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JPat’s Monday Mailbag: What’s the most anticipated Canucks game next season?
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Photo credit: © Danny Wild-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Aug 11, 2025, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 11, 2025, 01:16 EDT
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Congratulations. You’ve made it through another week of the off-season and are now seven days closer to the start of the new hockey season. We’re now less than a month away from the annual Jake Milford golf tournament (September 8th) which is the unofficial start to every Vancouver Canucks season. So we’re getting there. In the meantime, we’re doing what we do every Monday here at CanucksArmy and that’s answering your questions about the hockey club. And once again this week you offered up some thought-provoking queries. So let’s jump in and get to work.
It has to be the JT Miller return game when the Canucks host the New York Rangers on October 28th. I think the build up will be tremendous. The crowd reaction should make for a fun night, too. The Rangers are in Calgary on October 26th, so there is a full day between games and likely a New York practice in Vancouver the day before the highly anticipated match-up at Rogers Arena. That will give the market plenty of time to reminisce about Miller’s time here and rehash how it all ended last January. 
Other games, I’m looking forward to:
*the October 9th season opener against Calgary. I’m always a sucker for opening night and the unbridled optimism that comes with a fresh slate
*the December 30th return of Rick Tocchet with the Philadelphia Flyers
*the January 17th-31st homestand that includes visits from Connor McDavid, Bo Horvat, Alex Ovechkin, Jack and Luke Hughes, Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini and the Toronto Maple Leafs

Clock is ticking… How realistic a chance is there the team still makes one big move in the offseason?

— Simon Little 🍁 (@simonplittle.ca) 2025-08-10T16:12:30.205Z

Define ‘big’. I’m not expecting a seismic shift in roster construction before training camp. I still believe the Canucks are among the teams with a legitimate interest in Jack Roslovic. But I wouldn’t call that a big move. I guess I’m in the camp that thinks the Canucks will constantly assess what they’ve got as the season unfolds and perhaps keep their cap space and their flexibility to make a move at some point in-season. History has shown this management group likes its in-season deals (Horvat, Hronek, Zadorov, Lindholm, Miller, M. Pettersson & O’Connor).
This is spitballing at its finest, but you asked and we do our best to answer. So my crystal ball tells me this will be the team’s line-up on October 9th against Calgary. This assumes full healthy and availability of all players currently on the roster.
DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser
Höglander-Chytil-Kane
O’Connor-Raty-Garland
Karlsson-Blueger-Sherwood
Hughes-Hronek
Pettersson-Myers
Forbort-E. Pettersson
Demko
I’m a firm believer that less can be more for Thatcher Demko, meaning if the Canucks can show regular-season restraint with their oft-injured starter, the better the chance the San Diego native will be healthy and available to shoulder the load down the stretch – and into the playoffs. So I hope the Canucks can find a way to limit Demko to 48 regular season starts giving Kevin Lankinen 34 starts. I fear that Adam Foote, like Bruce Boudreau and Rick Tocchet before him, will see a healthy Demko as his best chance to get the Canucks off to a strong start and lean in that direction on too many nights in a compressed schedule. But it also helps that Foote has been on the job over the past couple of seasons and has seen firsthand how overplaying Demko can put the team in a precarious position. 
I’m fascinated to see how the Canucks roll out their penalty killers. We may get a first look at training camp, but more likely it will require waiting until the preseason. With Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua both moving on, there will definitely be some churn among PK forwards. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kiefer Sherwood join Teddy Blueger as the top penalty killing forwards along with Derek Forbort and Filip Hronek. The second unit could be comprised of Elias Pettersson and Drew O’Connor along with Marcus Pettersson and Tyler Myers. Aatu Räty and Conor Garland could also be in the mix up front while I hope D-Petey is integrated into a penalty killing role as well. 
I assume you’re referring to a recent piece in The Athletic that ranks the contract efficiency of all 32 NHL teams. A year ago, the outlet had the Canucks fifth. Heading into this season, they sit 22nd. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. The Canucks extracted incredible value from Pius Suter and Kevin Lankinen last season. Combined, those two earned $2.475M. They also had JT Miller at a very manageable $8M coming off a 103 point season. Fast forward a year and it’s clear The Athletic is not a fan of either Elias Pettersson’s $11.6M deal or Brock Boeser’s bump to $7.25M. The website isn’t enamoured with the one year left on Evander Kane’s $5.125M contract and it also doesn’t like the fact the Canucks have $9.5M invested in goal and takes issue with paying Lankinen $4.5M to be the back-up. The Athletic loves Quinn Hughes’ deal and likes the contracts of Conor Garland, Nils Höglander, Aatu Räty, Jake DeBrusk and Marcus Pettersson. The rest of the team’s contracts fall in the mid-range. But overall, The Athletic sees far too much bloat in a handful of key deals. It’s up to those players to prove the doubters wrong.

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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/

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