Canucks Notebook: What to learn from the Ducks finally taking flight

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It’s a slippery slope for any NHL club to find the right roster balance and the Vancouver Canucks often lost their footing.

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Published Jan 29, 2026 • 4 minute read

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alt text The Anaheim Ducks miss centre Leo Carlsson and his ability to play in traffic and score. He remains sidelined with a thigh injury. Photo by Alex Gallardo /APArticle content

In the past, it was always duck-hunting season.

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Take aim, fire and bag two easy points at the Honda Center in Anaheim because the team was as bad as the fan count. The Ducks missed the NHL post-season the last seven seasons, but a resurgent 80-point campaign in 2024-25 put the franchise on a different flight path.

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The Ducks committed to some sort of roster reconstruction that should have its own name.

It’s not a retool or a rebuild. Maybe more like a rethink of how to get younger and better and maintain competitiveness with seven players between the ages of 20 and 24, eight veterans in their 30s, and head coach Joel Quenneville back behind an NHL bench.

It’s a slippery slope for any club to find the right roster balance and the Vancouver Canucks often lost their footing in various treks with suspect trades and free-agency plays for playoff pushes that didn’t pan out.

The Ducks roster is comprised of 10 draft picks, including four first-rounders, plus seven free agents and seven via trades. Most notably, leadership deals for veterans Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba, along with young sniper Cutter Gauthier, were prudent. The trio has combined for 48 goals this season.

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The Ducks had a seven-game winning streak stopped Monday in Edmonton, and their third-place perch in the Pacific Division heading into league play Thursday, was a testament to patience and making key veteran trade plays to ensure support and scoring.

They’re also third in Western Conference scoring and have put up seven goals on five occasions.

That’s impressive.

“They’ve been in a three- or four-year rebuild and the young guys are coming,” Canucks head coach Adam Foote said Thursday. “And they have some older and tougher defencemen, and some ups and downs this year when you’re pretty young.’

“But they’ve got it going in a good place and have had a lot of injuries as well. They’re playing a real focused game with speed and the rush.”

Anaheim Ducks centre Mason McTavish breaks away from Vancouver Canucks rookie defenceman Elias Pettersson April 5, 2025 at Rogers Arena. Photo by Rich Lam /Getty Images

Anaheim won five of eight games near the end of that turnaround 2024-25 season, finished 18-11-1 in one-goal games, and gave their flock of impressive young talent plenty of runway to be creative and learn from mistakes.

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Five players hit the 20-goal plateau, including first-round draft picks Leo Carlsson (19), Gauthier (20) and Mason McTavish (21), who are now a year older, wiser, and better for the experience of being thrown into deep end of the competitive pool.

Gauthier, acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers, led the club with 55 points (21-34) before facing the Canucks on Thursday. Carlsson missed his ninth-straight game with a thigh lesion, but has amassed 18 goals and 44 points. McTavish sat out his fifth in a row with an undisclosed ailment and has 13 goals and 30 points.

And even though Troy Terry was a game-time decision Thursday after being sidelined 10 games with an upper-body ailment, he has 13 goals and 44 points, and the bottom line is the Ducks kept winning.

So, what should the Canucks take from all this?

You can’t trade everybody or keep everybody in a rebuild. However, moving Quinn Hughes, 26, landed promising prospects in defenceman Zeev Buium, 20, left winger Liam Ohgren, 21, centre Marco Rossi, 24, plus a 2026 first-round draft pick.

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And dealing pending unrestricted free agent right winger Kiefer Sherwood, 30, brought second-round picks in 2026 and 2027 and minor league, right-defenceman Cole Clayton, 25.

UFA winger Evander Kane, 34, could command a reasonable draft pick or prospect, especially if the Canucks retain salary. And versatile centre Teddy Blueger, 30, is another UFA who’s worth a decent pick because of his penalty-kill presence, which is vital for the post-season, especially if he becomes a rental.

After that, it’s what appetite do the Canucks have to keep or move veterans?

Conor Garland, 29, is a culture carrier and valued by several trade suitors, but his six-year, US$36 million extension that kicks in July 1 might be too long for too many. Elias Pettersson, 26, continues to be the subject of rumours, but any trade partner would want the Canucks to eat a big chunk of the centre’s mammoth $11.6 million in annual average value that’s the books for six more years.

Pettersson also has no-movement clause that he might be reluctant to waive, even though a change of scenery might be an option to consider.

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That ice is not very nice

The challenge to keep the Rogers Arena ice surface in playable is hampered by Pineapple Express weather systems that roll into the Lower Mainland in waves and high humidity and atmospheric rivers of rain. It affects efficiency of the ice plant and arena air conditioning is cranked to high to find the right balance.

Here’s what Canuck players said Thursday when asked by Postmedia to rate the Rogers Arena ice surface:

Jake DeBrusk: “The ice for sure could be better. The biggest thing for me is how you’re skating, how the puck is, and that’s the biggest thing I notice. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it definitely needs to be improved.

“They’re doing their best and guidelines they have to go on, which they’re doing, but I just find it’s a problem and it has been for years and I’ve only been here for two. It’s harder to skate on straight away.”

Linus Karlsson: “It’s not the best, but I don’t think it’s that bad either. Probably average. I’m not a guy who thinks about it that much — and some do a lot more.”

Liam Ohgren: “It’s not something I think about. Most places have good ice. It’s fine here but when there’s a concert the day before it’s not very good.”

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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Canucks Notebook: What to learn from the Ducks finally taking flight

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