And so ends the nightmare season.

The Vancouver Canucks got blown out to end their 2025-26 campaign, losing 6-1 to the Edmonton Oilers on the road. It was nothing if not a fitting end to the season, a game where they were hopelessly outplayed by their opposition and deserved to get demolished. It’s hard to believe that the Canucks were going toe to toe with these Oilers in the playoffs just two years back – a lot can change, as one can clearly see. Now, begins the long road in yet another rebuilding offseason, to hopefully pivot this team into a better direction.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

There really wasn’t anything that went the Canucks’ way for the large majority of the night. They never broke 35.00 CF% in a single period all contest, and the only period where they managed a somewhat even xGF% was third at 50.05 xGF%. Otherwise, it was a miserable affair in that category, as the Canucks were stuck in a 13.63 xGF% hole in the second period alone. They bled chances against and weren’t able to create much offence at all, which shouldn’t be a surprise for this team given everything that this season has been.

The heat map captures the poor efforts that the Canucks turned in at both ends of the ice. Edmonton had a 32-12 lead in overall scoring chances, with a big 17-7 high-danger chance lead as well. Naturally, the heat map visualized that very well, with the Canucks not only failing to manage to create a real high-danger spot, but also failing to get many attempts in general. Contrast that with what Edmonton was doing in front of Kevin Lankinen, and it provides a pretty good picture of just how bad this game was from a statistical standpoint.

Corsi Champ: Ty Muller picks up this title, tying with Curtis Douglas at 50.00 CF% but edging him out thanks to a 24.63 CF% rel to team average. Mueller tacked on a third-best xGF of 0.61 while posting the second-best xGF% of 75.18 along with his team-best Corsi, managing to be on ice for a 4-4 split in overall scoring chances and a 4-1 lead in high-danger chances. His first NHL goal was very well earned, and definitely a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy game.

Corsi Chump: At the bottom of the team was Drew O’Connor’s 14.29 CF%. Being played in a top 6 role, the winger was simply a victim of the circumstances and opposition that he had to face. On ice for two goals against, O’Connor managed to keep his nose relatively clean with a 32.59 xGF%, good enough to be just ever so slightly below team average at -0.18 xGF% rel. The scoring chances with him on ice were a 3-11, with a 2-6 hole in high-danger chances.

xGF: Leading the way in xGF% was Curtis Douglas, a 77.84 pacing the entire Canucks roster thanks to a team-best 0.17 xGA. The 4-4 scoring chance split held for him alongside Mueller, with the 4-1 high-danger chance lead something that was very much against the odds, given how heavily they were out-chanced as a team as a whole. Marcus Pettersson led the whole roster with a 0.97 xGF, managing to be on ice for a 6-5 lead in high-danger chances, accounting for nearly all of Vancouver’s high-danger efforts.

GSAx: It was a rough go at things for Kevin Lankinen, though the team in front of him definitely didn’t help matters. The Finn faced a 3.89 xGF from the Oilers, meaning that with 6 goals against, his GSAx was a heavy -2.11. A silver lining is that Lankinen didn’t give up a single low-danger goal against, with 4 of them considered high-danger and the remaining 2 being middle-danger. It’s been just that kind of season for the Canucks as a whole, as Lankinen definitely didn’t benefit from being behind a group like this one in Vancouver.

There probably was not a more fitting end to this season than this game against the Oilers. Vancouver was blown off the map, not even within the same realm of things when it came to their opposition, dominated from start to finish and in every regard. It once more highlighted just how bad this group was, how so many things had to go right for them to just be competitive, and when a couple of things went against them, the entire franchise folded like a house of cards. Now, at the very least, they’re guaranteed a top 3 pick, and the Canucks have a chance to course correct with a very big offseason to come.

Thank you for reading along this season.