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NHL Edge data reveals a few surprises about first month of Canucks season

Photo credit: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images

By Jeff Paterson

Nov 4, 2026, 14:17 EST

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With just three victories in their first 17 games of the season, the Vancouver Canucks sit 32nd in the National Hockey League standings. But beyond the results, a glance at NHL Edge data from the first month of the schedule reveals a few surprises about the way the hockey club is performing.

Hot Shots

The Canucks are fourth in the league in team shooting percentage, scoring on 13.9% of their shots so far. That places them well above the league average of 11.6%. It’s also a function of the fact that the Canucks are last in the league in average shots per game (21.5) but tied with New Jersey for 11th in goals scored (51). When it comes to high-danger shooting percentage, the club bumps up a spot to third in the league at 25.7%, percentage points behind only Edmonton and Anaheim. Jake DeBrusk is fifth in the league with 24 high-danger shots on goal. The league says 24 of the veteran winger’s 34 shots this season have qualified as high-danger.

Speed Demons

One of the stated objectives of the club’s rebuild is to boost team speed, and the early returns suggest the Canucks have done that to some degree. The Edge data shows that the Canucks are eighth among all NHL teams in speed bursts over 35 kilometres per hour and ninth in bursts between 32 and 35 kph. Drew O’Connor has posted two of the three fastest skater speeds on the team this season, including the top mark of 37.47 KPH in an October 8th game on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes. Max Sasson has the second- and fourth-fastest times, including a top speed of 37.25 KPH in a game against the New Jersey Devils. Paul Cotter rounds out the top five. Tom Willander is the lone defenceman to work his way into the team’s top 10 speeds this season, reaching 36.16 KPH in a game last weekend against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Others posting top 10 speeds so far include Filip Chytil and Jacob Quillan.

In bursts between 29 and 32 KPH, the Canucks fall just outside the league’s top 10, sitting in 11th position but still well in the top half of the league.

Having A Blast

When it comes to the team’s hardest shot, defencemen lead the way. Filip Hronek has unleashed the hardest shot by a Canuck this season, clocking one at 150.46 KPH against the Anaheim Ducks. It came in overtime, but it was not his game-winning blast. Jamie Oleksiak has the second hardest shot so far, unleashing a 149.33 KPH shot against the Maple Leafs. Centre Elias Pettersson has the hardest shot among the team’s forward group, registering one at 147.26 KPH on a power play on Long Island on October 13th.

While Hronek tops all Canucks to this point in the season, his team-leading effort ranks just 28th among all of the other team leaders around the NHL. The Avalanche’s Cale Makar (163.99), Sabres’ Tage Thompson (161.21) and the Islanders’ Ryan Pulock (160.15) are the only players in the league to crack the 160 kilometre per hour threshold so far this season.

Long Haul

As far as total distance skated this season goes, Filip Hronek is keeping some incredible company. He is third in the league behind only Quinn Hughes and Connor McDavid. Hronek has logged 97.67 kilometres in the team’s 17 games compared to 112.6 for his former defence partner and 105.98 for the league’s leading scorer.

In The Zone

When it comes to zone time, it likely will not come as a shock to find the Canucks rank 32nd and last in both time spent in their own zone defending (44.5%) and time in the attacking zone (38.2%).

Net Defenders

As far as goaltending is concerned, Leevi Meriläinen has faced the seventh-most high-danger shots (93) and made the seventh-most high-danger saves (76). By comparison, Kevin Lankinen has seen 64 high-danger shots and stopped 41 of them.

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