What the Canucks need to do to get back to the playoffs

To say that the Vancouver Canucks had a disappointing season would be an understatement, but now with the nightmare that was the 2024-25 season behind them, it’ll be interesting to see what they do this summer if they look to bounce back and contend for the playoffs again. They’ll be in need of some high-end forward talent with J.T. Miller gone, and depending on what happens with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, and that’s just to get them back to the level that they were at last year.

So what can the Canucks do to get back to playoff contention? Sportsnet’s Satiar Shah joined Daily Faceoff Live to discuss what the Canucks’ priorities should be in the offseason.

Satiar Shah: Well, they need a center, and the other one is the guy who’s already a center here in #40. Can he regain his form? Can they get him back on track? That’s the big thing.

But they have to add a center. We know they need a center behind Elias Pettersson. They’ve been pretty vocal about Filip Chytil being a third line center. Jim Rutherford has made the rounds and recently mentioned that he’s best suited to be a third line centerman. So there’s a clear hole behind Elias Pettersson, or perhaps ahead of Pettersson, depending on how you view Pettersson right now and whether you think he can be a first line center of a team. So that remains the main priority.

I think as much as they want a guy who’s offensive, I think if you look at the guys they’ve gone after it in the past, you look at the workload J.T. Miller had playing in every situation. They want to have an every-situation type center that can take big faceoffs, take the match-up role, and play the toughs for them and also provide a little bit of offense. And if you’re not bringing Boeser back, which does not look very favorable at the moment, you need at least one more scoring winger. And if you get the scoring winger and replace J.T. Miller, now you’re only back to where you were perhaps last year, but you also don’t have Pius Suter anymore.

So this team, generally, if you want to take that massive step, they need three additions to their forward group. Realistically, it’s probably one you’re going to make, maybe two. That’s going to be the key. If you want this team to look significantly different from how they were last year, if you want to see them be more offensively inclined, the forward group has to improve dramatically.

You can watch the full episode here…