Canucks Place Thatcher Demko On Injured Reserve
More discouraging news has hit the Vancouver Canucks, as they shared this afternoon that Thatcher Demko has been placed on injured reserve, his second such designation this season. The injury-plagued goaltender left last night’s game after the first period, and with fans fearing the worse, after the 5-0 loss Head Coach Adam Foote confirmed to reporters, including The Athletic’s Thomas Drance, that it was indeed a lower-body injury.
Based on the designation, Demko will miss at least the next 10 days, but after constant knee issues over the past few years, as well as a groin ailment earlier this season, it is another tough blow. A turnaround is effectively out of reach for the team, currently last in the league, losers of six in a row, and without a regulation win since December 19. Firmly out of contention, there is no real urgency to get Demko back in the crease, but having just turned 30, the past Vezina finalist and All-Star may be faced with dreaded questions on his long-term career outlook.
As they recalled Nikita Tolopilo under emergency conditions earlier today, Vancouver will move forward in the time being with him alongside Kevin Lankinen, a usually well-regarded backup, who unfortunately has struggled this season, with a 6-11-4 record, and an .883 save percentage, a career-worst mark for the 30-year-old.
Due to their star back stopper’s constant injury struggles, Lankinen played in 51 games last season, his first as a Canuck, a career high. Knowing they were in need of a dependable #2 option, Vancouver locked down the Finn on a five year extension worth $4.5MM per season. Lankinen figures to be a mainstay for the blue and green for years to come, and although the group’s overarching struggles are surely a factor, they will need more from Lankinen given the combination of his contract and Demko’s status.
Demko himself is in for a big raise starting in 2026-27, as he inked a three year extension last July, worth $8.5MM per season. Back then, GM Patrik Allvin figured the group would make noise on the way to a playoff return, on the back of a healthy Demko, but with a group rattled by injuries and Foote’s imprint unable to bring such results, the Canucks are left with more questions than ever.
The hope is that Demko will avoid another long-term absence, already having missed a month so far this campaign. While he could return as soon as January 23 against New Jersey, naturally there’s reason for more concern. Simply shutting down their star in a lost season could become a real option, leaving Lankinen to backstop the group into what could be a long spring.
Canucks Assign Elias N. Pettersson To AHL, Recall Victor Mancini, Nikita Tolopilo
The Vancouncer Canucks shared a number of transactions this afternoon: Defenseman Elias N. Pettersson has been assigned to AHL Abbotsford, while Victor Mancini has been recalled. Additionally, goaltender Nikita Tolopilo has been recalled from Abbotsford under emergency conditions.
Set to return to action tomorrow night in Montreal, the Canucks swap Pettersson for Mancini, the former who skated just 13:58 in a 5-0 loss to Toronto on Saturday, fewest out of Vancouver’s defensemen by a considerable margin. Pettersson has played in 38 of the team’s 44 games this season, in a bottom pairing role, but the 21-year-old is still finding his game at the highest level, and will return to the AHL for more seasoning, where he’s made just one appearance so far in 2025-26.
On the other hand, Mancini brings a right-handed shot to the table, and will earn another look after five games early in the season, where he did not record a point in limited ice time. Since then, Mancini has put up six points in 20 games in the AHL, not jumping out on the page, but the 6’3” rearguard is a pure stay-at-home contributor. If able to enter the lineup over Pierre-Olivier Joseph, eyes will be on the former fifth-round choice of the Rangers to showcase improved mobility and sound decision-making with the puck, if he can become a full-time NHLer in the future.
Another feature of today’s news, Tolopilo, a netminder, has been recalled under emergency conditions. The 25-year-old will likely serve as Kevin Lankinen’s backup tomorrow night, as Thatcher Demko left last night’s game with an apparent lower-body injury.
Tolopilo has played well in four NHL games this season, with a .911 save percentage and two wins, but naturally, the hope will be that Demko will not miss much time, while Tolopilo can return to the Abbotsford Canucks. Despite bringing home the Calder Cup last season, they’ve had a rough season so far, currently second-to-last in the AHL.
With a season starting to get off the rails, Vancouver figures to have several more moves on the horizon leading up to the spring.
