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JPat’s Monday Mailbag: Which current Canucks will be on the roster when the team returns to the playoffs?
Jeff Paterson's weekly Vancouver Canucks mailbag.
Jeff Paterson
Mar 23, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 23, 2026, 02:10 EDT
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The vibes were high there for a moment after Elias Pettersson scored twice and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. Then the Tampa Bay Lightning came to town. That didn’t go so well. And by the time the St. Louis Blues left Rogers Arena on Saturday night, after arguably the most boring game of the season, those good vibes – remember them – well, they were nowhere to be found.
But the vibes are always high here at CanucksArmy, especially on Monday mornings when we unpack the weekly mailbag and answer many of your questions. We’ve got plenty of ground to cover, so let’s get down to business.
Chris, where have you been, my friend? We’ve been charting the inevitability of hitting rock bottom for much of the season, but officially for a couple of weeks now. And with Calgary beating Tampa Bay 4-3 in OT on Sunday night, the Flames join the Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers, all with 65 points — a full 15 clear of the Canucks. The simplest way to put it is the Canucks have 50 points with 13 games to go. They can max out at 76 points. Six more regulation losses would mean the most points the Canucks could accumulate is 64 points. Of course, any points the Flames, Blackhawks and Rangers collect will add to their totals and speed the process of the Canucks locking up last place and the best draft lottery odds. With so few games remaining, just look at the maximum possible number of points the Canucks can amass. And the minute their best-case scenario falls behind the actual totals of those teams in front of them — presto — their fate will officially be sealed. It’s likely to happen by this time next week. The Canucks are in Calgary next Saturday, and that could very well be the game that locks them into 32nd. And just as a point of reference, at the Olympic break, the Canucks were seven back of the then 31st-place St. Louis Blues. In less than a month, the gap has more than doubled from seven points to 15.
No. The time to bring in a new coach – if the Canucks had chosen to go down that path – was during the Olympic break. There was a built-in mid-season training camp attached before play resumed. That was clearly the time. There is no need to make a coaching change with less than a month remaining on the schedule. First of all, there are virtually no candidates available at this stage unless the Canucks plan to promote Manny Malhotra. And that’s not a certainty. But also, that wouldn’t exactly put him in a position to succeed as a first-time NHL head coach. Plus, ownership likely has no interest in paying two NHL salaries to coach the same team. If there was going to be a coaching change for this season, it would have been made by now. It’s pretty evident the Canucks will ride out this storm through April 16th, and then I imagine a thorough organizational review will be undertaken.

Of the current lineup (including IR but not Abby)- who do you think is on the team when they next make the playoffs?My guessBuiumWillanderHronekRossiOhgrenKarlsson

