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The Stanchies: Return of the Mack ends with a Sharks 5-2 victory over Canucks
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
The Stanchion
Jan 28, 2026, 03:10 ESTUpdated: Jan 28, 2026, 03:11 EST
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When you watch the San Jose Sharks, you’re just reminded of how far the Vancouver Canucks have to go in their rebuild. The 5-2 victory from San Jose? Not surprising. Expected, really. But the ease with which they did it, and with the amount of young talent on their roster not even entering their prime yet, that 2-3 year turnaround for Vancouver feels a bit ambitious, to put it kindly. We’re out here happily discussing 21-year-old Jonathan Lekkerimaki having some real zip on his shot while 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini is putting up a four-point night, 20-year-old Will Smith just behind him with three points, and 19-year-old d-man Scott Dickinson adding two points of his own
It’s even more sobering when you realize San Jose is currently battling to even get into a playoff spot to begin with. Suddenly, that road back to relevancy feels like it might take a few more years than ownership would like.
In the meantime, all we can do as outside observers is see if the Canucks lose with enough fight to make watching the games palatable, and try to ignore that voice in the back of your head that worries Adam Foote will destroy any young player on the team with whatever he calls this system of hockey he keeps presenting us with. Being a Tank Commander means losing, but sometimes Adam Foote is almost too good at it that you do kind of worry if it will impact the development curve of some of the younger guys on the team. There were points during the game against San Jose when it looked like Vancouver didn’t even belong in the same league as the Sharks, and that’s when you wonder if maybe we were so busy wondering if we could that we didn’t stop to think if we should.
Ultimately, I think you have to ride this out and go with a new coach next year, because bringing someone like Manny Malhotra mid-season would probably give you the dreaded new coach bump, which, coupled with a defensive system that probably takes it into account that stopping the puck from entering your net is a good thing, might hurt your draft position. You have to assume that if the Canucks finish last, they will drop to the third pick overall because that’s how the NHL prefers it, so locking up at least a top-three pick feels like a nice consolation prize of having to watch Adam Foote hockey for an entire season.
I wish I had better news for you about Tuesday night’s game. Again, I don’t think it’s effort that was lacking from the team so much as it was just a case of being severely outmatched by the speed of the Sharks, which paired nicely with the seasonal depression that has settled in on the team. The Canucks lost, which is the ultimate goal as always, but unfortunately, they couldn’t make it a fun loss.
If getting to watch the birth of a monster in the form of Macklin Celebrini sounds enjoyable, who will no doubt haunt this team for the next decade plus, then this might be the game for you. His fingerprints were all over this one to the point where all the broadcast team could do was gush about him, and they weren’t wrong for doing so. The “stop, he’s already dead” meme can only carry you so far on a night like this, so you might as well lean into the apocalypse and embrace it.
Let’s drag ourselves closer to the Olympic break, shall we?
Best catching up
OK, so here was the roster news heading into the game, just so we’re all caught up:
  • Marco Rossi was doing good with injury rehab but then had a setback, a tale as old as time in Vancouver. If you ever end up as “day to day” in this town, I assume we won’t see you for another season or so. In my head, some guy named Dr. Bobby Bobby runs the head of the medical department in Vancouver and has an endless supply of t-shirts that all read “Good vibes only!” as he talks to you excitedly about this mango puree diet that is going to absolutely change your life.
  • Speaking of “see you down the line”, Thatcher Demko was shut down for the season and will undergo surgery in about a week so he can be ready for next September. The Canucks want to assure you it is not related to any of his previous injuries, to which you can take that with as many grains of salt as needed.
  • Zeev Buium, last seen taking a puck to the face against the Penguins, was found to have a broken bone near his cheek, and he, too, will be out of the lineup until at least after the Olympic break. No word on if Dr. Bobby Bobby is going to recommend the mango puree to Zeev.
  • And lastly, word has come out that the Canucks have tagged in Evander Kane’s agent to help facilitate a trade for the forward, because both sides kind of want it done asap and trading is hard and stuff, how can one GM be expected to make so many phone calls. It’s a bit of an odd situation in that Evander Kane was never a good fit for this team, and he somehow ended up not being a good fit for this team, leaving many to wonder how could anyone possibly have seen this coming aside from EVERYONE.
Best sip of glory
The game actually started off with a moment where you thought to yourself, “Hey, maybe Macklin Celebrini WON’T get four points tonight!” when Tom Willander opened the scoring after engaging in some solid board work and then skating hard to the net to fire home an Elias Pettersson pass high in the slot:
Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson both take turns drawing in multiple Sharks, who then do this odd thing of cycling off and covering the guy with the puck properly (is that allowed? That’s illegal, right?) but Willander is still able to get the shot off into a screen set up by Jake, blinding Yaroslav Askarov and probably making him feeling a bit miffed about the whole thing.