Conor Garland May Return On Road Trip
The Vancouver Canucks are expected to get a boost to their forward core during their current road trip. According to Thomas Drance of The Athletic, forward Conor Garland should return in the near future.
It’s no surprise that the team has struggled in his absence. Since going down with an injury, the Canucks are 0-2-2 in their last four, and are on their way to their sixth straight loss, this time against the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening.
New York Rangers Reportedly Pursued Kiefer Sherwood
Before losing two franchise pillars (defenseman Adam Fox and netminder Igor Shesterkin) to injury, the New York Rangers “had been aggressively trying to trade for reinforcements,” the Athletic’s Vince Z. Mercogliano reported yesterday.
Citing multiple league sources, Mercogliano reported that the Rangers “have been pushing hard” to acquire veteran winger Kiefer Sherwood from the Vancouver Canucks, but have found the Canucks’ reported asking price of at least a first-round pick to be “prohibitive.”
The Rangers aren’t alone in their interest in Sherwood. Not only is he one of the league’s more popular trade candidates, but earlier this week, we covered reports coming out of Vancouver that the Canucks made a renewed push to try to sign the pending UFA to a contract extension.
Per CHEK and The Athletic’s Rick Dhaliwal, the Canucks made a four or five-year offer to Sherwood with an AAV north of $4MM.
With Sherwood looking increasingly likely to be traded at some point before the March 6 trade deadline, Mercogliano’s report is one of the first coming from a rival team showing clear motivation to acquire Sherwood.
On paper, it’s easy to see why New York might be interested in the veteran winger.
While new Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan and his staff have done a great job patching up the Rangers’ defense, something that was a glaring issue last season, their renewed focus on strong team defense appears to have come at the cost of the club’s offensive attack.
The Rangers rank No. 22 in the NHL in goals scored this season, and have played more games than all but one team below them. They have scored just six more goals than the St. Louis Blues, who rank last in the NHL in goals scored.
The addition of Sherwood, whose 17 goals this season would lead the Rangers, not only would provide the Rangers with a much-needed scoring boost, but he’d also bring a level of physicality and aggression that could benefit the Rangers’ forward group.
But while New York would certainly improve its immediate competitive fortunes by acquiring Sherwood, it’s fair to question whether such a move is in the franchise’s long-term best interests. The team is hardly the only club interested in acquiring Sherwood, a fact that is likely to enhance the Canucks’ odds of receiving their desired first-round pick asking price. Even if the cost is ultimately more in the second-round range, that’s still a valuable draft asset.
Should the Rangers, who sit outside of the playoff picture looking in and are missing two key players to injury, spend that kind of asset for immediate scoring help, especially when that scoring help is a pending UFA?
While New York likely wants to maximize its chances to win while Fox and Shesterkin (and other veterans such as Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller) are in their prime, it might not be wise to spend such an expensive asset on Sherwood. For as many positive qualities as he has as a player, he’s not the kind of addition that will suddenly make a middling Rangers team into a true Stanley Cup contender.
New York could badly use an infusion of young talent with upside onto its roster. Their prospect pool was ranked No. 21 in the NHL in August by Elite Prospects, but some key names look increasingly unlikely to become true NHL difference-makers, such as No. 4 prospect Brennan Othmann.
The Rangers do hold two first-round picks and a second-rounder thanks to the offseason’s K’Andre Miller trade, but given where the Rangers are in their competitive cycle, one could argue the Rangers would be better off making those picks instead of trading them for a 30-year-old pending UFA.
New York doesn’t have the easiest road back to true Stanley Cup contention, and the debate regarding their interest in Sherwood is a prime example of why. For what it’s worth, it does appear that the injuries to Fox and Shesterkin may have altered New York’s outlook on this season. Mercogliano cited two additional league sources who “believe some degree of selling is an increasingly likely outcome for the Rangers” this season.
If that ends up being the case, the Rangers could go a long way towards replenishing their stable of draft picks and prospects, especially if they end up trading pending UFA Artemi Panarin, their leading scorer. Panarin carries a full no-move clause on his contract, so any effort to trade him would need to come with the player’s direct involvement and sign-off.
