How Vancouver Canucks can win back fans after nightmare season
The Vancouver Canucks have often been noisy for all the wrong reasons, but things escalated to a different level in 2025-26.
All the promise of an emerging Stanley Cup contender in 2024 has now vanished, with Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller gone, while centre Elias Pettersson is a shell of his former self.
Their lack of success culminated in the team plummeting to the NHL’s basement. It’s a spot they haven’t occupied since the early 1970s, even though it feels like Vancouver has been the league’s laughingstock far too often in recent history.
Because what happens when you’re the butt of NHL punchlines? Apathy starts to set in.
“I do think there is some misalignment, I do think there is some disconnection,” popular Canucks fan Clay Imoo said on the Locked On Canucks podcast. “That’s probably why you’re seeing some season ticket members opt out, because they don’t feel connected with the team right now.”
Hiking season ticket prices after last year’s disaster didn’t help the Canucks. Neither did a poll from NHL agents that ripped the Canucks for their conduct.
The Canucks, as they’ve done before with franchise legend Trevor Linden, tried to snag a public relations win by hiring the Sedin twins as co-presidents.
The Sedins have said all the right things. But along with new general manager Ryan Johnson, they’ll need to push the right buttons.
Canucks must prove they have a plan
The Canucks are entering a new era with Ryan Johnson and the Sedins, but will it be enough to win fans back? (Rob Williams/Daily Hive)
The Canucks shied away from even uttering the word “rebuild” for far too long.
But in 2025-26, the team finally changed its tune.
“As somebody who’s followed the team and cared about the team since 1970, and even before that… they’ve never done this before,” Don Taylor told Daily Hive. “This is the focus of an actual plan. I think that’s the first step. This is where it starts.”
But, how much credit do the Canucks deserve for verbally committing to a rebuild?
Let’s remember, the word “rebuild” wasn’t uttered by Canucks management until Quinn Hughes’ request to leave the Canucks was fulfilled back in December. Even then, former GM Patrik Allvin clumsily said that the Canucks would “retool it a little bit with a hybrid form,” following a mirage-like win streak after the Hughes trade.
“With the retool thing, [the Canucks] have always gone back and forth,” former Canucks in-game host Hannah Bernard said. “People just don’t have any idea what to believe in because there hasn’t been a clear identity.”
It’s far too early to say what the identity of the Canucks will be under the Sedins and GM Ryan Johnson, but at least they have a focus.
“Well, at least, it seems like they’ve got this focus, but actions speak louder than words,” Taylor said. “They’re saying the right things and so far doing the right things, trading players for draft picks.”
“They get some credit for seemingly, begrudgingly getting backed into a corner and realizing that everybody who was yelling at them to rebuild might be right,” Taylor continued. “But we will see with some more action.”
The Sedins said that they wouldn’t have taken the job in Vancouver if the organization wasn’t on board with a rebuild.
But the next task is more arduous: they need to back it up.
“What I want to see is a plan,” Imoo said. “And if you tell me the plan is to use all 10 draft picks this year, admit that we’re not going to be good for the next two or three years, but in three or four years from now, as all these players rise together, led by [Zeev] Buium and [Tom] Willander, who will be veterans by then, I can get behind that. I really can.”
“We just need belief again,” Bernard added. “We want to feel like this team cares because Canucks fans are loyal, but they are smart.”
“And right now, it just feels like something is missing.”
The Canucks could win back a lot of goodwill in the market by sticking to a rebuild for the first time in franchise history. But there can’t be any deviation from the plan.
“Don’t treat Canucks fans like we’re dumb,” Kyle Bhawan said on the Locked On Canucks podcast. “If you’re going to tell us you’re rebuilding, just stick to it.”
Can ‘corporate’ Canucks bring back community feel?
Taylor and Imoo both noted that the Canucks need to be more involved in the community. The Sedins seem to agree. (@Canucks/X)
Not only did the Canucks look uncoordinated on the ice this past season, but there’s seemingly been some disconnect off the ice as well.
That hasn’t always been the case.
“There was a more neighbourhood, community feel with them before,” Taylor said. “Now it’s a corporate feel.”
“Back in the days of [Brian] Burke, [Dave] Nonis, and [Pat] Quinn, you’d hear a lot and see players all around in the community,” Imoo added.
While Canucks fans can expect a rebuild to be a slow, methodical process, repairing relationships in the community should be an easy win.
“We should be the No. 1 organization in the NHL when it comes to community involvement,” Daniel Sedin said during the twins’ introductory press conference.
“Weāre going to ask our players to do a lot. I think itās so important for us as players when we did those things. I think it puts perspective in life. I think fans will respect that.”
“We gotta bring that back,ā Henrik noted.
The Sedins have backed that up in the early days of their tenure. Now, they just need to get the rest of the organization on board.
“It goes a long way for the goodwill of the team, especially in a bad season,” Imoo said.
What else can be done to win back Canucks fans?
Fans aren’t expecting wins next year. (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)
Ushering in a new era via rebuild and getting players back out in the community seem like the two most important tasks for winning fans back.
But is there anything else the team can do?
Well, how about finally building a practice facility?
“You shouldn’t have Arturs Silovs going to Pittsburgh and saying that the number one thing he likes about Pittsburgh is the practice facility,” Taylor said. “That was a real condemnation of the franchise.”
Building a practice facility would show fans that the Canucks care about their players, especially when virtually every other NHL team has one.
Another thing that management has alluded to is creating a better relationship with the media.
“Obviously, I’m biased here, but I think [the Canucks] should try to mend fences with the local media and get them on their side as opposed to being their enemy,” Taylor said.
“The media is the conduit to their fans, the customer, and I don’t think anybody in the organization realizes that. I think it’s a big mistake, and it hasn’t always been like that.”
“They’re on the right path with the rebuild, and I think they could continue on the right path if they mend fences with the media.”
Since our interview with Taylor, new Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra has a scheduled appearance on Donnie and Dhali. That’s a good sign.
“There was a time when we would just have players’ numbers and call them up. We didn’t have a media relations guy. And it was okay for the media to ask tough questions and pry a bit, because they’d make sure that their product was front and centre on newscasts and in newspapers, sportscasts, all over town.”
Well, seems like an easy enough job the Sedins and Johnson have taken on. All they have to do is author a successful rebuild, repair relationships with the community and media, all while finding a way to finally build a practice facility.
At least they don’t have to worry about winning hockey games in the near future. In fact, that would be detrimental to the rebuild.
“My biggest worry as a fan is that Demko comes back next year, somehow stays healthy, and gets them into a playoff spot, or near a playoff spot, and it gets them back into the sea of mediocrity,” Taylor said.
But competing hard and playing for each other, even if the wins aren’t there, would be a good place to start once the puck drops next October.
“It’s not about wins,” Bernard said. “It’s about seeing the identity, seeing the path, and being like ‘okay, I’m buying into this. Here we go.'”
“I just want to see more bodychecks, more effort, more camaraderie,” Bhawan said. “Give the fans something to be proud of, because if that happens, this fan base, we’re going to show up.”