The Canucks’ scoring paces through 25% of the season and what they mean

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: the best thing about the NHL’s new 84-game schedule is that it allows the season to be evenly sliced into 21-game quarters, something that was impossible under the previous 82-game setup.

And, as of Friday night’s game against the New York Rangers, the Vancouver Canucks have now played their 21^st game. That means they’re a quarter of the way through the 2026-27 campaign, and that makes it a perfect time to check in on how the various Canucks have produced so far, and what their scoring paces mean for the rest of the season.

The jury is still out on whether or not Pettersson has bounced back all the way, but he’s definitely backer than ever before. He’s been maintaining this point-per-game clip very consistently all season long, and if he keeps it up all year, it’ll be his third-highest point total ever and his best in four years. He’d still need a noticeable uptick from here to threaten 100 points again, and to be honest, that’s probably not happening on this Canucks team.

Boeser is having a great offensive year while backing up his words, and that cannot be denied. He’s literally one point behind pacing toward his previous career-high of 73 points, which was achieved on the high-flying 2023-24 Canucks. Boeser would also stick with his tradition here of never scoring a goal-total in the 30s…it’s either 20s or 40s for him.

Even the most optimistic projectors probably didn’t have Lekkerimäki at a 60-point pace, nor near a 30-goal pace. If he can keep this up all year long, it’ll mean a very successful season for him, and it will also mean something very positive for the Canucks’ rebuild as a whole. This is a breakout season, and a big one at that.

At times, it’s felt as though Hronek was struggling offensively this year, but maybe that’s just because he’s out there so often. While his goals are down, he’s also on pace for a career season in terms of points. In fact, he’s pretty close to pacing for his previous point high of 49 in assists alone.

DeBrusk is both a streaky player and a player with consistent year-to-year totals, which feels a bit contradictory. Again, he’s right on pace for his usual 20-something goals and 40-something points. We should mention that, as of this writing, DeBrusk is scoreless in his last four, which means he’s probably due for a few goals and that his paces will look better sometime next week. 

Karlsson had his breakout year last season, and if he had just maintained that pace, it’d probably be considered a success. Instead, he’s upped it a little, and is on pace for career highs in goals, assists, and points. He’s not blowing last year out of the water, but a step forward is a step forward all the same.

Call it a year of reasonable progress for Öhgren so far. While you probably want to see that assist-rate improve, the fact that Öhgren is on pace for 25 goals and almost 40 points is a big step forward for him and significantly more than he’s ever shown at the NHL level prior to this. It also feels as though Öhgren might continue to trend upward as the year goes on. 

On the whole, this looks like an excellent offensive year for Cotter, who is set to blow the doors off his previous career high of 25 points. A little bit of the shine comes off once you realize that Cotter scored six of his eight points in the first three games of the season and has just two points in 15 games since. But it’s still a more-than-respectable pace for a player brought in on a cheap one-year UFA deal.

After some questions were raised about his NHL future, Sasson has responded with a 20-goal pace, and from the centre position, at that. His assist rate is quite low, but if that is able to improve at all, cracking 30 points is achievable for Sasson, and that would have to be considered a very successful season for him.

Few players have disappointed as much offensively as Rossi has this season. Heading in, some questioned whether he could serve as the Canucks’ 1C over Pettersson. Instead, Rossi has responded with the worst scoring pace of his career other than the two partial seasons (two and 19 games) he played before his official rookie year. He’s barely above a point every three games, and that’s simply not good enough for the investment the Canucks have made in him. Rossi is in major need of a turnaround here.

Oleksiak was not brought in to score. And yet, score he has, and at a rate he never really has before. Oleksiak’s previous career high was a nine-goal, 25-point season for the Kraken in 2022-23, and that’s the only time he’s cracked more than 20 points in a year. He’s on pace to crack 30, which is among the more unexpected results on the Canucks’ stat board this year.

O’Connor is another player whose pace can only be described as disappointing. That’s perhaps especially true for a pending UFA who the Canucks probably hoped to sell high on this year. Coming off the heels of a career-high 17 goals, O’Connor is on pace for less than half of that, and his assists aren’t far ahead. This is the lowest scoring pace O’Connor has experienced since his rookie years

It’s hard to say whether Buium’s performance here is more disappointing than the aforementioned Rossi and O’Connor. On the one hand, Buium’s progress matters more, but on the other hand, he’s got more time on the clock. Still, a pace of just 20 points and no goals can’t be described as anything but a disappointment. If there’s a small positive, it’s that Buium is trending slightly upward with three points in his last 11, but that’s not much to hang hopes on.

Pettersson scored all four of his points in the first 13 games of the season and hasn’t notched a point since October 25. But in the immortal words of The Rock, “It doesn’t matter!” Pettersson is having an excellent season all the same, breaking out as a top-four defensive stud, and any points he puts on top of that are nothing but gravy.

Bains is making the most of his opportunities in the lineup, scoring at about double the rate he did in 28 games last year and is obviously on pace to shatter his previous career highs. He might want to be producing more to better solidify his spot in the lineup, but it’s a step forward for Bains all the same this season.

Willander isn’t in quite the same boat as the younger Pettersson, in that Willander is expected to develop into a two-way defender and should eventually start to put up more points. That said, Willander has made a ton of defensive progress this season, and the points can probably wait. We wouldn’t call his showing thus far a disappointment.

Schenn wasn’t brought in to score points…and he isn’t. That said, if Schenn actually finishes with 13 points, it’d be his highest total since he put up 21 for the Canucks back in 2022-23. Chances are best, though, that he endures a lot more healthy scratches and finishes with a games played total well under that 75.

Gallagher wasn’t brought in to score, either. But he and the Canucks probably wanted more points out of him than this. A five-point pace is ridiculously low. He’s scoring points at a 0.11-per-game rate, when last year he was producing at a .3 rate. That’s quite a plummet, and something that Gallagher will be working hard to rectify as the season continues.