If the Rangers are concerned with trying to win a Stanley Cup during what remains of the prime years of Shesterkin, 30, it could be that taking a small step back in 2025-26 is the best way to take a more substantial leap forward for 2026-27 and beyond.
Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
Cootes And Alcos Traded In The WHL
- Canucks prospect Braeden Cootes is on the move as WHL Prince Albert announced that they’ve acquired him from Seattle in a 12-piece swap. Cootes, the 15th overall pick last June, got into three games with Vancouver to start the season before being sent back to the Thunderbirds where he was quite productive with 23 points in 17 games. Most recently, Cootes played for Canada at the World Juniors, collecting two goals in seven contests.
- Another Canucks youngster was dealt as WHL Kelowna picked up defenseman Parker Alcos from Edmonton, per a team release. The blueliner was a sixth-round pick in 2024 and has 14 points in 31 games so far this season. Vancouver has until June 1st to sign him or they’ll lose his rights, meaning this stretch run will be particularly important for Alcos.
Canucks Reportedly Made Renewed Effort To Extend Kiefer Sherwood
Tuesday: Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reported today that the offer is believed to be a medium-term agreement (four or five years) with an AAV of over $4MM per season. For context, PuckPedia reports that his estimated career earnings is $4.77MM so whenever he signs, be it with Vancouver or elsewhere, it will be quite the increase in pay for him.
Saturday: The Vancouver Canucks made a new contract extension offer to pending UFA forward Kiefer Sherwood, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last night. Friedman added that he still believes there is a “sizable gap” in terms of what Sherwood is looking for on his next deal versus what the Canucks are willing to offer, making a trade still the most likely outcome.
It has been frequently reported over the last few months that the Canucks are looking to trade away their pending UFAs, part of an organizational pivot made in the aftermath of the Quinn Hughes trade. Out of all of the Canucks’ pending UFAs, Sherwood is generally viewed as the most valuable trade asset, making it notable that the club has made a new pitch to try to retain his services beyond this season.
Sportsnet’s Iain McIntyre wrote this morning that Sherwood has a “strong case to make $4- or $5-million or more annually on his next contract,” and it would be something of a surprise to see the Canucks invest so heavily in Sherwood, who turns 31 on March 31.
If the Canucks are serious about pivoting their competitive strategy to favor something akin to a rebuild, trading away Sherwood for what is likely to be a solid return of either draft picks or young prospects appears to be the only real path forward.
But Friedman’s report indicates that the club is at least making a real push to try to keep Sherwood, and for what it’s worth, Sherwood did communicate a desire to remain in Vancouver. He told McIntyre “I love it here,” and that he wants “to do nothing more than bring energy and happiness to this fan base in this market.”
It’s not difficult to see why the Canucks might want to retain Sherwood, of course. He’s a well-respected veteran whose work ethic has endeared him to coaches and fans alike in Vancouver. He racks up hits like few other wingers across the NHL and has a knack for goal scoring as well, potting 17 in just 41 games this season.
He’s a player that offers a lot to like, and as the Canucks integrate more and more younger players into their NHL lineup, it’s not unreasonable that they’d want a few veterans to serve as the steady backbone of their lineup.
Sherwood could serve in that role, undoubtedly. But seeing as Friedman reported that there is still a notable gap between what the Canucks are looking to pay Sherwood on his next deal, and what Sherwood is looking to earn, a trade still appears to be, by far, the most likely path the Canucks take here.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Canucks Hire Jack Johnson As Pro Scout
According to a team announcement, the Vancouver Canucks have hired former defenseman Jack Johnson as a professional scout. The update indirectly confirms that Johnson’s 19-year career has come to an end.
We at PHR congratulate Johnson on an impressive career and wish him the best of luck in his new role with the Canucks.
Canucks Sign Linus Karlsson To Two-Year Extension
The Vancouver Canucks continue to work on figuring out next year’s roster as they enter a transitional period. The Canucks announced that they’ve signed forward Linus Karlsson to a two-year, $4.5MM extension ($2.25MM AAV).
Vancouver has obviously liked what they have seen from Karlsson’s first full year with the team. Despite being selected with the 87th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, it took Karlsson multiple years to find a consistent spot on the Canucks’ roster.
