logo
CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
JPat’s Monday Mailbag: Just how tough has the Canucks schedule been compared to recent years?
Jeff Paterson's weekly Vancouver Canucks mailbag.
Jeff Paterson
Nov 10, 2025, 13:30 ESTUpdated: Nov 11, 2025, 03:10 EST
Comments
It’s the calm after the storm of another busy weekend for the Vancouver Canucks. There have been a bunch of them already this season – and another on the way next weekend, too. This is just the reality of life in an Olympic year. As the Canucks rest up on a team day off, we here at CanucksArmy are hard at work answering your submissions to our weekly mailbag. There’s lots of ground to cover so let’s jump right in.
Some of the answer to this question depends on your definition of a tough schedule. Is it shaped by games against top teams the previous season or teams off to a hot start in the current season? Is it based on travel or the number of back-to-back games? Or is it simply a function of how compressed the schedule is? On that last point, the Canucks played their 17th game of the season on Sunday against Colorado. That’s an exhausting 17 games in 32 nights from October 9th to November 9th.
Using the same one-month time frame to open the three previous seasons, the Canucks played 15 games in 2022-23, 14 games in 2023-24 and had a cakewalk to open last season with just 13 games in the first month of the schedule.  So this has been brutal with a 5-game road trip and a second three-gamer that both finished up far from home in Nashville. The club has already had three sets of back to backs in the opening month. And there is just no let up. After Tuesday, the Canucks have an unheard of three games in four nights to Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida and then have to haul straight home to host Dallas a few nights later.
And then to finish the month, the Canucks have a three game in four nights trip to California, but even that has added travel with the itinerary taking them to Anaheim, north to San Jose and then back down to Los Angeles. So even when they’re in the same state for three games, there are a couple of flights required. Any way you slice it, the first couple of months of this year’s schedule are a grind. But at the end of the season, every team will have played the same 41 at home and 41 on the road. 
In a word, no. Hoglander is not Superman. He can surely help whenever he gets back in the line-up and Adam Foote revealed on Friday that Hoglander was ahead of schedule in his return from preseason ankle surgery. But no one should expect him to be playing games for the Canucks before December 1st. So the wait will continue. And even when he returns, is it the 8-goal Hoglander from a year ago? Or the 24-goal guy from two seasons ago? Or something in between? So go ahead and count down the days until Hoglander gets the green light to make his season debut. He will be welcomed with open arms by this club. Again, the Canucks can absolutely use a heavy dose of all the good things Hoglander brings – hustle, tenacity and an ability to drive opponents wild. But is he a saviour? Of course, he is not.
I would imagine crowds of 10 or 12 thousand at Rogers Arena would get the attention of ownership. But will we ever see apathy reach those levels? Decades ago, crowds at Pacific Coliseum dipped well below 10-thousand when people were fed up with the product they were being asked to pay for. Money talks, as the old adage goes. At the end of the day, the Canucks are a business, and as long as tickets continue to sell, it’s hard to see a complete change of organizational course.
Now, it’s worth noting that ticket sales aren’t as brisk as they were in recent years, but the team continues to play in front of near-capacity crowds most nights. The looming Quinn Hughes decision may also force the hockey club’s hand to some degree. After years of chasing a wild card spot – and coming up short more often than not – it feels like, at some point, the Canucks will recognize the need to take a step back. Having North Vancouverites Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini put on a show on a nightly basis these days might finally be the convincing the organization needs to realize prioritizing high-end talent is the prudent path to take. If that’s not enough, maybe Nathan MacKinnon’s five-point night on Sunday will be a reminder that game breakers are found at the top of the draft.
The next couple of weeks should be a good barometer of whether this team can hang with some of the big boys of the NHL. And last night’s overtime loss against Colorado was a solid start to a six-game gauntlet with match-ups still to come against Winnipeg, at Carolina, at Tampa Bay, at Florida and back home to Dallas. The Canucks simply need to find ways to generate points in that stretch. And to do that, they’re going to have to tighten up defensively.
A team built on goaltending and solid defence has quietly dropped to 26th in the league in goals against per game. That’s a difficult way to win when the team’s top scorer has 12 points. The game before US Thanksgiving just happens to be in Anaheim against a Ducks team that is on a seven-game win streak at the moment. That may be the ultimate referendum for this team given the way the young Ducks have started the season. The Canucks have managed to tread water through the first 17 games of the season, but managing to stay afloat only accomplishes so much for so long. At some point, they need to string wins together and that may be easier said than done. They are two and a half weeks away from American turkey day. They need to gobble, gobble up some points in a hurry to avoid getting stuffed.

Not a question, more of a statment. As of right now the canucks have more wins than; Minnesota, Edmonton, LA, San Jose and Seattle but are behind them in the standings. NHL has an issue where they do not value a win.

— (@drewl10.bsky.social) 2025-11-08T23:31:20.073Z

For the longest time, I was an objector to the notion of three-points for a win. I always felt strongly that on many nights teams with a lead heading to the third period would dumb games down and do everything imaginable to grind out a three-point victory. And I didn’t relish the idea of watching that play out. But as time has marched along, I have tired of the shootout and even possession-heavy three-on-three overtime leaves me wanting on a lot of nights now. So, admittedly, I have been slow to come around, but I think I’m ready for three point regulation victories, two points for an overtime win and, call me crazy, but would life be so bad if ties reappeared? Let’s find a way to put the emphasis back where it ought to be – on winning games in regulation time. It’s wild to me that Colorado entered Sunday’s game with nine wins and the Canucks had eight. But that’s life in today’s NHL.
I don’t know that Arshdeep Bains gets a free pass for zero production. And to be fair to the player, it’s not quite zero. It’s no goals and three assists in 17 games this season – one goal and four points in 38 career NHL games. Underwhelming numbers, no doubt and somewhat surprising for a player who has figured things out offensively at both the Western Hockey League and American Hockey League levels. He should have found a way to chip in a little more and I’m sure he’s a little disappointed with his lack of production to this point.
As a team, though, the Canucks have had two fights this season (Mancini & Marcus Pettersson). So almost nobody on the team drops the gloves. You can’t single Bains out – that’s not his game. Aside from a few early games, he has played primarily a fourth line role and limited minutes at that. What keeps him in the line-up is that he, Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson basically break even as a fourth line most nights. In 81 minutes at 5-on-5 this season, that trio has been outscored 2-1 while controlling 54.1% of all shot attempts and 50.6% of all scoring chances. While it’s true they don’t generate much on the scoresheet, they also don’t get scored on very often. And that is what matters most to the coaching staff.
Bains has taken a few too many stick penalties recently and that needs to be curtailed. If he’s not contributing offensively, he can’t be putting his teammates in compromising situations. The Canucks carved out NHL spots for several members of last year’s Calder Cup winning team. I’m sure the organization was hoping for a little more pop across the board from just about all of them. But look around the league and find me many fourth lines that are lighting up the scoreboard on a regular basis. Again, I’d like to see more from Bains individually and that line as a group. However, with their role right now, everything starts with being sound defensively and for the most part that trio has done just that.

PRESENTED BY WHISTLER GOLF CLUB

This article is a presentation of the Arnold Palmer designed Whistler Golf Club.  Spring preparations are underway with opening day on May 9th.  Whistler Golf Club is now accepting online bookings for the entire 2025 season, so no need to wait to get those times locked in.  If you have a group of 12 or more, get those times on hold now as prime times are filling up fast.  For more information, head to https://www.whistlergolf.com/

Editorials

Breaking News