Everyone knows which direction the Vancouver Canucks are moving in. They not only announced and committed to a rebuild, they’ve lived that commitment ever since.

Going back to January, the Canucks have dealt away all of Quinn Hughes, Kiefer Sherwood, Tyler Myers, Conor Garland, David Kampf, Nils Höglander, and Marcus Pettersson. In return, they’ve brought back a bevy of picks, prospects, and under-25 players, including Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Öhgren, two first-round picks, four seconds, and two thirds. They’ve let all of Teddy Blueger, Evander Kane, P-O Joseph, and Curtis Douglas walk via free agency, and the only veterans they’ve brought in to replace anyone are Paul Cotter, Luke Schenn, Jamie Oleksiak, and Brendan Gallagher, most of whom are clearly aimed at mentorship roles.

In the long run, this clear shift in direction is hoped to yield more meaningful and effective results from the rebuild itself. In the short run – though the organization will probably never phrase it this way themselves – it’s hoped that these moves will result in the Canucks staying near the bottom of the standings for a couple more seasons, leading to higher odds in the annual draft lottery.

Hey, it’s not tanking if you’ve already tanked!

Of course, as with a race to the top of the standings, the race to the bottom is going to have competition. Last year, the Canucks wound up finishing in last place by a whopping 14-point margin. If it was a race, the Canucks were Usain Bolt running backwards.

Five other teams finished below a .500 record, however: the Chicago Blackhawks, the Calgary Flames, the New York Rangers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Seattle Kraken. With no one higher up in the standings on an obvious and immediate downslide, these five teams should make up the field of competitors for last place next year, too, along with the Canucks.

With that in mind, we thought we’d do a quick rundown of the directions each of these teams has been moving in this offseason. That should give us an idea of who the Canucks really need to worry about in the lottery showcase, and who might be exiting the basement instead.

Trades In: Andrew Mangiapane, Nick Foligno, Bowen Byram, Jordan Greenway, 2027 first, 2028 second, 2027 third
Trades Out: Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, Colton Dach, Jack Pridham, Louis Crevier, Andre Burakovsky, the fourth overall pick in 2026, 2026 second
Free Agents In: Cole Smith, Ian Cole, Patrick Kane
Free Agents Out: Ilya Mikheyev, Matt Grzelcyk, Sam Lafferty

Their Direction: The Chicago Blackhawks are moving on up, or at least attempting to. Sure, they made some selling moves near this past deadline, including selling off Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson for picks, but then they turned around and dealt an enormously high pick – the fourth overall – for Bowen Byram, in addition to bringing in other veterans like Ian Cole and Patrick Kane. Those might not be ‘win now’ moves, but they’re ‘win more’ moves, at the very least.

The Blackhawks are plainly trying to turn a corner here, and while they might not make it back to the playoffs in 2027, another lottery finish would have to be considered a colossal disappointment for them.

Trades In: Olli Maatta, Simon Nemec, Maxim Tsyplakov, Jake Middleton, 2028 first, 2026 second, 2026 second, 2026 second, 2027 second, 2029 second, 2027 third
Trades Out: Mackenzie Weegar, Ryan Strome, Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman, Olli Maatta (again), 2027 first, 2028 first, 2026 second
Free Agents In:  Andreas Englund, Michael Benning
Free Agents Out: Ryan Lomberg

Their Direction: Firmly rebuilding. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: the Flames are doing more-or-less the same thing as the Canucks at more-or-less the same time. Their moves were a little more indirect this offseason, but still moving in that same rebuild-y direction, all the same. Sure, they traded away two firsts (that originated with other teams), but they traded them for the 22-year-old Nemec. Aside from that, and from bringing in some veteran toughness in the form of Middleton, it’s been a fairly steady stream of veterans out and picks in for the Flames. And this isn’t even counting their trade of Rasmus Andersson, which happened back in January and yielded even more picks.

Calgary is Vancouver’s clearest competition here, both in terms of the 2027 lottery and, if all goes well, the Pacific crown several years down the road. Read more on the Flames in our Pacific Division previews here!

Trades In: Pavel Dorofeyev, Joonas Korpisalo, Sean Durzi, Cole Beaudoin, Marcus Pettersson, 2027 second, 2026 third, 2027 third, 2028 third
Trades Out: Sam Carrick, Vincent Trocheck, Will Borgen, 2026 first, 2028 first, 2030 first, 2026 third
Free Agents In: Joe Veleno, Oliver Bjorkstrand
Free Agents Out: Conor Sheary, Carson Soucy, Jonathan Quick (retired)

Their Direction: Who can really say? Few franchises have more confusing directions than the New York Rangers.

On the one hand, they’ve moved out some veterans in Trocheck, Carrick, and Borgen, and they did bring back a great prospect in Beaudoin and some later picks. At the same time, they’ve traded three first round picks in three future years. Their largest acquisition, Dorofeyev, is just 25, and can’t be called a short-term move. But bringing in the likes of Pettersson, Durzi, and Korpisalo can.

On the whole, it seems like the Rangers are angling to lift themselves at least out of the basement this year. If you were to ask them, they’d almost certainly say that their goal is making the playoffs, whether that’s a realistic one or not.

Trades In: Samuel Ersson, Emil Andrae, Darren Raddysh (traded as pending UFA), Nick Paul, 2027 first, 2026 second, 2027 second, 2026 third, 2026 third, 2026 third
Trades Out: Nicolas Roy, Scott Laughton, Bobby McMann, Joseph Woll, Simon Benoit, Samuel Ersson (again), Brandon Carlo, Nick Robertson, Dennis Hildeby, 2028 third
Free Agents In: Darren Raddysh (traded as pending UFA), Sergei Bobrovsky, Jack Roslovic, Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger, Brandon Duhaime
Free Agents Out: Matias Maccelli

Their Direction:  Complicated. The Leafs were probably the single busiest team this offseason. Overall, they seem to be operating as a ‘temporarily embarrassed’ franchise that only missed the playoffs due to circumstance last year, and they are definitely hoping to rebound all the way back into the playoffs for 2026-27.

The Leafs’ biggest acquisition isn’t listed here, with that being, of course, Gavin McKenna at first overall. Toronto is hoping that McKenna can make an immediate impact in their lineup, and they’ve brought in some new players to support that, including some big names in Bobrovsky and Raddysh, and an old friend in Blueger.

At the same time, while the Leafs are angling at the playoffs, they have done a pretty decent job of selling off various veteran pieces and bringing in some draft picks, including a first, two seconds, and three thirds. Then again, consider that what’s missing from this ledger are all the picks the Leafs have already traded in previous years.

The Leafs won’t even be thinking about the lottery this year, as they don’t hold their own first round pick. As a result, expect them to push hard for the postseason from start to finish.

Trades In: Bobby McMann, Mackie Samoskevich
Trades Out: 2026 first, 2027 second, 2027 second
Free Agents In: Curtis Douglas
Free Agents Out: Eeli Tolvanen, Jaden Schwartz, Jamie Oleksiak, Mason Marchment

Their Direction: All quiet on the Pacific Northwestern front. The Kraken really haven’t done much of anything lately, and seem destined to be stuck in neutral for a while yet.

The moves they have made are not exactly of the rebuilding type. They’ve brought in a couple players at the cost of some draft picks. They let some vets go via free agency, including Oleksiak to the Canucks, but none were major difference-makers.

In the end, the Kraken will be more-or-less the same team in 2026-27 as they were last year, which means they’ll be out of the playoffs, but perhaps not so lowly as to truly challenge the Canucks for last place.