Even Jared McCann is surprised by his success against Vancouver Canucks

There’s no better tonic for a struggling opposition than the Vancouver Canucks.

That was the case for the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night, as they snapped a four-game losing skid and cruised to a 5-2 victory at Rogers Arena.

But if there’s a silver lining in losing, it’s that there’s always something you can learn from it.

And for the Canucks, hopefully, they’ve learned from the Jared McCann debacle.

It was nearly 10 years ago that former Canucks GM Jim Benning made arguably the worst trade of his eight-year tenure in Vancouver, sending McCann and two draft picks to the Florida Panthers for Erik Gudbranson and a fifth-round pick.

While it took McCann some time to find his footing in the NHL, he’s morphed into a valuable top-six player for the Kraken. He’s the only player in their franchise history to score more than 100 goals, and he’s also Seattle’s all-time leader in points.

Not only that, but he brings his best against the Canucks.

McCann scored the opening goal for the Kraken on Saturday night, which was his seventh career goal against the Canucks.

stop… CANNER TIME 🕺 pic.twitter.com/BQeWjt92n0

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 15, 2026

Overall, he has seven goals and 25 points in 26 games against his former club. That’s the most points he has against any team in the NHL.

“Oh, really? I didn’t know that,” McCann said with a smile following the win.

Does the 29-year-old have a little extra motivation when going up against the team that gave up on him?

“No, it doesn’t feel any different, to be honest,” he said. “Obviously, I was drafted here, and they treated me so well while I was here.”

Perhaps they treated him well, even if they didn’t do what was best for his development.

Three years ago, McCann opened up about his time in Vancouver.

“I personally think that I could have used a year in the AHL. I really do,” he said in 2023 on the Mitts Off podcast.

“Mentally, I think it would have helped me. Physically, it would have helped me.”

Despite that, McCann doesn’t seem to suppress any hard feelings towards Vancouver.

“I always enjoy coming back here,” he said. “It’s special.”

I’m sure it is.

As the Canucks enter the early stages of what seems like a multi-year rebuild, they can pocket some valuable lessons from the McCann debacle, even with a different leadership team in charge.

The best organizations tend to season their prospects for as long as possible before bringing them to the NHL. That seasoning time has shortened with the rise of speed and skill in the NHL, but there’s little downside to letting a player marinate until they’re truly ready.

That’s something McCann would probably agree with.

And if the Canucks are truly going to pull off a successful rebuild, they can ill-afford to make another boneheaded trade like the McCann one.