{"id":555518,"date":"2026-04-18T20:51:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555518\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T20:51:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:51:34","slug":"what-the-canucks-recent-spate-of-fights-really-means-for-next-year-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555518\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Canucks\u2019 recent spate of fights really means for next year and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been a clear shift in the Canucks\u2019 attitude toward fighting in general, and toward sticking up for one another in specific. The team had 15 fights on the 2025-26 season<\/a> \u2013 their lowest total in recent memory \u2013 but eight of those fights came over the last four weeks of the season. Included in those eight were first NHL scraps for Zeev Buium, the younger Elias Pettersson, Drew O\u2019Connor, and Filip Hronek\u2019s first fight in six years.<\/p>\n

This sudden spate of pugilism definitely added some much-needed entertainment value to the Canucks\u2019 final month of play. But there\u2019s also more to it than just giving the fans something to cheer for. The Canucks\u2019 new willingness to drop the mitts could be an important change, and it leads us to three key takeaways for the future of this rebuilding franchise, both in the short-term and the long-term.<\/p>\n

The first takeaway is that Curtis Douglas needs to be re-signed. Or, if not, someone very similar to Douglas needs to be acquired. Or, heck, maybe Douglas needs to be re-signed and someone else like him needs to be acquired.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very clear that much of the Canucks\u2019 recent spine-growth had to do with the arrival of Douglas. The 26-year-old was plucked on waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 6, 2026, and it was long afterward that the fighting began in earnest.<\/p>\n

Now, Douglas himself only had two of those aforementioned eight fights, taking on fellow heavyweights Adam Klapka and Jeffrey Viel. But, for one, it\u2019s hard to find willing opponents when you\u2019re 6\u20199\u201d. And, for another, it\u2019s less about Douglas himself, and more about the rest of the players around him.<\/p>\n

Anyone watching would be able to tell you that the Canucks have played bigger and bolder with Douglas in the lineup. That\u2019s especially true for those who have found themselves directly on his line, like Aatu R\u00e4ty and Nils H\u00f6glander. You\u2019ve never seen those two throw their own weight around more than when they\u2019ve had Douglas out there to accompany them, and that makes plenty of sense. Douglas\u2019 own 6\u20199\u201d frame is helpful, but so two are the figurative inches he seems to add to his linemates every time he steps on the ice.<\/p>\n

The second takeaway from all this is that the Canucks\u2019 team culture is not a total write-off. There\u2019s still a lot of work to be done there, but this is not quite a Toronto Maple Leafs situation, or the kind of thing that Rick Bowness was just shouting about in Columbus.<\/p>\n

The vibes around the Canucks have, in general, been a lot more positive and team-oriented since Quinn Hughes was traded. That hasn\u2019t translated into any extra wins or points, but it definitely has something to do with all the fighting. Teams that don\u2019t get along don\u2019t tend to stick up for one another, and that was on display in Vancouver in recent seasons.<\/p>\n

But that seems to have changed. These captainless Canucks found ways down the stretch to play for one another, and to punch for one another. With so much talk about adding toughness to the roster in this upcoming offseason, it was probably very important that the Canucks found at least some toughness within themselves first. You can\u2019t get too far if all your muscle is hired.<\/p>\n

This shift in culture was evidenced nicely by a quote from Buium, perhaps the most important piece of the future core currently on the roster. He said, of team culture heading into the final game, that \u201c\u201cYou can tell it\u2019s changed. I think just by the way we play, we\u2019ve really come together off the ice and got to know each other and care about each other\u2026All of us are really starting to come together and starting to move forward and not track back. And hopefully we can just carry that in the next game and next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which leads us into our third takeaway, which is that Zeev Buium is already a leader on this team, and needs to continue to be developed into that role. We said that the fighting trend began with the arrival of Douglas, and that\u2019s certainly true. But it also really started with Buium\u2019s initiative.<\/p>\n

That sort of buy-in really matters, in the long run. It\u2019s why most would love to see this trend continue into the 2026-27, and beyond. The Canucks will make changes this offseason, but none of those changes are going to turn them into a playoff contender anytime soon. There will be a lot more of the team getting beat up on the scoreboard to come, but if the Canucks can just continue to push back against getting bullied on the ice, it\u2019ll still count for something.<\/p>\n

Sponsored by bet365<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s been a clear shift in the Canucks\u2019 attitude toward fighting in general, and toward sticking up for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5128],"tags":[894,5,4,893,27,5313],"class_list":{"0":"post-555518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver-canucks","8":"tag-canucks","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-vancouver","12":"tag-vancouver-canucks","13":"tag-vancouvercanucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116427691384814900","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}