Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet that is six degrees from both Kevin Bacon and Kevin Bieksa.

Speaking of degrees, they don’t hand those out for graduating from the AHL to the NHL. But it’s still an accomplishment worth shooting for! And it’s an accomplishment that several of last year’s Abbotsford Canucks have since stacked upon the accomplishment that already was their 2025 Calder Cup Championship.

By our count, eight players who played for Abbotsford in 2024-25 have played for the Vancouver Canucks this season: Linus Karlsson, Aatu Räty, Max Sasson, Arshdeep Bains, Elias Pettersson the younger, Victor Mancini, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Nils Åman, and Jiri Patera. Of course, only five of those eight were part of the championship roster, but either way, they’re all skating at least a few NHL minutes in 2025-26.

But of the set, who has made the biggest difference? Who has made the most positive impact? Who has impressed you the most?

As we ask this question, we realize it’s not exactly an eight-horse race. Patera has played only one game, Åman has played only two, and Mancini has been yo-yoing back and forth. But from where we’re sitting, there’s an argument to be made here for at least four of the eight, and so we put it to you, our trusted reader, to sort it out from there.

Choose whichever personal criteria you see fit to answer the question.

What question? This one.

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

In the words of Neil Hamburger, “I guess it’s time to go back to the drawing board.” Yes, I think it’s time to do a rebuild. This team is missing many pieces and their high-priced players (except for maybe Quinn Hughes) are either chronically injured or underperforming. They should trade Hughes while he still has some trade value. Get picks and/or prospects.

I doubt they will actually rebuild, though. It doesn’t seem to be the way this team rolls. And as long as people keep buying the crappy product, there’s no reason to.

Whatever they end up doing, you can rest assured they won’t be calling it a rebuild. The owners have made it clear that they will always chase whatever they view as the quick fix and will always prefer to choose management teams who tell them they can do the impossible.

The first sign that they might be finally changing that strategy will be evident when they make a decision on Sherwood. If they resign a 30 year old who’s breaking out later than anyone in league history when his value is at its highest in a down year for the team, then we know we can expect no major changes. After that, we should have an idea of what the plan is going forward.

If they keep Sherwood, you can be certain the return they’ll be seeking for Hughes will be roster-player-heavy to “try and stay competitive because we owe it to Boeser, Demko, EP40, the fans etc” or whatever other garbage they try and peddle.

Absolutely not. They have some elite talent to build around and should do so. No team, Montreal included, “rebuilt”…the teams that were having issues and are now stronger simply worked through their issues. Those who play video games and live in a fantasy world will want to rebuild. Go do it in that world.

Rebuild/retool/whatever re- one would like to use. I believe the FO will do what they did last year and keep their first round pick. If they are somehow within the playoff chase, they will keep their FAs. If out, the players with expiring contracts will be traded.

With Lekki, Willander, EP2, Mancini, Cootes, and this year’s draft choices, there will be a youth movement to surround the players signed long-term. A top-ten or -five pick in this next draft would go a long way.

If they don’t decide to rebuild, it will be painful. Young studs are dominating the league, and if we had asked this question five or six years ago and the team (ownership) had any vision, we would be in a much better place and this wouldn’t be a question. Everyone should be worried this will still be a question five years from now.

Ironically, as bad as this team is, we have some amazing trade chips, and if they sell high, they can really stack the cupboards with solid prospects and picks, while likely securing some top-five talent in a few loaded drafts. That’s the only path to a possible championship. The pain of a few bad years will not only be worth it but accepted and celebrated. Read the room, Aqua.

Yes, they should and No, they won’t… and no cups will be in Vancouver anytime soon.

The Chicago game seemed to have set this rebuild ball in motion. I remember the gist was Vancouver wildly outshot the Blackhawks, but couldn’t score and thus the Hawks passed the Canucks organization. However, the next game or two, the Wings outshot Chicago 50 to 20 and lost 5-1. Does that mean the Wings have been replaced by the Hawks as well? And the wings who I thought were in a rebuild, should start rebuilding again?

Rebuilds guarantee nothing. Ownership have ZERO intent on selling or rebuilding.

Hughes is going NO WHERE – mgmt will do everything in their power to re-sign him and they’ll continue to add pieces (re-tool/tinker) around this core.

Anyone wishing/screaming to do so are just setting yourselves up for disappointment, cuz it AIN’T HAPPENING.

Rebuild is a nice idea, but one this ownership will never allow to happen – and then, really, why should they? The Canucks are the perfect model for the NHL and ownership, raising prices for tickets for two years in a row (not to mention the extremely high price of food and drinks and parking at $40) without doing anything to improve the product. Oh sorry, they got new black seats, and yet the arena keeps selling out and people keep buying the over-priced beer and popcorn. They have nothing in the system to rebuild from, so there’s that and no one wants to trade anything of considerable value for even the most talented veterans on this team. I remember seeing when Florida was so bad that they had to entice people to come to the games with the hotdog and parking and a seat for $26 USD. That’s not happening in Vancouver ever, so then what’s the incentive to do something drastic?