— somebody (@stevemay.bsky.social) 2026-03-22T16:40:12.441Z

Lots of moving parts to this question. The first part is trying to figure out a timeline of when the Canucks might return to the post-season. Next season feels highly unlikely, and even the season after that might be a stretch. So for the purposes of this argument, let’s just say it’s the spring of 2029 (ugh!). I wonder if Hronek will want to be part of the rebuild for that long, and I also wonder if the team might try to test the market for the veteran blueliner after his no-movement clause reverts to a 15-team no-trade list following the 2027-28 season. I will say I doubt all four of the young defencemen currently on the roster – Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson and Victor Mancini – will be here. I’ll say Buium, DPetey, Rossi, Öhgren, O’Connor and Lankinen are on the roster when the Canucks return to the post-season. In the meantime, I think we’ll see a fair degree of roster churn over the next couple of seasons.
I don’t think it will have a huge impact. You just have to think of the way the Alberta teams have been operating all these years. The Canucks may get a few more 5 pm Saturday starts in the early window on Hockey Night In Canada, but you’ll have to be prepared for the occasional 8 pm Saturday puck drop, too. The odd ones will be when the Canucks play in Seattle or down the coast in California. Those will almost all be 8 pm starts here, and there is a chance they could play some 8:30 pm games if the opening faceoff is slated for 7:30 pm in Anaheim, Los Angeles or San Jose. If the switch to permanent daylight savings time leads to a few more afternoon games at Rogers Arena, I’m all for it. It was glorious to leave the rink on Saturday and not walk into a wall of darkness.
Being a good player and a good leader on and off the ice are easily the most important qualities for any future captain here. The media part of the job is wholly overblown, mostly because there simply aren’t the media demands that once existed. Almost no independent media travel to cover the club on the road, and even at home, there are many days when only a handful of outlets and reporters are on hand for practices and game-day skates. There are certainly times when a captain will have to step up and handle some pointed questions about the play of the hockey club. But, honestly, the best way to avoid those questions is to be a better hockey team. Produce results, and the entire roster will find that the line of questioning is far more favourable.
Personally, I don’t. And I don’t really care that the Canucks have already drafted his brother Wilson (5th round, 2025). And I don’t think they should be overpaying to target an undersized winger. A centre, maybe. But not that winger. Most of the draft rankings and mock drafts out there have Björck going late in the top 10. First of all, for all the talk every year, we don’t see many top 10 picks change hands. And while I understand the idea of trying to land a pair of picks in the first third or even first half of the opening round, there are just too many hypotheticals in terms of where the Minnesota pick will ultimately land and what it would cost to jump up to nab Björck. If the Canucks have a pair of first round picks and don’t use one of them to address the centre position, it feels like that will represent a missed opportunity.

Which young player has impressed you most this season? Who do you still want to see more from?

— Strongbelly (@strongbelly.bsky.social) 2026-03-22T18:32:29.015Z

I’m going to answer Zeev Buium to both of these questions. I like a lot of what I’ve seen from Buium. But I want to see more. So much more. His skating is undeniable. I like his confidence (read this piece if you haven’t already). But if Buium is going to be ‘the guy’ on defence when the rebuild is rebuilt, I want to see a few more flashes from him right now. In 12 games since the Olympic break, Buium has two points (both of them assists). I get that he’s just 20 and still getting his feet wet in the NHL, but he’s also getting a chance to play 20 minutes a night these days. I want to see all those offensive instincts occasionally amount to something, anything on the scoresheet. Again, I understand the supporting cast around him doesn’t generate much, so I’m not asking for the world here. I strongly believe Buium should be running the first power play down the stretch, and that would likely lead to a little bit of offence. I was impressed with the play he made when he scored his last goal against the New Jersey Devils on January 23rd. But it’s March 23rd now, and he has just those two points since. I’d like to see him work on his shot. I’m still not sure that he has a shot that can beat NHL goalies cleanly. And I just want a few more ‘wow’ moments over the final 13 games that set the table for significant growth next season in his first full campaign with the Canucks.

What’s the word on Thatcher Demko re. the rebuild? Is he onboard, or would he most likely want a trade to contending team? Seems we haven’t heard anything from him yet.

— CrankyCanucksFan 🇨🇦🏒 (@crankycanucksfan.bsky.social) 2026-03-21T17:46:03.257Z

This is a fascinating question. No one has heard from Thatcher Demko since he exited a January 10th game in Toronto and was subsequently shut down for the season following hip surgery. When he left, the dust was still settling on the Quinn Hughes blockbuster, and none of the veterans, Kiefer Sherwood, Conor Garland or Tyler Myers had yet been peddled. So clearly, much has changed since we last heard from the veteran goalie, who has always pledged his desire to stay and play here. And, of course, he’s got his new 3-year/$24.75M contract extension set to kick in next season. But like Garland, he signed that deal in a different climate in terms of where the hockey club was and where it was headed at the time. So there will be plenty of questions for Demko – about his health, his summer training, a crowded crease and his desire to be part of a full-blown rebuild – whenever he is next made available, which is likely at the season-ending player media session following exit interviews with management a month from now.

PRESENTED BY STAKE

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