Please note that I have maybe five total clips that paint the Canucks in a positive light in this game, so you’re going to want to hold onto this moment for as long as possible. Really drink in that “Oh man a Canucks first rounder just scored a goal, the future is bright, the possibilities are endless” energy and hold onto it tightly for the next 10 minutes.
Best and it’s gone
It took Macklin Celebrini just over 30 seconds to big brother the Canucks, metaphorically ruffling their hair and telling them to get to bed, squirt, making it 1-1 off of a Will Smith pass:
I included the initial shot from Macklin Celebrini for two reasons:
  • One, to showcase Filip Chytil leaving to go back to his home planet after he tried checking Celebrini. Macklin walked through him like he was a malfunctioning Skytrain gate, and part of me would have understood if Chytil had just skated to the bench and gone home. It’s the kind of thing Quinn Hughes would routinely do to opponents when he played for Vancouver, and it really has that Nelson-Muntz-laughing-at-himself-in-the-mirror-only-to-find-out-it-doesn’t-feel-so-good-when-it-happens-to-you energy. And the thing is, it wasn’t like this was just a one-off, and Macklin did this one amazing deke on the night; he did it like every other shift. Multiple souls were lost to Celebrini walking around dudes and leaving them wondering if hockey just wasn’t for them anymore. The kid is 19, and meanwhile, we’re all like “sure hope JT Miller didn’t bully our former wonderkid into never playing at a high level again,” and it just feels sort of unfair.
  • Two, the Canucks defensive “system” has never been great under Adam Foote, but Monday night was the first time I was like, “Ok, yeah, this is on purpose, right? This is not a serious team.” The defensive coverage was awful for most of the game. I know the speed of the Sharks really hampers the Canucks, but it just felt like it was on another level in this one. And as you can see on the goal, after Chytil gets sent into the void, everyone just sort of overloads the right side of the ice. It was four on four at this point, and all four Canucks just follow the puck and forget all about Macklin, who slides into empty space to unload the one timer.
Best pushback I guess?
With the game tied at one, it technically meant the Canucks could still win this game.
I will show proof that perhaps, mayhaps, they might have scored a goal on this aggressive forecheck from Nils Höglander that resulted in a shot on net from both Nils and Planet Ice:
With the Kiefer Sherwood trade completed, we will see fewer and fewer of these type of hits into turnovers, so I do appreciate the effort from Nils, even if deep in my soul I know he needs a fresh start somewhere else as I resist the urge to White Fang him.
Then you had Jonathan Lekkerimäki cutting off an outlet pass and unloading a strong wrist shot on net, with Filip Chytil following up on the rebound with a shot of his own:
And you know what, that is a good shot from Jonathan Lekkerimäki. It has pace. It has speed. It feels like it could beat an NHL goalie. It is definitely one of the few good moments to come out of this game, even if it got overshadowed by the Island of Lost Boys they have going on over in San Jose.
Best more of the same
The Sharks would get their second goal of the night off of a Fil Hronek turnover of all things, who failed to clear the puck out of the zone and then had to watch as former Canuck Adam Gaudette once again scored against his former club:
It looks like the puck flubs off of his stick a little bit, and that’s all it takes for that little pissant Celebrini to jump all over it and ruin your night. Macklin keeps the puck in the zone, feeds it over to William Eklund, who then finds Adam Gaudette, while Chtyil politely watches from afar. I will give some grace to Chytil because he was still coming to terms with Celebrini draining his life force on the first goal, but it was not a good look defensively from the Canucks second line centre. Fair to say his defensive effort lacked some urgency.
Best fast and furious
Next up, it was Vittorio Mancini’s turn to fail to clear the zone, as his turnover would lead to Dickinson finding Alex Wennberg down low, who would turn and find former Canuck Tyler Toffoli for the goal:
Aatu Räty also took his turn at being the guy late to the scene, as he fails to get the stick of Tyler under control, in what is pretty much a mirror image of the Sharks second goal. This would signal the end of Kevin Lankinen’s night, which felt like both an act of mercy and an indictment.
It just felt like life for San Jose was really easy on this night. Too many good looks on net, too much time to place their shots, the Canucks didn’t really make anything too difficult for the Sharks if we’re being honest with each other.
Unless you’ve been laundering money. Then don’t be honest with me. Let me believe you made your money in smart investments, don’t ruin that illusion for me.
Best we’re talking about shots??
OK, let’s get back to the Lekkerimäki wrist shot for a palate cleanser, or as my dumb brain tried to type it, a pallet cleanser:
Look, I get it, the bar isn’t high. But this is all we have right now. And a young player shooting a hard shot on net is about as good as it gets on some nights, so you will damn well eat it, and you will damn well enjoy it.
Best nearly Nils
Run Höglander. Run and be free:
That shot isn’t going in unless the goalie makes an egregious error, but damn it, much like the earlier damn it, sometimes you just take what you can get. And an end-to-end rush with a shot on net felt downright life-changing compared to watching the team struggle to get out of their own zone so they could complete a line change.