Vancouver Canucks don’t really have any veteran players with trade value left after doubling down on Demko, Boeser, and Garland, so there won’t be a conventional rebuild – but I do expect them to keep their picks for the 2026 draft, where they are on track to land a top-six pick at the rate they are going.

I have a more radical idea. This franchise, from the roulette wheel in 1970, is cursed. Cursed beyond repair. Move the team to Atlanta and get an expansion team fronted by Ryan Reynolds and Michael Buble.

Call the new team the Vancouver AVengers, or the Vancouver Vipers, Vancouver Vapes, Vancouver Varicose Veins – it doesn’t matter, just no connection to Canucks.

Make the uniforms deep red with blue piping. New logo, no stick in the rink, or Flying V or spaghetti plate or whales. Start completely fresh.

I realize chances of that happening are about the same as the chances of a full tear-down rebuild.

One thing I’m looking forward to is Rutherford’s assessment after he retires. He’s not a dummy. If Hughes doesn’t re-sign then surely he knows the Canucks will need to replace their core. I seriously doubt he sticks around for that, and after he advises the owner that the team needs a new core, and the owner refuses, will Rutherford and his blunt honesty expose ownership in a post-leave interview? I would pay to listen to that.

The Canucks need to commit to a rebuild right now, no excuses. I mean a complete rebuild, not the half-assed retools this ownership likes to engage in. The excuses I am referring to are: “If we don’t try to make the playoffs, ‘X’ will leave.” Newsflash Canuck fans, they are going to leave anyway. In fact, some mid-range players you cant even pay millions of dollars to come here.

The Canucks have cheaped out as a franchise. No practice facility, no commitment to excellence, and absolutely no commitment to their fanbase. Despite that, they have a loyal, even somewhat fanatical fanbase, and players that do wish to be part of a Stanley Cup Championship here.

Ownership and management need to make the hard choices and focus on one thing, building a Cup winner, no matter what it takes.

My fear (tongue in cheek….hopefully), however, is that if/when it comes time to trade Quinn Hughes, they will be looking for win now pieces only – no futures wanted as we are in the usual “win now” mode.

Do you think the Canucks should engage in a rebuild in the near future? Absolutely!

And if so, do you think they actually will? Of course they won’t!

Last week I thought about buying tickets for a seat on the Accidental Tank Train, but decided against it. It is just too much to hope for.

It is clear to me now that the Canucks will win 2 out of 3 on the upcoming road trip, then continue the season occasionally beating or getting a loser point from top teams, losing to other sad-sack teams, and generally floundering.

Of course, the team will not be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by the trade deadline, but be far enough back to be virtually out. Which means keeping own-rentals while prospects and draft picks will be traded for stop-gap players in a desperate bid to get two home playoff dates, which won’t happen.

Which means that by the end of the season all the decent UFAs will be lost for nothing, the same core will remain, and the prospect pool will be even shallower. Which means the future will be even bleaker.

My only hope now is that the outlook for future will get so bleak that QH will clearly not re-up here, but with enough notice to be moved for assets. Which of course means the team will cling to baseless hopes of re-signing him to the very end, and eventually lose him for nothing.

They don’t need to tear it all down and rebuild from scratch. They have decent pieces already. What they do need to do, however, is get in on the McKenna sweepstakes. A player of his caliber doesn’t come that often. Embrace the tank for this season, hopefully acquire McKenna and then add Cootes to the roster next year, then the Canucks will have a decent team with a nice mix of young players and veterans.

Tanking is for losers.

Only a league as morally bereft as the NHL would not only encourage but also reward mismanagement and failure.

Pffft.

I’m not a fan of a long drawn out rebuild. I would like to see a well executed retool though. Right now, the league is screaming for talent. Canucks have some good pieces in Hughes, Garland, and Sherwood. I used to have Demko on this list, but that foolish $8.25 million contract is a boat anchor. I say have a retool based on the arrival of our young Russian goaltender. The retool has to coincide with the 2026 draft. We need as many picks as possible.

It is crystal clear the Canucks lack high-end talent. Something has to happen. Almost all will agree this should include keeping draft picks and prospects. Most all will also agree on trading out veterans for additional picks and prospects. The Canucks do need to do that and I think they will. At what point do these actions constitute a rebuild?

Do you have to purposely tank multiple whole seasons for it to be considered a rebuild? The teams that did so most recently and are being considered to have successful rebuilds haven’t won a playoff series yet. Most haven’t made the playoffs. They have experienced huge financial losses, however, and face the tough part of getting a multitude of high-end players re-signed under the cap.

None of the injured players can come back and save this season. Some level of rebuilding is eminent. Only a Hughes trade will push the Canucks into a full-scale rebuild.

Rebuild means building something again after it has been damaged or destroyed.

I prefer the term restore.

The Canucks need to try to restore the team to its former glory rather than destroy it and start over.

Quinn Hughes is the key piece of the restoration. He needs to be sold off to bring back the pieces that will carry the team to greater glory.

Replacing him with three better forwards is what the team needs.

It might be two players and a first round pick.

As part of the restoration, the rest of Benning’s core may have to go: Demko, Pettersson and possibly Boeser, though he is living up to his contract.