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NHL Insider Explains Why the Vancouver Canucks Will Make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs This Season
Photo credit: Bob Frid - Imagn Images.
An NHL insider explained recently why he thinks the Vancouver Canucks will make it back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season after missing out last year.
Excitement is in the air in Vancouver as the Canucks are set to open the 2025-26 season tomorrow on home ice against the Calgary Flames.
Vancouver Canucks fans are hoping that the team will be able to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season after a very difficult 2025-26 campaign, with General Manager Patrik Allvin busy this summer to ensure his group has a chance.
Allvin and the team's management group were able to complete a deal with the Edmonton Oilers for nine-time 20+ goal scorer Evander Kane and less than a week later, got a deal done at the last minute with forward Brock Boeser before he hit the free agent market.
NHL insider explains why he thinks the Vancouver Canucks will be in the mix for a playoff spot
During the inaugural edition of his new podcast, Frankly Hockey, National Hockey League insider Frank Seravalli shared why he thinks the Vancouver Canucks will be in the mix for a return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs next spring.
Seravalli spoke about where the Vancouver Canucks are really good at in terms of their roster and he points to the potential for Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen to form the best goaltending tandem in the National Hockey League this season.
He went on to discuss how deep the Canucks' blue line is, led by captain Quinn Hughes - who is arguably the best defenseman in the National Hockey League right now - along with some really nice pieces surrounding him, including Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson, Tyler Myers, among others.
"I'm betting on Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen on being the best tandem in the NHL. I'm betting on a lot of people around the NHL overlooking the back end of this Vancouver team. I mean, when you take a look at a healthy Quinn Hughes and this group - Filip Hronek, a partner that he picked, kind of handpicked to keep and helped get him that extension. Tyler Myers, maybe the perfect number four, where you can swap him and Marcus Pettersson, a guy who steadies thing coming over in that trade from Pittsburgh.
But I want to park those for a second and talk about what makes this Vancouver Canucks team good and what makes them a playoff team is right here on defense. We know that their goaltending is good, provided that Demko can remain healthy. This is a Vezina caliber goaltender who is, by the way, on a good contract this year and being paid like one next year. So they've placed their bet and they believe in Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen on a long-term deal, I do too.
So, the good parts of what Vancouver does well, can they just solve a few of those question marks because they weren't insanely far away last year, in a year in which almost everything that could go wrong did. Quinn Hughes was hurt, Thatcher Demko was hurt, traded J.T. Miller. All of these things blew up in their face and they still had 90 points last year. I see Vancouver as a playoff team this year, I know a lot of people are down on them, but that's because they're not looking at what makes Vancouver really good." Seravalli said.
But I want to park those for a second and talk about what makes this Vancouver Canucks team good and what makes them a playoff team is right here on defense. We know that their goaltending is good, provided that Demko can remain healthy. This is a Vezina caliber goaltender who is, by the way, on a good contract this year and being paid like one next year. So they've placed their bet and they believe in Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen on a long-term deal, I do too.
So, the good parts of what Vancouver does well, can they just solve a few of those question marks because they weren't insanely far away last year, in a year in which almost everything that could go wrong did. Quinn Hughes was hurt, Thatcher Demko was hurt, traded J.T. Miller. All of these things blew up in their face and they still had 90 points last year. I see Vancouver as a playoff team this year, I know a lot of people are down on them, but that's because they're not looking at what makes Vancouver really good." Seravalli said.
While Vancouver's goaltending and defensive corps can certainly be among the league's best this year, there are some question marks on forward, especially in the goal scoring department after the Canucks finished 24th in the NHL during the 2024-25 season with 236 in 82 contests, an average of 2.87 per game.
"Too often Kate we want to spend a lot of time talking about what teams don't do well and that is a question about this Canucks team, because I think the biggest question mark laying around them is, are they going to score enough goals? Can Pettersson get back to the form that he had as you mentioned? What about Jake DeBrusk and some of the secondary scoring for this team? Can Brock Boeser get back to the 35-40 goal level that he fully has in his potential?" Seravalli said.
If the Vancouver Canucks are able to get off to a hot start to the 2025-26 season and can be in a playoff position by American Thanksgiving, where roughly 75-80 percent of teams in a spot end up making it to the big dance every year, then Adam Foote's group will have a very good chance of playing postseason hockey in a little over six months.
Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 8 | 1003 ANSWERS NHL Insider Explains Why the Vancouver Canucks Will Make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs This Season Do you think the Vancouver Canucks will make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season? | ||
| Yes | 776 | 77.4 % |
| No | 227 | 22.6 % |
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