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The Stanchies: Canucks clinch last overall in loss to Quinn Hughes’ Wild
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Photo credit: © Nick Wosika-Imagn Images
Lachlan Irvine
Apr 3, 2026, 10:46 EDTUpdated: Apr 3, 2026, 11:27 EDT
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They did it. They finally did it.
For over a decade, the Canucks have aimlessly wandered the desert. A couple of times, they’ve come painfully close to finding Paradise. But each time it’s turned out to be a mirage that disappears the second the phrase ‘sustainable playoff contention’ is uttered.
Every time the team has gotten lost, fans have begged the Canucks to retrace their steps back to the beginning and start again, and different leaders kept saying, “Never! We gotta keep pressing onward! It’s just a coincidence that rock next to the path looks like that one we’ve passed three times already!”
But Thursday night, on the 2nd evening of April 2026, the Vancouver Canucks FINALLY clinched last place in the National Hockey League, completing one of the most compelling tanks in recent memory, and earning the highest odds at the first overall pick in June’s draft.
And they didn’t do it in a way that was devoid of real effort (no matter what those FlamesNation guys think), and the clinching game was a prime example.
The Canucks very well might have won this game on a different day. They had their chances, capitalized on a few of them in the first, and got some very solid goaltending from Nikita Tolopilo bouncing back after a rough outing in Calgary. But four individual breakdowns, each from a different Canucks defender, led to goals. And those are lessons that the young Canucks will learn and grow from in the seasons ahead. It’s always better to make mistakes now rather than later, and Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, DePetey and P-O Joseph got an in-depth education in that today.
Plus, how do you top the theatre of an 8-6 win over the best team in the NHL? Immediately send the team that won right back out against their former captain, who’s managed to speedrun becoming one of the most polarizing players in franchise history.
It’s amazing the difference a season makes. One that started with such promise and a man named Quinn Hughes potentially leading the Canucks to a playoff spot has ended with Vancouver in last, and Hughes a pariah within his former fanbase as he suits up in Subway green and yellow Wild uniforms.
This game won’t be remembered for long. But depending on how May’s draft lottery goes, it may live on as a major turning point in Canucks history. I sure hope the fans get that core memory.
The sun is getting real low. Let’s play some hockey.
Best EA glitch

Okay, early report: I hate this game.#canucks

— Terry & dog 🦮…🇨🇦🍁 (@aweebitdaft.bsky.social) 2026-04-03T00:23:14.332Z

Very early in this game, Matt Boldy gave us a precursor of what he had in mind for tonight, and it hinged on making the Canucks’ defenders look like traffic cones. Here he hits L2 on his PS5 controller for a spin around Tom Willander and came way too close to roofing the puck between Nikita Tolopilo’s head and the crossbar.
That’s terrifying!
Then a few shifts later, P-O Joseph didn’t get the puck out of the zone and it found its way right back to Boldy, who took it straight to the net and snapped it through the wickets of Tolopilo.
We’re only about half a period in, and so far Boldy has pounced on errors from two different Canucks defenders. An auspicious start!
Best When It Rains
Poor Trev is having quite the week.
Best First Impressions
It seems like just yesterday that we were talking about Ty Mueller making his NHL debut against these same Minnesota Wild. In fact, that was almost exactly a year ago!
In the twelve months since, Mueller has gone on to be a crucial part of the Abbotsford Canucks and win a Calder Cup ring. And now here he is, tying up the Wild defenders in the corner like his contract depends on how much time he can waste while his teammates change.
This wasn’t even the full clip; it’s just the maximum amount of Mueller pinning the puck to the boards Giphy would allow. Legend has it that the Wild are still trying to dig the puck out to this day.
Best Heating Up
Remember when it looked like Brock Boeser might not hit 20 goals this year? Or any Canuck for that matter? Well, that storyline is far in the past, and even though he had no points tonight, Boeser’s confidence is seemingly back in full.
Meanwhile, Marcus Pettersson is fresh off scoring his second goal of the season – a game winner against the Quebec Nordiques – and suddenly he’s stepping into shots like he’s Niklas Lidstrom.