Best back to the pain
Hey, look, we haven’t even talked about the Sharks’ second overall draft pick, Michael Misa, playing against the Canucks. He didn’t score any points, which is a victory of sorts, I guess, but he probably also made Marcus Pettersson wish he was back in the Eastern Conference after Misa danced right around him:
MP3 basically gets to star in a scene from the next “Now You See Me” sequel, as one minute he’s guarding the kid and the next thing he knows, he’s spinning in circles, praying no one saw what just happened. But we all saw it. We all did.
And since it’s been a minute since Celebrini juked someone out of their hockey pants, here is Macklin walking right around Liam Öhgren simply because he can:
If it feels unfair, it’s because it is unfair. We were told teams weren’t allowed to load up on talent like this; you need to trade for Elias Lindholm the second you think you can make the playoffs. Why didn’t the Sharks have to trade for Lindholm? I don’t understand how the system works anymore.
It should have then been 4-1 off a Celebrini shot on a wicked feed from Will Smith, but apparently Macklin is allowed to miss the net?
Again, I am just trying to catch up on the new rules of the NHL. It’s all very confusing. The last I heard, you could email the officials and tell them to lay off your son and call more penalties on the teams that played against your son, so it’s just taking me a while to adjust to it all.
Best summary
Best locking it down
The Canucks started the second period on the power play and once again, we will lean on Lekkerimäki’s shot as the one thing you can try and suckle some joy out of:
I mean, I still screamed when Elias Pettersson passed out of a shot from the slot as it’s starting to feel weirdly personal at this point, but I appreciate getting to see Lekkerimäki try and one-timer a special teams goal.
Filip Chytil would then get his turn at cranking his hog from the slot, but Askarov was up to the task, making a brilliant pad save off of the one-timer attempt:
But for every limited Canucks pushback, it just felt like it was a matter of time until the Sharks would find a way to score again.
Best four doors down
With Fil Hronek executing a perfect defensive play to end an odd man rush, good, Teddy Blueger was fingered for hooking Celebrini, because that little malapert is so God damn fast:
And so, apparently giving even more time and space to this Sharks team seems like a bad idea, as Will Smith would score to make it 4-1 after yet another failure to clear the zone, this time at the hands of Marcus Pettersson:
Fail to clear the zone, die at the hands of the children of the future. This is what Homer warned us about. We should have stopped the kids when we had a chance.
Also, please note Macklin Celebrini once again juking a dude into White Rock, as this time Conor Garland, Conor freaking Garland of all people, gets put on ice when trying to close distance on him.
Best you had one shot
The Canucks best chance at any sort of comeback in this game was clearly the extended five-on-three man advantage, in which they looked pretty cool with the puck, had some good looks on net, but ultimately failed to score a goal:
This is the “Oh, you got 90% on your test? Why not 100%?” except it isn’t mean-spirited, it’s just someone asking the right questions.
Askarov never really seemed to be in too much trouble on the power play, which I think just speaks to the Canucks being a bit slow with moving the puck and telegraphing their plays a little too much. The closest they got to scoring was shooting into traffic with Jake in his Tim Hortons office, but again, it speaks to their lack of finishing skill, even with a two-man advantage.
Best correct assessment
Evander Kane got into what I would charitably call a “hand selected opponent” as he began throwing down with noted pugilist Timothy Liljgren, he of zero career fights:
Timothy Liljegren would have probably happily finished his entire career without getting into a fight, but if Evander Kane wants to raise his trade value by dropping gloves, then that’s how it has to be.
Of course, Evander got an extra two minutes for doing this, and when coupled with a Marcus Pettersson high-sticking penalty shortly thereafter, it led to the Sharks scoring on their two-man advantage:
Nikita Tolopilo, who had taken over for Kevin Lankinen in the first period, basically knows a puck went past him; he just has no idea how it happened. Or where. Or by whom? Some real season two Dept. Q energy on this one.
In this case, it was John Klingberg sending a perfect shot into multiple screens, leaving Tolopilo wondering whether Eddie Lack had the right idea all along: leaving hockey behind and getting into real estate in Arizona instead.
Best last gasp
With the game essentially over at this point, the Canucks managed to score a late power play goal when Captain Hronek walked into an absolute piss missile of a shot:
I also have to agree. Please change the goal song once you’ve traded two more veterans. Give the team a fresh new look. New goal song. New power play song. New penalty song. You’ve been using the same set list for like five years now, for the love of God, give us something new to listen to.
Let Simple Minds rest in peace with the Quinn Hughes era. It will forever be tied to that second-round playoff run, which was both magical and a reminder of how absolutely sh!t everything turned out. Move past it, don’t be lazy, give us new energy.
Best last dash
And as a bonus clip, here is Liam Öhgren making a nice takeaway and almost turning it into a goal:
The only thing better than that is a firm wrist shot from Lekkerimäki, let me tell you.
And that was the game. The Sharks are a much better hockey club than Vancouver. To quote a former friend, it is what it is, for now. I don’t think we need to dive deeper than that.
See you Thursday.

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