With Friday’s National Hockey League trading deadline creeping closer like a dare, Vancouver general manager Patrik Allvin isn’t getting much help these days from his players as he tries to sell off a couple of pieces to help the team’s rebuild.
In three games since the Olympic break, the Canucks are 0-2-1 and in the last two have been outscored 11-2.
In the team’s first game back last Wednesday, scouts or management staff from 15 other NHL teams were crowding reporters in the Rogers Arena press box. When the Canucks were humiliated 6-1 Monday by the Dallas Stars, a Stanley Cup contender that dominated the home team despite missing Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz, only five other NHL organizations were represented. Four, not including the Stars.
Let’s be real: anyone interested in rental trades for free-agent-eligible Canucks Evander Kane and Teddy Blueger probably aren’t changing their minds based on Vancouver’s most recent duds because these players have been watched for years, and it’s their body of work teams would be purchasing.
But it sure would help the sales team if the Canucks didn’t look so overmatched and uncompetitive during deadline week, especially since it’s obvious none of the available UFAs is anybody’s Plan-A. It’s possible Allvin may have to wait until the final hours before the deadline to see which teams circle back on his players.
The veteran Canucks with more trade appeal are those the team would rather not discount, like Connor Garland and Drew O’Connor.
Whatever happens, only one pre-deadline game remains for the Canucks to showcase themselves – and it’s Wednesday against a Carolina Hurricanes team that is every bit as good as the Stars.
“We just have to be better in a lot of different areas,” O’Connor said. “We gave them a ton of Grade-As. Tolo (Canucks goalie Nikita Tolopilo) had some good saves but, I mean, you give them that many Grade-As, they’re going to score. We struggled all night, I thought.”
The Canucks are in last place in the NHL for many reasons, but one of the biggest, injuries, should no longer be a factor.
The team emerged from the Olympic break as healthy as it has been this season. Not including injured starting goalie Thatcher Demko, the only missing skaters are luckless middle-six centre Filip Chytil and depth defenceman Derek Forbort.
Finally playing with the luxury of four actual NHL centres, Vancouver should not look this bad, even with three first- or second-year prospects on defence.
But the Canucks simply aren’t doing enough offensively to offset what has been a continuation of the defensive mistakes that have crushed them this season. And culpability for those goes far beyond three inexperienced kids on the blue line.
It was veteran winger Jake DeBrusk who let Stars defenceman Lian Bichsel skate away from him to score Dallas’ go-ahead goal at 8:31 of the second period. Experienced defenceman Marcus Pettersson turned the puck over in his zone on the fourth Dallas goal, and O’Connor bobbled the puck away in his slot on the fifth one.
Kane, at least, scored Vancouver’s goal in the first period, albeit with his skate on the rebound from DeBrusk’s shot. Despite being outchanced and slightly outplayed in the opening 20 minutes, the Canucks competed and hung in against the Stanley Cup contenders.
But the Stars outshot them 16-3 in the second period and 32-7 over the final 43 minutes. Needing a surge to start the third period, when a Vancouver goal would have cut Dallas’ lead to 3-2, the mistakes by Pettersson and O’Connor allowed Stars Matt Duchene and Colin Blackwell to score in the first six minutes.
“Usually, you don’t see those guys do those things,” coach Adam Foote said. “But after that… we’ve all been there before as players (when) you don’t feel anything’s going your way. That’s where you just kind of dig deep and stick together and, you know, put out the fires together.
“You learn from it, right? You’re going to have to, that one, learn the hard way. You’re playing against a really good, savvy hockey team on their A-game. Even with a couple of guys out, they won nine in a row coming in and, you know, those types of plays, they’re going to bury you on it.”
The Stars had won eight straight before Monday, so their heater is now nine games.
The Canucks, meanwhile, have won twice in 21 games in the year 2026.
After scoring twice in seven consecutive games, their struggling offence has fallen by half in consecutive losses to Dallas and Seattle, where the Canucks were thumped 5-1 on Saturday.
Vancouver’s 14 shots against the Stars were a season low.
Garland hasn’t scored in 22 games, and Elias Pettersson is goalless in 14. Benched in Seattle, Pettersson returned to the first line on Monday but still doesn’t have a shot on net since the Olympic break.
DeBrusk has one goal in 17 games, Marco Rossi one in 11 since his trade to the Canucks.
Without Vezina Trophy goaltending, the Canucks have no chance to win like this.
“We’ve got to find a way,” Marcus Pettersson said of the adversity. “Like, we can’t just fall down and die; we’ve got to get back on the horse. And like I said, it’s up to us, to us veterans in here, to kind of get the team back on track. And I think we can do a better job of that.”
“Everyone wants to be better,” O’Connor said. “I mean, I was pretty bad tonight; I gave up that fifth goal. I turn the puck over, and they score. There’s a lot of plays I could have been better on tonight and, you know, we probably all need to look ourselves in the mirror a little bit.”
Sixth defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph left the game with an injury one shift into the third period. The Canucks only extra defenceman has been Tyler Myers, who has sat out the last three games while Allvin tries to trade him. Foote was unsure post-game what the Canucks will do with their lineup on Wednesday if Joseph is unavailable to face the Hurricanes.