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Marcus’ shot is stopped by Filip Gustavsson, but Boeser finds the rebound and spins like a Beyblade to whip it back at the net. Sure Gustavsson saves it with his toe, but I’m liking where M’Petey and Brock’s heads are at anyway.
Best running into your ex with their new partner
Oh god, they’re doing so much better than you. It was easy to live in a world where they were having as hard a time post-breakup as you when you never saw them. But now this fantasy you’ve built up in your head is totally proven false!
Quinn Hughes and the Wild are going to the playoffs. Since he left, he’s already set a few Wild records for defensemen, won an Olympic gold medal and completely undone years of popularity by partying with a guy who would force Canada into statehood if he could. So it should come as no surprise that Canucks fans have found a new enemy in a guy who completely checked out on the team and forced his way out of Vancouver, after just two playoff series wins and years of bare minimum involvement in the community, a stark contrast to the Canucks captains before him.
So if there was one little victory people would get out of this game, it would be if someone could bowl Quinn Hughes over. No Canucks threw a massive five-alarm bone-rattling hit on their former teammate that would make the NHL highlight reels for a decade, but one player was pretty economical about it.
Jake DeBrusk was in a race with Hughes for the puck rolling into the Wild zone, and when he realized Quinn was going to beat him there, Jake pulled up and shifted to the inside lane. Right as Hughes is about to reach the puck, he’s shocked when he gets stuck between a DeBrock and a hard place.
The hit wasn’t just cathartic for the fans back home. It also won DeBrusk possession of the puck, and quickly turned into a scoring chance for Tom Willander. That’s about as perfect a shift as you can get!
Let’s live in this moment for a while, shall we? Breathe it in, it’s so nice here.
Best Revenge Shift
When the Wild traded for Quinn Hughes, Liam Öhgren was considered by most people to be a throw-in piece of the deal. But look at him now, playing on the top line with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk.
His best play of the game came late in the first with Drew O’Connor in the box for running a pick on his former teammate Quinn. I think there was maybe a grab on the stick by Hughes to draw a call, but that might be the bitter ex talking.
What we definitely know is that on the PK, Öhgren chased a clearing attempt down the ice and won the race with Quinn. He pinned the puck along the boards to try to kill as much clock as possible, frustrating the Wild’s power play unit so much that Joel Erikkson Ek tripped him to put their man advantage to an end.
Not only was this the dictionary definition of playing a 200-foot game, but it came from Öhgren right in front of the management team that cast him aside. It also ended up as the Canucks’ most consequential play of the game.
Best Sweet Wheels
When Kevin Bieksa scored the infamous playoff OT goal off the stanchion this series is named for, Chris Higgins joked that it was a “set play”.
That quote has lived rent free in my head for the last 15 years, and I think about it every time the Canucks score off a bank shot. Today was no exception when Tom Willander followed up Teddy Blueger’s wide shot that banked off the boards right to him.
Jumping into the rush at 4-on-4 is always a gamble, but Willander read the opportunity perfectly, pinching at just the right time and getting behind Ryan Hartman and home free to the net. Also, why on Earth is Filip Gustavsson facing the wall when Willander receives the puck? Did someone give him a timeout?
Thanks for the goal, man!
Best This Again??
We all know the stakes of this game. They were the same when the Canucks faced Colorado yesterday, and somehow they staved off cementing last place by racking up eight goals on some shellshocked Avs goalies. So when Jake DeBrusk followed up Willander’s goal 42 seconds later with his own, it really did make you go, “oh my god, they’re going to win every game and snatch 31st aren’t they?”
Now on the power play, Elias Pettersson sets up Fil Hronek for a one-timer, and Fil sends a rocket through to the net that kisses the crossbar. DeBrusk, fresh off a hit everyone loved, had his eyes on the prize and batted the puck like Ernie Clement after a nine-pitch at bat. Straight through the gap in the infield, and it’s 2-1 Vancouver.
Are they actually about to pull this off again??
Best Cursed Period
This is when we all remembered the one magic stronger than a Canucks’ late-March/early-April surge: their inability to win the second period.
Matt Boldy was already the recipient of one mistake by a Canucks defender in the first. And this time, former Wild draft pick Zeev Buium whiffed on a pass attempt at the worst possible time. Boldy didn’t want to repeat his break attempt from before, and this time picked the glove side on Tolopilo for his 40th goal of the season.
