Recent articles from Jeff Paterson

What do you think of the size directive? There will be no clearer use case than Rogowski at 33 then Chi takes Villaneuve immediately after. I worry somewhat of leaving talent on the table.

3:45 PM · Jun 28, 2026

I’m okay with adding size…that can play. I think the new management group realizes that the Canucks have simply been too easy to play against the past couple of seasons. But just adding size for size’s sake isn’t the answer; otherwise, Curtis Douglas would have been re-signed by now. Director of Amateur Scouting Todd Harvey said on Saturday that he and his staff had been given a directive to find size in this year’s draft. And they did with five of the team’s nine picks standing 6’3” or taller. All of that said, size alone isn’t the answer. It’s part of the puzzle, but only a piece. And it will be fascinating to chart the careers of players like Brooks Rogowski and Xavier Villeneuve, the dynamic but 5 ’11” defenceman, taken by Chicago one pick later.

Jeff

@Jeff78702419

It’s their first draft as a group and they played it extremely safe. Do you see them doing the same in Juy 1st? What (aside from every position) is their most urgent need?

6:57 PM · Jun 28, 2026

I am not expecting the Canucks to make much of a splash when the free agent window opens on Wednesday. Ryan Johnson has already said as much. I think the Canucks will be strategic with any spending and will be looking for high-character guys willing to sign short-term deals. I’d expect them to find a depth defenceman with some NHL experience, and I’ll be curious to see if Ryan Johnson’s time overseeing Abbotsford leads him to a forward or two he saw in the AHL that he thinks may have some upside. My hunch is leadership and grit will be the order of the day, but only if it comes at an affordable price. And on July 1st, that is usually a challenge.

DahNucks

@NoLotteryLuck

From now until training camp over under 2 trades?

3:20 PM · Jun 28, 2026

Oh, I’m going to take the over on that one. They may not be sexy deals, but I think we’ll see the Canucks make a couple of trades through the summer months. They walk a fine line between preaching patience and wanting to enact change on a last-place roster. So I think the Canucks will tinker at the very least. It’s hard to imagine arriving at training camp in September without at least a few moves made.

Nate Bourjois 🇨🇦

@NateBourjois

How important will it be to unload more vets? I feel they need to trade at least 2 of Debrusk, Petterson or Boeser.

3:54 PM · Jun 28, 2026

I agree they need to make changes. But Ryan Johnson has already stated that his intention is not a ‘strip it down to the studs’ kind of rebuild. However, based on the ages of many of their veterans with term, those players won’t figure in the plan when this team exits the wilderness. So it only makes sense to move on from many of them. But it may take some time, and possibly some convincing, to get players with trade protection to consider their options. I want to see this front office put in the work to carefully craft a big trade or two and then prove they can pull the trigger. Saying it’s a rebuild is fine. But that’s the easy part. I want to see the moves required to back up that statement. We haven’t seen that yet from this management group. Then again, other teams have to want the pieces you’re trying to peddle, and that may be at play here, too. I know they were put in their decision-making positions just over a month ago, but we’ve seen new management groups in Toronto, New Jersey, Nashville and Colorado already active on the trade front. So it can be done. And hopefully, in time, it will start to materialize here, too.

If Demko is healthy and playing well, is he gone by trade deadline?

— Erik Rolfsen 🇨🇦 (@erikrolfsen.com) 2026-06-28T16:14:42.020Z

Oh, I like this one. I like the idea of Thatcher Demko being healthy and playing well. And I also like the idea that if that holds true, that a team or two might come knocking on the Canucks’ door in and around the trade deadline. When healthy and on his game, Demko has shown he can be among the best goalies in the league. But all conversations around the 30-year-old lead back to his lengthy injury history. On Wednesday, his three-year contract extension with a full no movement clause kicks in, so that becomes a significant part of this story, too. It gives him full control of the situation. As much as Demko has said he wants to be a part of what the Canucks are putting together here, I do wonder if another season slips away, does he start to wonder about the chance to win elsewhere? It’s hard to believe, but as he prepares to enter his eighth full NHL season, Demko has just four Stanley Cup playoff starts on his resume. I’m going to say he will still be with the Canucks after this trade deadline, but ask me the same question a year from now, and I might very well have a different answer.

Sorry, no do-overs. They made the trade when they did because they got an offer they felt was about as good as they were going to get. But it’s kind of fun to think about what might have been if Quinn Hughes was put up for auction last week when first round picks were flying off the shelf. You have to factor Hughes’ contract status into this discussion. Minnesota made the move early and paid the price they did because they knew they would have Hughes for the 2025 playoffs and have the ability to discuss a contract extension with him to keep him in the fold long term. And that’s still their plan. If the Canucks had held onto Hughes, there would have been uncertainty on the minds of acquiring teams (unless teams were given a chance to talk to Hughes and his agent) since he’d be heading into the final year of his current contract. Ultimately, Hughes made it clear to the Canucks he wanted a change of scenery, and the team didn’t want to drag the situation out. So he was dealt in December, and it doesn’t really make much sense to play the ‘what if’ game now. That ship has sailed.

Rick Warman

@statman1956

Which prospects lose their waiver exemption this season?

4:54 PM · Jun 28, 2026