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Maintaining a role in the Canucks’ top six will be the goal for Liam Öhgren in 2026-27

Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By Jacob Fraser

Aug 13, 2026, 17:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 13, 2026, 15:37 EDT

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Expectations might be a bit blown out of proportion for Liam Öhgren this upcoming season. The young Vancouver Canucks forward had essentially no expectations when he joined the team last season as part of the return for Quinn Hughes.

Because of the team’s injury trouble, the plan was for Öhgren to get a taste in Vancouver before getting sent down to play a majority of the season in Abbotsford. However, he stuck, and for good reason. Night in and night out, Öhgren became a staple in the Canucks lineup as one of the most consistent players on the team.

His production didn’t necessarily jump off the page, but the energy he brought was contagious, and he quickly became a fan favourite. Rather than being the fourth piece of the deal and essentially a throw-in, he’s now seen as a real part of this team’s future as they look to build a roster that can contend later on down the road.

In Minnesota, Öhgren struggled out of the gate. He was held pointless through 18 games and spent some time in Iowa, where he scored only three goals and added two assists for five points in nine games.

With the Canucks, however, his numbers took a significant jump, finishing the season with 18 points in 51 games for the Canucks. He also got some looks in the team’s top six, becoming an integral piece of what was the team’s best line through the late stretches of the year alongside Brock Boeser and Marco Rossi.

As we look towards this season, given the additions and subtractions the Canucks made to their roster, the expectation is that he will likely start the season somewhere in the top six. Whether that be alongside Boeser and Rossi once again, or another combination, we can expect he will certainly get plenty of opportunities to grow into more of an offensive role rather than being seen as an energy-line contributor.

However, he doesn’t have the same level of familiarity with new Canucks Head Coach Manny Malhotra. It could be a feeling-out process between the player and his new coach, but given how Öhgren plays, Malhotra could easily fall in love with the Swede’s play and have no choice but to give him increased opportunity this coming year.

With all that being said, let’s lay out some expectations for Öhgren for the 2026-27 season.

Meeting expectations: 35 points with a significant role in the team’s middle six.

Öhgren deserves looks in the team’s top six; we’ve established that. That doesn’t mean he has to be in that role throughout this entire season. What we want to see from Öhgren is that he doesn’t lose his role as a middle-six forward this season.

His playstyle is more suited for a third-line role, so it would make sense to see some of his deployment come from that spot. The Canucks’ current forward group will likely see a lot of jumbling this year because of a lack of high-end talent. So, maintaining the role he had last season while upping his point production is something we’d like to see.

Thirty-five points isn’t groundbreaking, but if we look at last season’s point totals, 35 is what Karlsson finished the year with and was the team’s fifth-leading point scorer. That seems like an appropriate goal to set for Öhgren, considering he managed to score 18 points in 51 games with the Canucks, doubling that while playing more consistent minutes shouldn’t be out of the question for him as he heads into year two in the NHL.

Exceeding expectations: 45 points while maintaining a top-six role.

If Öhgren manages to put up 45 points this season, that would be a significant win for him and the Canucks. This team is likely going to be close to the bottom of the league once again in scoring, so if Öhgren can add 45 points to this team’s total, that would be a large step considering his 18 points last season.

The role in the lineup, though, is what really matters here. As we saw last season, the expectation was to spend time in both Vancouver and Abbotsford, but he managed to force the team’s hand in keeping him up in the NHL for the rest of the season.

He seems to have a way of earning a role and never looking back. Given his success late last year in the top six, it’s not out of the question that he could start the year in that top six and once again never look back.

Again, it doesn’t mean he has to be playing with Boeser and Rossi. He’s the type of player who could have some success with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk, given his energy and puck tracking ability. That being said, it’s not fair to set this as a meeting expectation, so exceeding expectations for the second-year forward would be becoming a legitimate top six contributor for the Canucks.

Below expectations: Playing a bottom-six role without taking a step offensively

It would be a disappointment if Öhgren isn’t able to take a step in both his deployment and his offensive production. The bar he set last season at 18 points should be easily attainable for him, given he will be spending the whole season in Vancouver this year.

A mid-season trade is difficult for a lot of players, especially in their first full season of NHL hockey. Not only do they have to get accustomed to the faster pace of the best league in hockey, but also adding chemistry with new teammates makes it that much more difficult. It’s not always an environment conducive to success, but given how he finished out last season, it would definitely be viewed as an underwhelming season if he wasn’t able to build on that.

Overall, as we will see with a lot of the young players, we want to see Öhgren take another step in the right direction. At just 22 years old, he has a real chance at being one of the players this franchise views as part of the plan as they go through this rebuild.

This is a big season with lots of opportunity for Öhgren’s future. If he’s able to cement himself as a serious piece in this team’s future, that will be a huge win for both the Canucks and the Swedish winger.

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