Projecting Vancouver Canucks lines for the 2026-27 season
For perhaps the first time this century, the Vancouver Canucks will enter next season without any talk from management about being a playoff team.
It’s certainly a breath of fresh air for a fanbase that wanted a rebuild more than a decade ago; however, it might not make for the most thrilling on-ice product.
That being said, the lack of star power on the team does create a lot of interesting lineup decisions for Manny Malhotra and the Canucks coaching staff.
Vancouver doesn’t roster any bona fide, top-line calibre players. They also have just one defenceman who would be a surefire, top-four mainstay on a playoff-bound squad.
So, how will Malhotra and his staff amalgamate the Canucks roster? Here’s our first crack at predicting the first iteration of Vancouver’s lineup for opening night.
Forwards
Liam Ohgren – Marco Rossi – Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson – Linus Karlsson
Paul Cotter – Aatu Räty – Drew O’Connor
Max Sasson – Ilya Safonov – Brendan Gallagher
Extra: Trey Fix-Wolansky
Congratulations to Marco Rossi, who should enter the season as the Canucks’ de facto number one centre.
After an injury hampered the beginning of his Canucks career, Rossi was clearly Vancouver’s best centre down the stretch. He developed chemistry with Brock Boeser and, to a lesser extent, his old Minnesota Wild teammate, Liam Ohgren. Keeping that trio together makes sense based on how they played towards the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
Linus Karlsson was statistically Vancouver’s best forward at five-on-five last season. He led the Canucks with 24 points at five-on-five despite finishing 15th among regular forwards in ice time at evens. He’s earned a shot in the top-six.
Linus Karlsson deserves to be in the Canucks top-six. (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)
Jake DeBrusk hasn’t been good at five-on-five alongside Elias Pettersson, but the Canucks might want to keep him in the top-six in hopes of boosting his trade value. Also, DeBrusk, Pettersson and Karlsson did control 60.6 per cent of expected goals in their time together last season.
Based on last season’s stats, no one on the Canucks roster likes to throw hits more than Paul Cotter and Aatu Räty. You could also argue that no one on the Canucks roster forechecked harder last season than O’Connor. It’s a line that lacks playmaking ability, but so does the forward group as a whole.
If Filip Chytil isn’t ready to go, then Max Sasson and Ilya Safonov are next in line to take over the fourth-line centre spot. Although Sasson played centre under Malhotra in Abbotsford, he looked more comfortable on the wing last season. Brendan Gallagher probably doesn’t deserve to be ahead of Boeser, Karlsson, or O’Connor on the depth chart at this stage of his career.
In terms of Chytil, he has been working out this offseason. But, much like the Tucker Poolman situation from years ago, penciling him in before he proves he can stay healthy seems overly optimistic.
This initial roster omits Braeden Cootes and Jonathan Lekkerimaki. While both certainly have a chance of making this paper-thin lineup, there’s an argument that both are best served playing big minutes in Abbotsford. Lekkerimaki may not need it as much as Cootes, but we should see how he looks at camp after undergoing shoulder surgery in February.
Trey Fix-Wolansky, Arshdeep Bains, Mackenzie MacEachern, Akil Thomas and Ty Mueller are other forwards on the roster who would battle for an NHL spot if Chytil isn’t healthy.
Defence
Zeev Buium – Filip Hronek
Jamie Oleksiak – Tom Willander
Elias Pettersson – Luke Schenn
Extra: Victor Mancini
Zeev Buium spent almost half of his five-on-five minutes alongside Hronek last season. Although the duo had a heavy dose of offensive zone starts, they controlled 53.1 per cent of shot attempts when they were on the ice together.
Jamie Oleksiak might not be as stout defensively as Marcus Pettersson was, but you can almost guarantee he’s going to play a top-four role for the Canucks. Tom Willander also showed enough last season to warrant more top-four minutes. He also struggled when paired with either one of Buium or defenceman Elias Pettersson.
Can Elias Pettersson rediscover some of his rookie success under Malhotra? (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)
While there isn’t a lot of puck moving with a bottom pair of D-Petey and Luke Schenn, at least the duo isn’t sluggish. Even though D-Petey is a physical, stay-at-home defender, he’s surprisingly quick for his size. His top skating speed last season ranked in the 84th percentile among NHLers.
Victor Mancini is a wild card coming into training camp for the Canucks. His defending was chaotic in the NHL last season, but it’s worth noting he played arguably the best hockey of his career under the tutelage of Malhotra and Jordan Smith in Abbotsford.
Goaltending
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Extra: Nikita Tolopilo
Thatcher Demko believes he’s found the answer to his injury woes. But even if he is healthy, the Canucks can run him like a workhorse starter. However, he’s easily the most talented goaltender in the Canucks organization, and one of the NHL’s best when healthy.
Kevin Lankinen struggled last season after a stellar start to his Canucks career in 2024-25. He also dealt with some undisclosed personal matters, which resulted in him leaving the team temporarily last November.
Although a chaotic defensive environment didn’t help Lankinen, he was still outplayed by rookie netminder Nikita Tolopilo.
Even if Demko is healthy, keeping a three-goalie rotation makes sense for the Canucks, especially considering that Tolopilo is waiver-eligible. If Vancouver did lose Tolopilo on waivers, and Demko got injured again, the next goalies on the depth chart are Ty Young and Aku Koskenvuo.
Keeping all of Demko, Lankinen and Tolopilo on the NHL roster seems like a prudent move for the Canucks, both as an insurance policy and to see if any of them can parlay strong performances into something of value on the trade market.