The 2025-26 Vancouver Canucks are all-but-committed to a top-nine approach to their forward corps, and not necessarily by choice.

Realistically, if these Canucks are going to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they’re going to do so with a little bit of offence-by-committee. There’s just no other way to approach a roster that has lost its top-scoring forward from the last few seasons and is attempting to replace that contribution with those of several other, lesser players. It’s just the way it’s got to be – but what way, exactly is that?

We recently explored the upcoming camp ‘battle’ for 2C between Filip Chytil and Aatu Räty, and found that it wasn’t really a battle at all.

Instead, we argued that the Canucks are going to need all three of Chytil, Räty, and Elias Pettersson as centres down the middle of their top-nine if they’re going to succeed, and so Training Camp is more about finding the wingers that work best with each of them.

That in turn, however, leads to some interesting competition for those top-nine wing jobs amongst the remaining Vancouver forwards. Three centres, three lines, six wing spots available. And who doesn’t enjoy a good six-piece wing meal?

A couple of names can be inked right into the top-nine, though not necessarily on any specific line. Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk are as locked in to scoring roles as anyone could be as the team’s two top goal-scorers from last season. The same can be said for Conor Garland, who could find himself anywhere between Line 1 and Line 3, but who will be in the top-nine all the same and presumably feature heavily on the power play.

Beyond those three easy calls, we’re also tempted to say that Evander Kane is already somewhat locked in to the top-nine. His salary, his scoring history, and the uniqueness of his game. Given that he’s just missed the entire most recent regular season, however, puts him in a different category of guarantee than the other three we’ve already listed.

In the end, it’s tough to imagine the Canucks only acquiring one notable forward the entire offseason and then sticking that player on the fourth line. If we can’t ink Kane’s name into the top-nine, we can at least pencil it in.

So, there are two ways to look at it. Either Boeser, DeBrusk, Garland, and Kane are locked in to the top-nine already, meaning two more jobs remain up for grabs, or it’s just Boeser, DeBrusk, and Garland, meaning three jobs up for grabs – but with Kane as the leading candidate for one of them.

In any case, who else is going to be competing for those spots?

From where we’re sitting, we’ve got at least eight other names worth mentioning here. Eight names for what might be two spots total. If we’re looking for the spot at which the hottest Training Camp battle is set to unfold, we may just have found it.

The more established names here are Nils Höglander, Kiefer Sherwood, and Drew O’Connor. Each is expected to be with the team full-time in 2025-26, as all were in 2024-25 – save for O’Connor, who arrived partway through the year.

But even then, there’s only room for two of the three in the top-nine and, barring injury, one would already have to start on the fourth line.

Of the three, Höglander is the most natural ‘fit’ in the top-nine. He’s famously scored as many as 24 goals in one season, has reasonable chemistry at times with Pettersson, and also has the most potential upside left of this trio as the youngest in the set.

Sherwood, however, with his 19 goals and 40 points, was the higher scorer last year, and certainly brings a unique element to the game through his record-setting hit-habit. Few are expecting a repeat performance, production-wise, but none should discount the odds of Sherwood beating someone else out for a job he wants in camp.

That leaves O’Connor as the most likely of the three to miss out on initial top-nine deployment. That said, GM Patrik Allvin acquired and then extended him for a reason, and his combo of size and skating already landed him a spot on this summer’s Team USA at the World Championships. O’Connor shouldn’t be totally discounted, either, especially if he can find chemistry with one of the three centres.

But these three aren’t just in competition with each other. They will also face pressure from farther down the depth chart.

The first name that probably bears mentioning here is Jonathan Lekkerimäki. He’s somewhat unique in that he is both still exempt from waivers and probably has a thing or two left to learn in the minors. All that said, Lekkerimäki is also the organization’s top offensive prospect, and one of their most skilled players, period. For a team that struggled to put up goals and especially shots with any consistency last season, there’s a lot of appeal in a truly elite shooter. Lekkerimäki will get plenty of looks in camp, and if he looks like he can fit on a scoring line, he’ll be given every chance to bump somebody else out of the picture.

If there’s a wild card in the mix, it’s Vitali Kravtsov, who the team has brought back over after a fairly impressive run of success in the KHL. Kravtsov, the former 9^th overall pick, is another, like Lekkerimäki, who stands as one of the most skilled in the organization. But he’s yet to bring much of that talent to the NHL level.

This will probably be Kravtsov’s last kick at the can, but it is a genuine kick at the can. Like Lekkerimäki, if Kravtsov looks like he can provide more scoring potential that one of that Höglander/Sherwood/O’Connor set, there’s every chance he slots into the top-nine, at least to start the season. He’s a longshot, but a distinct possibility.

And past those two, we’ve got another entire championship line to consider. Both Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Bains are in the running for permanent positions to start this season, and both are expected to either start on the fourth line, or the pressbox, or back down in Abbotsford. But given their run of success in the AHL last year, it’s not entirely outside the realm of possibility for either to take another major step forward this summer and come into camp ready to compete for more. Each brings some unique qualities – Karlsson his smarts and drive, Bains his hands and playmaking vision – that could constitute some currently missing elements in the top-nine. Based on their place on the depth chart, we might call it unlikely for either of Karlsson or Bains to displace someone ranked higher than them, but far from impossible.

Then there is their centre, Max Sasson, to consider. He had nearly as good a season as the two of them, and has among the best wheels in the entire organization.. The front office has mentioned before that it sees Sasson as a winger in the long-term, so why not start that transition right now? With his waiver exemption still intact, the odds are against Sasson cracking the roster this year, but he’ll still be given a chance, and certainly has the speed to separate himself from the pack.

That’s where we’ll stop for now. There are a few other names that could be mentioned, but then we’re truly onto the longest of shots.

What we’re left with is maybe three – but probably two – wing jobs available in the Canucks’ top-nine, and a full eight candidates for those spots: Höglander, Sherwood, O’Connor, Lekkerimäki, Kravtsov, Karlsson, Bains, and Sasson.

That strikes us as a good, healthy amount of competition for a Training Camp. It’s the kind of situation that ensures that a player needs to really earn a spot in order to win it, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

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