It’s tough watching the NHL playoffs when your team isn’t in them. It’s tougher still when the expectation is that your team will very much be in the hunt. And then a bunch of seemingly insane events happen that result in them watching from the sidelines. 

Such, of course, is the fate of the Vancouver Canucks. Still though, the playoffs have been appointment viewing even for downtrodden Canucks fans. But who are you cheering for? A Canadian team like the Jets makes sense, unless you’re a lunatic. 

It also makes sense if you can’t help but follow former Canucks players. Here, we investigate some former Canucks who are still alive in the hunt for the Stanley Cup and determine whether you should be pissed off because they are no longer playing for the Canucks or simply happy that they are having success now.

And by the way, in most cases (if not all) the regret over a player not still being in Vancouver falls squarely on management, not the player. Let’s dig in, alphabetically. 

Anthony Beauvillier, Washington Capitals
Playoff stats: 5 PTS in 7 GP
Pissed-off level: 2/10

In the “roster player, draft pick, and prospect” return that any team demands for a disgruntled star, Beauvillier was the roster player that the Canucks got from the New York Islanders for Bo Horvat. Beauvillier was a fine Canuck during his short period of time with the team. He scored 20 points in 33 games in a top-six role in 2022-23. When that went away the next year, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for a fifth-round pick. Then the Blackhawks traded him to the Nashville Predators for a fifth-round pick in the same draft. 

He signed with Pittsburgh in the offseason and the Penguins somehow got a second-round pick for him from the Washington Capitals at the deadline. He’s had a decent playoffs riding shotgun with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome, but I don’t think Canucks fans should be bitter about this one. It’s good to see him find success somewhere and maybe even parlay it into a longer term contract somewhere else in the offseason. 

Jalen Chatfield, Carolina Hurricanes
Playoff stats: 1 PT in 7 GP 
Pissed-off level: 7/10

It’s not that Chatfield is having some sort of insane success in this postseason or something. It’s more that, as you’ll see with a couple more players on the list, the Canucks sometimes can’t make it work with players that find important roles on strong teams. 

Chatfield was in the Canucks’ system for four years. He was given 18 games at the NHL level. And granted, he didn’t perform well both in terms of the box score and the underlying numbers. When the Canucks chose not to sign him, Carolina swooped in. You know how the story goes from there. Chatfield found a role for himself in Carolina’s system as a reliable defensive defenceman. First, he helped Carolina’s AHL team win a Calder Cup and then he graduated swiftly to the big club where he has played solidly in a bottom-pairing role for the Canes for the last three seasons. 

Casey DeSmith, Dallas Stars
Playoff stats: .929 SV. PCT in 1 GP
Pissed-off level: 1/10

DeSmith served the Canucks admirably as the backup goaltender last season before getting hurt after Thatcher Demko also got hurt during the playoffs. DeSmith ultimately gave way to Arturs Silovs’ miracle playoff run (which increasingly looks like a miracle these days), and the Canucks signed Kevin Lankinen in the offseason to replace DeSmith. Hard to feel bad about that tradeoff if you’re a Canucks fan.

Nic Dowd, Washington Capitals
Playoff stats: 1 PT in 7 GP
Pissed-off level: 2/10 

After a very underwhelming 40 games with the Canucks, Dowd signed with the Capitals and has been a serviceable depth forward in Washington for seven years. Sure, you wonder a bit why it couldn’t have happened here. But in the scheme of things, the move to not sign him at the time wasn’t a head-scratcher. That won’t be the case with everyone on this list. 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Toronto Maple Leafs
Playoff stats: 4 PTS in 9 GP
Pissed-off level: 5/10

Man, oh man. I think at this stage, Canucks fans’ attitude about OEL, including the trade that brought him here and the way his tenure went are more or less summed up with a shoulder shrug and a sigh. And yeah, it sucks watching Dylan Guenther light it up for the Utah Mammot. (New name! Still not sure if I like it!). But Ekman-Larsson had to go, that much was clear. 

Seeing him win a Cup last year with the Panthers was… weird? It wasn’t that he was objectively terrible with the Canucks. It’s that he wasn’t worth the trade or the contract the Canucks had him on. There was never a huge doubt that he could be a contributor under a smaller deal. This year, on a contract that pays him $3.5 million against the cap, and playing 18 or so minutes a night, he’s been solid. 