Much of that time post-draft was with Karlskrona HK and BIK Karlskoga of the HockeyAllsvenskan. His status as an upper-level prospect with the Canucks began in the 2020-21 season, scoring 20 goals and 51 points in 52 games with Karlskoga. He followed that up with a sensational introductory performance with the SHL’s Skellefteå AIK, registering 26 goals and 46 points in 52 games, taking home SHL Rookie of the Year honors.
Understandably, the Canucks quickly brought him to North America following that performance. He spent the entire 2022-23 season with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, recording 24 goals and 49 points in 72 games. Much like he did in Sweden, he followed that up with an even better showing, scoring 23 goals and 60 points in 60 games the next year while also making his NHL debut.
Last season was the most Karlsson had seen in the NHL until this year, though it wasn’t the showing that he or the team likely wanted. There was virtually no offense to his game in the sport’s highest league, finishing with three goals and six points in 23 contests. Still, his defensive metrics were impressive and proved valuable at some moments, given that he spent much of his time relegated to a bottom-six role.
Regardless, his subpar play in the NHL couldn’t take away from his impressive run in the AHL. Karlsson concluded the 2024-25 campaign with 23 goals and 39 points in 32 games for the AHL Canucks. Additionally, he helped the team win the Calder Cup, recording 14 goals and 26 points in 24 postseason appearances with a +4 rating.
Although his offense has been much better this season, nine goals and 16 points in 36 games, his defensive metrics have declined dramatically. Karlsson finished with a 94.3% on-ice SV% at even strength last season, and has only mustered an 85.8% mark this year.
Still, Karlsson is on pace for 20 goals this year, which is ultimately a win for the Canucks. At the beginning of the year, there was some concern that Karlsson would become a Group VI unrestricted free agent next summer, though he’s certainly on pace for 80 career games now. Regardless, Vancouver has committed to him through the 2027-28 season, and he’s currently projected to become the team’s eighth-highest-paid forward.
Photo courtesy of William Liang-Imagn Images.
Canucks Place Marco Rossi On IR, Recall Arshdeep Bains
The Canucks announced they’ve placed center Marco Rossi on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 30. His roster spot is going to winger Arshdeep Bains, who’s been recalled from AHL Abbotsford.
Rossi, 24, has only played eight games since being acquired from the Wild in the Quinn Hughes deal. The team’s new second-line center behind Elias Pettersson hasn’t seen much success yet, though. While he’s averaged nearly 19 minutes per game, tracking for a career-high, the 2020 No. 9 overall pick has only managed two points and a -5 rating while seeing a rotation of Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, and Conor Garland as his primary linemates.
That cold streak hit a stop sign against the Flyers on Tuesday, leaving that game with a lower-body injury. On Thursday, head coach Adam Foote told reporters that Rossi – along with Garland – would miss at least a week. He would be eligible to come off IR on Jan. 6 against the Sabres, but won’t return until their following game against the Red Wings at the earliest.
Injuries have been a theme for the Austrian this season. His tenure with the Wild ended while he was on injured reserve with a separate lower-body issue, believed to be a foot fracture. All told, he’s had five goals and 15 points in 25 showings this season after reaching a career-high 60 points last year.
If history is any indication, Bains won’t be a replacement for Rossi in the top six, but he does give Vancouver an extra forward while Garland is out. The 24-year-old broke camp with the Canucks but was waived and reassigned to Abbotsford last month after scoring a goal and five points in 26 appearances, almost exclusively in a fourth-line role while averaging under 10 minutes per game. The 6’0″ winger has three goals and six points in five AHL games since the demotion, bringing his career AHL points per game up to 0.79.
Prospect Chiarot Moved In OHL For Eight Draft Picks
- Earlier this week, Canucks prospect Gabriel Chiarot was traded in the OHL with Kitchener announcing that they acquired him from Brampton in exchange for eight draft picks. The 19-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Vancouver back in June, going 175th overall. He has 15 goals and 10 assists in 33 games so far this season. Chiarot turns 20 in mid-September, meaning he is eligible to play full-time in the minors in 2026-27 so this could be a particularly expensive rental if the Canucks decide that moving to the next level is better than an overage season in junior.