Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet that isn’t over until you’re done reading it.

Speaking of being over, the Vancouver Canucks’ 2025-26 campaign is. In many ways, it’s been over for a while, but now it’s the kind of over that doesn’t need to be watched anymore, and that’s something to be glad of, at least for a moment.

It’s something to celebrate both because it’s over, and because it marks the beginning of the wait until the thing that always makes sports fans feel better – the prospect of next year.

But before we get there, we still need to do some dissecting of this disastrous season that was.

To call the 2025-26 a disappointment almost goes without saying. But how much of a disappointment it was is very much a subjective experience.

Opinions on the Canucks were relatively split heading into the year. While the easy money was on them missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season, others predicted a bounceback to the halcyon days of 2023-24. That did not occur.

But even for those who accurately predicted that the Canucks would once again fall short of the postseason, there’s still a wide gulf between that outcome and the actual outcome, which was being in last place by a margin of 14 points. Did anyone truly see that coming?

Only you can answer a question regarding your own expectations and how the Canucks performed against them this year. Which is why we’re asking you!

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

Maybe there was no unsung hero, that’s why they’re in last place.

Drew O’Connor and Linus Karlsson were solid options for Unsung Hero. Karlsson has more points than DOC, 35 to 29, but I notice Karlsson is -26 and DOC is a (very solid for this team) -10, so I am fine with the “Unsung Hero” going to Drew O’Connor.

The FO for keeping us entertained more than the on ice product ?

The unsung heroes are the fans who continued to show up to watch this disorganized mess of a season. And they get rewarded with an increase in ticket prices. Nice.

Unsung Hero on a last-placed team is tough. However, I’d go with Linus Karlsson. Decent production for a second year, 12 minutes a game, all over the lineup player…

I don’t agree with the author’s take on what constitutes an unsung hero. To me, it is the player that steps up and does more than what was expected.

Therefore, O’Connor is a fine choice here. He was penciled in as a bottom-six player who has shown that he has an ability to move up and down the line up, and has been one of the few Canucks to show a spark of passion from time to time. A career high in goals with 17 aids this argument.

My vote would have gone to Linus Karlsson.

I’m going to go with Aatu Räty. He got no love from Foote and was a frequent scratch over guys who added nothing (like Kane), but whenever they needed a critical faceoff won, Räty was often the guy who took it. He was a ridiculous 17 for 21 against LA in his last game. He’s sixth overall in the league at 61%, with Giroux in first at 63.1%. He was 73.5% on defensive faceoffs alone. That, to me, is so important. To win the draw in your own end and give the team a chance to clear the zone. So with that said, Aatu is my pick.

Drew O’Connor is still my unsung hero. His performance this year was sneaky good, and it was really easy to overlook how well he performed this year on a poor team.

I haven’t heard the praises apparently heaped on him at all, so for me, he is still unsung.

True unsung hero:

Rutherford by a mile. He was able to do what both Gillis and Linden failed to do…force the owners into announcing a rebuild.

Do I believe there will be a rebuild done here? Nope.

So, Rutherford will be the unsung hero again next year if he can actually get a rebuild done.

Hero?………

Hero?….

Whaaaaaat?…..

Credit to those who stuck to their guns and stuck with Drew O’Connor as their Unsung Hero, but I’ll still contend that he’d be a better fit for a “Most Improved” or a “Most Unexpectedly Good Performance” award, if those existed.

As far as the true Unsung Hero, my pick was going to be Aatu Räty, for pretty much all the reasons DerekP63 mentioned above. But it’s no fun to just repeat someone else.

So, my backup pick is Max Sasson. Of that top line that graduated from Abbotsford, Linus Karlsson kept moving up the lineup, Arshdeep Bains went back to the AHL, and Sasson ended up somewhere in between. But if we avoid the direct comparison to Karlsson, Sasson’s season was surprisingly solid. His 13 goals in 66 games pace out to almost 20 over a full season, and 19 points in 66 games is pretty great for someone who mostly played in the fourth line. Sasson’s speed was noticeable and effective, and he scored some goals from out of nowhere that probably would have been considered ‘big goals’ in a more consequential season.

Most crucially, he made that anticipated shift to the wing, and now seems to have a real NHL future there.