Gustav Forsling, Florida Panthers
Playoff stats: 1 PT in 8 GP
Pissed-off level: 7/10

Most Canucks fans know the cautionary tale of Forsling. Drafted in the fifth-round of the 2014 draft by Vancouver, the Canucks shipped him off less than a year later to Chicago for Adam Clendening. He never even played a game for the team. It’s possible that the Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes regret their handling of Forsling more than the Canucks though. After a few years in Chicago, the Hawks sent him to Carolina, who dropped him to waivers shortly after. 

The Panthers scooped him up and he almost instantly became one of the most highly regarded two-way defencemen in the league. Granted, he hasn’t had a great playoffs so far, but he was one of the most important members of the Panthers’ Stanley Cup-winning team last year. And because you’re wondering—Adam Clendening spent several years in the AHL before heading to the KHL last year. 

Jonah Gadjovich, Florida Panthers
Playoff stats: 1 PT in 1 GP
Pissed-off level: 3/10

Did the Canucks give their 2017 second-rounder enough of a shot? Probably not. He played well in Utica and then played one game with the big club before he was claimed off waivers by San Jose. He was a bit player there before being a usual healthy scratch by Florida over the last two years. He played in his first playoff game last night and scored a goal (that went in off his giant body, fittingly), so there is plenty of room to build up the pissed-off level here. 

Tanner Pearson, Vegas Golden Knights
Playoff stats: 1 PT in 5 GP
Pissed-off level: 1/10

Pearson was a willing soldier for the Canucks. His work in the COVID-shortened season of 2019-20 (he had 45 points in 69 games in the regular season and eight points in 17 playoff games) is remembered fondly. But the wheels started to fall off a bit last season, and the Canucks sent him off with a third-round pick to Montreal for DeSmith. 

This year, he scored 27 points in 78 games for Vegas and has been an occasional healthy scratch in the playoffs. Really it’s just good that he’s recovered from a hand injury that cost him most of the 2022-23 season. 

Vasili Podkolzin, Edmonton Oilers
Playoff stats: 6 PTS in 8 GP
Pissed-off level: 9/10

This is the one that’s hard to swallow. Sure, maybe it’s true that it just wasn’t going to work with the Canucks. After Vancouver drafted Podkolzin with the 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft (hosted in Vancouver), he had 26 points in 79 games in his rookie year. 

Vancouver was hoping he’d live up to his 10th overall billing and that… didn’t happen. (It didn’t exactly help that the two forwards taken right after him, for comparison’s sake, were Matthew Boldy and Cole Caufield. After a few seasons spent between the AHL and the NHL and some trouble picking up coach Rick Tocchet’s system, the Canucks sent him to the Edmonton Oilers for a fourth-round pick last summer for reasons that remain somewhat unclear. 

The Oilers plugged him into the lineup right away and he scored 24 points in a bottom-six role. In the playoffs, he’s shown himself to be a hard-working and crafty forward who can move up and down the lineup. It just feels strange that the Canucks gave up on a useful piece so early. And yeah, it sucks that he’s contributing for the Oilers. 

Luke Schenn, WInnipeg Jets
Playoff stats: 1 pt in 8 GP
Pissed-off level: 1/10

Schenn was a great warrior for the Canucks during his tenure. Plus, the Canucks got good value when they traded him to the Leafs in 2023 for a third-round pick (blueliner Sawyer Mynio, who is putting up good numbers in the WHL). If you needed another reason to root for the Jets, you’ve got one. 

Nate Schmidt, Florida Panthers
Playoff stats: 5 PTS in 8 GP
Pissed-off level: 3/10

It’s more confusion than anger when it comes to Schmidt. Why he was able to be a smart, capable, and strong defenceman everywhere else he played other than Vancouver remains something of a mystery. 

Now with the Panthers after three years with the Jets, Schmidt has been a capable bottom-pairing rearguard as the team tries to repeat as Cup champs. 

Chris Tanev, Toronto Maple Leafs
Playoff stats: 3 PTS in 9 GP
Pissed-off level: 7/10

It’s always going to suck seeing Tanev ply his trade for another team. It sucked when it was the Calgary Flames (who he signed with in the offseason despite wanting to stay in Vancouver) and it sucks now that he’s doing it with the Maple Leafs. 

Was it kind of insane for the Leafs to sign Tanev (who was almost 35 at the time) to a six-year contract? Sure it was. Toronto is almost definitely not expecting him to play out that entire contact and end it on injured reserve. But still, wouldn’t it be nice to have Tanev caddying Hughes for the last few years? It might have helped Hughes feel better about the state of the franchise, too.