Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet to lead the way from the middle of the week.

Speaking of leadership, it doesn’t necessarily come from a letter on a jersey. But the letters are an important and traditional component of hockey leadership all the same. The Vancouver Canucks are currently ‘rudderless,’ as they say, having traded captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, and have been left with a handful of alternates in Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Tyler Myers, and Filip Hronek.

The odds seem incredibly high that the Canucks will not name another captain this season and will complete the 2025-26 season captain-less. In all honesty, to ask another individual to take the helm of this sinking ship midway through sounds like an unfair recipe for non-success.

There’s even a good chance that the Canucks enter the 2026-27 season without a ‘C.’ It’s something that happens from time to time. Both the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks have gone through the entire 2025-26 season without a captain thus far, and it hasn’t seemed to hurt their performance much.

But a new Canucks captain will have to be named eventually.

Whether it’s this year, whether it’s next year, or whether it’s as late as 2028, there will be a next Canucks’ captain. And you won’t have to wait anywhere near that long to share your opinion on the matter.

We realize that in asking you to name the next Canucks’ captain, while also officially telling you that “no one yet” is not a valid answer this time, that we’re asking you to guess a bit at the timeline. So, feel free to offer both short- and long-term answers if that helps you avoid a non-answer. We want names!

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You predicted below!

The best thing in 2026 will be the drafting of three players who will transform the team by 2028-29.

The fact that fans are still filling the building post-Hughes should open the way to a real rebuild.

Ownership may start to see that fans will support a proper rebuild. Fans want a team that is developing talent. If they run that talent through Abby it will help to build a solid fan base.

I think they will start to keep picks.

FA will upgrade the seats to add betting terminals to increase gambling revenue.

The best thing to happen for the Canucks in 2026 is that the player they select as their first jumps to the NHL and becomes a scoring machine and gets EP40 back on track in getting over 100 points.

They’ll trade at least one of their first round picks they acquired to get some short-term help, sign Kiefer Sherwood to an eight-year extension, just miss the playoffs by eight points, and draft 18th overall as the hybrid rebuild will be officially over.

Short-term pain for long-term gain… The best thing that can happen is that management truly accepts that this team will not make the playoffs in 2026 or 2027, and makes moves accordingly. No holding on to own-rentals. No flipping draft picks for roster players. No UFA signings over the summer.

I’m willing to accept a whole lot of losing so that the team is still in last place a week before the trade deadline, despite a mostly healthy roster and decent goaltending, to absolutely and completely eliminate any notion in the front office and ownership that a couple of shortcuts will make this a playoff team. Because I’m afraid the temptation is still there.

Further to my previous comment that Cootes was the best thing to happen to them in 2025, this team is back in a cyclical deep rut and need to build patiently, so the best thing that will happen to them in 2026 will be their 2026 first round draft pick.

Cootes, Buium, and the new core need to set the tone and desire to go beyond where this team has not been before. Remove EP40 and they’ll have a fresh attitude. Install Manny as the head coach and Ryan Johnson as GM to complete the attitude shift.

Trading one of our two goalies.

Securing more high picks.

Picking first or second at the draft.

Drafting in the top 10 of the 2026 draft, I suspect.

Continue on the run of missing playoffs and the executive brass will keep building for the mushy middle if they are lucky. Expect more Buffalo Sabres-style development here on the coast.

Winning the 2026 draft lottery!

First cure that curse and then start to work on the Cup curse.

Then kickstart the rebuild by having five total 2026 first rounders by getting one each for Demko, Garland, and Sherwood, on top of the one we got for Hughes and our own pick.

Picks picks picks.

Win the draft lottery and draft elite and top tier talent. Get a proper rebuild going here and give us something to be excited about.

As it stands, the current roster has no hope of being competitive, so that is why the Canucks need to go to the draft to get the talent that they need. They won’t find it by signing free agent cast offs or trading for players that another team is willing to part with.