This one’s gotta sting on a couple levels. For the Canucks immediately giving up a tying goal as soon as the clock switches to the middle frame, and for Buium getting burned in front of the crowd of the team that drafted him.
Best disaster averted
This game ALMOST had the goal everyone in British Columbia was dreading less than a minute after Boldy had tied the game.
But instead, Nikita Tolopilo committed grand larceny on his former teammate with a slide across to snag the one-timer opportunity.
Just don’t ask Hughes if he has any stories from their time in the same organization, I don’t think he even knows Nikita’s name.
Best own worst enemy
It wasn’t a banner night to be a Canucks defenceman.
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Side tangent: I’m sure this has been talked about before. But if the Grand Casino Arena restaurants don’t serve a Kirill Ka-prese Salad, they’re sitting on a gold mine. It’s all I can think of when his name comes up. Put some mozzarella, tomato and balsamic vinegar in a little #97 helmet. The people will love it.
Best big brain move
One player Hughes truly doesn’t know is Curtis Douglas, who arrived months after The Trade™. Which is why this play is my favourite of the game.
A lot of people were hoping Douglas would be the guy to bowl Hughes over with an old-school hit, but the Douglas Fir took a much more cerebral approach to pissing Quinn off. Douglas catalogues Hughes skating towards his backside and the puck rolling near the boards. As soon as he feels the stick below the numbers, Douglas takes what can only be described as a well-executed spill into the boards.
Just look at that shit eating grin as Douglas gets up, knowing the ref has his hand in the air for a penalty. That’s a 6-foot-9 guy who just drew a cross-checking penalty from a player half his size. Regardless of who the victim was, Douglas successfully pulling that off is just objectively hilarious.
Gotta hand it to him, the tree knows comedy.
Best having his number
As Hughes’ penalty expired, Jacob Middleton was able to spring him for a breakaway.
Hughes has a lot of talents, but breakaways are not generally a defenceman’s forte. And Tolopilo was still on guard from the Boldy break earlier, and wasn’t about to get got again.
Nikita Tolopilo struggled in his last start, and you might’ve seen this start as Adam Foote waving the white flag on trying to finish better than last. But man, was he good today. Tolo showed up on every opportunity that wasn’t straight up gifted to the Wild.
Best learning on the job
Speaking of gifts!
The one thing you can say about the defence today is that everyone had a hand in the murder (except Fil Hronek, he was fine).
This goal was a case of Tom Willander losing his inside positioning at the front of the net at the wrong time. Ryan Hartman is able to get in front of Tom Willander as the puck is circling the perimeter, and Willander is neither able to push Hartman out or tie up his stick. By the time Mats Zuccarello floats the shot on goal, Willander is merely an extra body his goalie has to look through while Hartman is free for the easy deflection.
The worst part about this goal? Quinn Hughes got an assist, his 67th of the year (don’t do the hands, I know it’s tempting). But honestly, in the year the Canucks have had, Hughes not dropping a devastating game-winning goal on them is about as close to a success as we’ll get.
Best Nailing the Coffin Shut
Adam Foote pulled out his patented “pull the goalie with basically half the period left in a multi-goal deficit” strategy, and surprisingly, it did not work.
Instead, it just gave Ryan Hartman a second goal when he threw a Sam Darnold dart at the empty net from his own zone.
And with that, the Canucks have reached the end of the rainbow. The best lottery odds possible and a guaranteed top three draft pick is their reward for one of the worst seasons hockey has ever seen. And there’s still seven games to go.
Say what you will, but the efficiency of this tank was commendable. Can’t wait for another season of this!
Best Allowing Yourself to Dream
Of course, I had to run the Tankathon simulator after this game. And I liked what I saw.
The Devils jumping up is probably the best scenario you can hope for, especially now that a certain someone isn’t constantly talking about playing on the same team as his brothers.
But still, it’s important to remember that no matter what the lottery balls spit out, the Canucks are drafting in the top 3 for the first time since 1999. And the player they got in that spot was pretty good, by my recollection. So even if the draft lottery goes exactly the way you think it’s going to, there’s a lot to be excited for about the future.
I can’t wait to see where we go from here.

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