We’ve reached the final stage of the 2025-26 Vancouver Canucks season, and with the Trade Deadline now in the rear-view mirror, many are finding it hard to care about the remainder. In fact, some nights, it’s more like finding it hard to watch – as was the case this past Tuesday when the Canucks dropped a shutout to James Reimer, of all people.

For most, it’s more of a waiting period until the 2026 offseason can bring more change, primarily in the form of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. But there’s still plenty of action left before we can get to that point.

As of this Wednesday morning writing, the Canucks have 18 games left on their schedule. In past seasons, these games have mattered a lot. Sometimes, it’s been about chasing the playoffs. Sometimes, it’s been about solidifying a division-leading record. Other times, and perhaps most frequently, the final 18 or so games have mattered because the Canucks have gone on a late-season tear for the seemingly sole purpose of destroying their draft position.

But none of that is going to happen this time around. The Canucks will be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs within a fortnight. And with an 11-point “lead” on last place, there’s really no level of late-season push that could pull the Canucks out of the draft lottery.

All that said, there are still a few games left on the 2025-26 season that will really matter – in their own unique ways.

The first such example might be the upcoming Saturday, March 14, matchup with the Seattle Kraken. It’s been a fairly quiet season for the budding Pacific Northwest rivalry, especially compared to last season, but this is the last game of the year, and the Kraken – fighting for their playoff lives – have something to play for. Will the now-slightly-younger Canucks, who have been encouraged to put up more literal fight, use this as a team-building activity, and try to run Seattle out of Rogers Arena? Or will the Kraken simply roll over the Canucks as so many other teams have this year? The tone of this game could go a long way toward setting the tone for the season series in 2026-27, and we hope it’s a heated one.

The next game that really matters is the Thursday, March 19 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. While it will be cool to see a Lightning roster that is really flying in action, the main draw here is the 36^th annual Canucks for Kids Telethon. As bad as the product on the ice is, we can all appreciate the work the team does off the ice in the community, and the Telethon is probably the finest example of that.

After that, we’ve got two key “four-point games” in the latter half of March. As we already said, the Canucks have a considerable lead on last place, and thus on the top odds in the 2026 Draft Lottery. But there are some teams still within shouting distance of them, and those teams include the St. Louis Blues and the Calgary Flames.

The Blues come first, on Saturday, March 21. As of this writing, there is a 14-point gap between the two teams. That’s probably all-but-insurmountable already, but should the Canucks hit the rhyme and “Lose to the Blues,” they’ll well and truly “eliminate” St. Louis from the race for last place.

A more consequential game in this regard will come a week later, with a visit to Calgary on Saturday, March 28. “Only” 11 points ahead of the Canucks, the Flames are Vancouver’s closest competitors for last place. Lose this matchup, and Vancouver will pretty much put the cinch on last place, and thus best odds at the draft lottery. This is a true “must-lose” game, although it might not look the same by the time we get to it if Calgary has already rattled off a few wins.

The only other teams in shouting distance of the Canucks are the Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers, but the Canucks don’t play either of them again, so no four-point games to be had there.

We move from the practical to the purely sentimental. Normally, when we’re talking schedules, we’d say something about marking one’s calendar. None of the previous dates we’ve mentioned are all that calendar-worthy. But this next one probably is.

Quinn Hughes’ first game against the Vancouver Canucks comes on Thursday, April 2. It’s an away game, so Hughes’ first visit to Rogers Arena as an opposition player will have to wait until 2026-27. But this game matters, too.

In fact, if you were to poll Vancouver fans right now about which games they want their team to win from here on out, it might be this game, and this game only. Beating Hughes and the Wild fair and square wouldn’t make a dent in the standings, but it would be a moral victory of sorts, and those have been very few and far between in 2025-26.

Team Canada couldn’t send Hughes home unhappy at the Olympics. But maybe the more local Canucks will be able to pull it off on a smaller stage, and that’ll be something.

And now we head toward fantasy land. This last potentially important game we’re mentioning is the final game of the season. But it requires some prognostication to see its relevance.

The Canucks are set to conclude their season with a game against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, April 16. Last place should be long-since locked up by then. But the Oilers’ own place in the standings might not be. It’s been a trying season in some ways for Edmonton, and as of this writing, they’re in a tie with the Vegas Golden Knights for second place in the Pacific Division, behind the Anaheim Ducks.

The Seattle Kraken are five points back of them. But the Kraken also have two games in hand. The LA Kings, meanwhile, are five points back with a single game in hand.

The odds still have the Oilers making the playoffs. But if they start to fall apart, what with the rumours of infighting, there’s still a good possibility that they miss. And that means there’s a real possibility that the final game of the season against the Canucks ends up as a make-or-break game for the Oilers.

Which would really matter for the Canucks. Not in any practical way, but that hardly makes a difference at this point. To almost everyone who supports the Canucks, eliminating the Oilers from the playoffs with an upset win would be an enormous positive. As far as last memories of the 2025-26 season go, it’d be a sweet one, and would certainly help wash away a bit of the aftertaste of disappointment.

There’s a lot of hockey left to be played (and watched) between now and then. But for those of us who are going to tune in to every Canucks game anyway, it’s nice to at least have something to cheer for. Even if it’s down to moral victories, strategic losses, and a little bit of potential schadenfreude.