season begins, it’s always a fascinating study to look back at how much things change year over year. And for the Vancouver Canucks, at the leading edge of a full rebuild, it’s safe to say the turnover has been seismic.

A year ago on opening night, the Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames 5-1. Filip Chytil scored twice to lead the charge, with Kiefer Sherwood, Brock Boeser and Jonathan Lekkerimäki all chipping in with goals as well. And Thatcher Demko stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced – his shutout bid spoiled by Morgan Frost with less than seven minutes to play. People forget that a healthy Demko was 4-3 in the month of October last season, with a sterling 2.18 goals against average and a sublime .926 save percentage.

Jeff Paterson

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#Canucks beat Calgary 5-1 on opening night a year ago. This was their Game 1 line-up

2:41 PM · Sep 29, 2026

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Of the 20 players in uniform for the Canucks that night, seven are no longer with the organization, one is in the minors, while both Chytil and Demko will start the season on the injured list. That means 10 of the 20 players who suited up for the Canucks on opening night will not be part of the group stepping onto the ice in Edmonton tonight to get the new season going.

Gone are Quinn Hughes, Tyler Myers, Conor Garland, Marcus Pettersson, Kiefer Sherwood, Evander Kane and Derek Forbort. Braeden Cootes started the season with the Canucks a year ago, but has been assigned to Abbotsford to start this season in the American Hockey League.

Additionally, a year ago, Teddy Blueger started the season with an injury and wasn’t available until the team’s fifth game. He’s no longer here. Linus Karlsson made the 23-man roster out of training camp 12 months ago, but couldn’t crack the opening night lineup and didn’t see his first game action until the fourth game of the season. Of course, Karlsson went on to a 15-goal season and was one of the Canucks’ most consistent forwards in a last-place season.

As for the names replacing the now-departed Canucks, the Canucks will have four defencemen in the lineup tonight who did not play here on opening night a year ago: Luke Schenn, Jamie Oleksiak, Zeev Buium and Tom Willander. Up front, the newcomers include Brendan Gallagher, Paul Cotter, Marco Rossi, and Liam Öhgren, along with Max Sasson, who didn’t make the team out of camp a year ago but was called up for an early road trip and remained for the rest of the season.

Guillaume Brisebois survived the final cuts and will start this season with the big league club, although he is not expected to play tonight in Edmonton. Waiver wire acquisition Leevi Meriläinen rounds out the list of new faces joining the Canucks for the new season.

Beyond the roster changes, the Canucks have an entirely new coaching staff led by Manny Malhotra, with significant changes above him in the front office, too.

Of course, the question remains: will all the new faces lead to a new path for a team that finished 32nd and dead last in the standings? The hope is that it will, indeed, be the case, although it may take a while to see such results.