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Vancouver Canucks' Defensive Group Ranked Ahead of the 2025-26 Campaign, and It's Not Great
Photo credit: Bob Frid - Imagn Images.
A big announcement was made on Monday morning regarding the Vancouver Canucks' defensive group ahead of the National Hockey League's 2025-26 season.
The Vancouver Canucks are pretty optimistic about their chances this coming season and are looking to prove to everyone across the league that last year was a fluke.
While General Manager Patrik Allvin has been quite busy this summer so far, trading for Evander Kane, re-signing Brock Boeser and bringing Vitali Kravtsov back from Russia to round out their forward group, he hasn't done much with the team's defensive corps, which will remain the same this year.
Led by Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek the Vancouver Canucks are poised to have one of the best defenseive groups in the National Hockey League, if everyone stays healthy and recently, an announcement was made which included the team's blue line for the 2025-26 campaign.
Big announcement made regarding Vancouver Canucks' defensive group for upcoming season
In an article for TSN on Monday, Travis Yost revealed his "Summer Talent Tiers" for blueliners across the National Hockey League, ranking the defensive corps for all 32 National Hockey League franchises.
Five teams are featured in the first tier - the Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers and the Ottawa Senators, all of whom have elite top pairing defensemen and their plenty of quality depth blueliners.
The Vancouver Canucks are featured on Tier 2, alongside the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets.
Yost says that he considered putting the Canucks in his top tier, but he wants to see more from the rest of their defensive group beyond Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek.
"Vancouver Canucks (T2) - The duo of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek is so electric I gave Vancouver real thought for tier one consideration, but I need to see more from the rest of the (less experienced) defensive group. One wrinkle I'm excited for? A Pettersson goal, assisted by Pettersson and Pettersson." Yost said.
As things stand right now, the Vancouver Canucks will likely ice these six defenseman for opening night in early October against the Calgary Flames, with their projected pairings potentially looking like this, according to Daily Faceoff:
Hughes -- Hronek
M. Pettersson -- Myers
Forbort -- E. Pettersson
M. Pettersson -- Myers
Forbort -- E. Pettersson
With guys like Victor Mancini, Tom Willander and Pierre-Olivier Joseph all waiting in the wings, the Vancouver Canucks are in a much better position this season depth wise than they were last year and that'll serve them well as they get deeper into the 2025-26 campaign when injury issue arise.
Next summer, when Yost releases an updated edition for the 2026-27 campaign, there's no doubt that the Vancouver Canucks will be in that top tier.
Source: TSN/Travis Yost
Summer Talent Tiers: Defence
Summer Talent Tiers: Defence
Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily
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AOUT 11 | 2117 ANSWERS Vancouver Canucks' Defensive Group Ranked Ahead of the 2025-26 Campaign, and It's Not Great Do you think the Vancouver Canucks' defensive group is top-five in the NHL? | ||
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| No | 848 | 40.1 % |
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