Canucks Month In Review: October 2026

The Vancouver Canucks have officially wrapped up their first month of the 2026–27 season, putting together a record of 2–12–1 and collecting five points through the month of October. Vancouver’s October saw the team take on some of the NHL’s tougher opponents, including the league’s top-three teams in the overall standings — the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, and Minnesota Wild. 

Here’s the Canucks’ October 2026 month in review. 

Record: 2–12–1

Points: 5

Place In Conference: 16th

Place In NHL: 32nd 

GF: 41 (t-20th) 

GA: 67 (32nd) 

PP%: 18.4% (19th) 

PK%: 66% (31st) 

SV%: 85.89% (32nd) 

Goals: 

Jonathan Lekkerimäki (5) 

Brock Boeser (5)

Liam Öhgren (4) 

Max Sasson (3) 

Linus Karlsson (3) 

Assists: 

Elias Pettersson (12) 

Filip Hronek (9) 

Jonathan Lekkerimäki (7) 

Brock Boeser (7)

Linus Karlsson (5) 

Points: 

Elias Pettersson (15) 

Jonathan Lekkerimäki (12) 

Brock Boeser (12)

Filip Hronek (10) 

Linus Karlsson (8) 

Hits:

Paul Cotter (46) 

Forward Elias Pettersson (36) 

Defenceman Elias Pettersson (34) 

Luke Schenn (31) 

Filip Hronek (21) 

Faceoff Win %: 

Marco Rossi (54/101) 

Paul Cotter (24/46)

Max Sasson (43/89) 

Filip Chytil (42/90) 

Elias Pettersson (140/313) 

TOI: 

Filip Hronek (387:25) 

Zeev Buium (306:16) 

Tom Willander (305:52) 

Forward Elias Pettersson (302:43) 

Defenceman Elias Pettersson (284:13) 

Playing A Full 60 

More often than not, the Canucks’ October games featured efforts that only came during one or two periods — not through a full 60-minute game. This meant a lot of strong first-period efforts that weren’t quite built upon in the following frames (such as against the Wild on October 25), or poor opening windows that Vancouver later stormed back from (ex. Against the Hurricanes on October 20). In fact, both of their wins in October — 4–1 against the Calgary Flames and 6–5 against the Anaheim Ducks — saw Vancouver surrender the opening goal and generate the bulk of their offence towards the later stages of the game. 

Shots, Shots, Shots (Or Not) 

In a similar vein to the 60-minute effort woes, Vancouver also struggled with generating shots on goal during October. They were unable to generate more than 20 shots in five consecutive games from October 15 to 25, including a disappointing effort against the Detroit Red Wings that saw them go nearly 40 minutes without putting up a single shot. The lone time Vancouver logged more than 30 shots on goal in October was during their 6–5 comeback win against the Ducks, during which they put up 33.  

The Meriläinen Takeover 

October 2026 also saw Vancouver slowly make adjustments to their goaltending department. Heading into the season, many expected Kevin Lankinen to get the bulk of the starts, with waiver pickup Leevi Meriläinen subbing in every-so-often. However, after a run of lacklustre games for the veteran goaltender, and some strong performances from Meriläinen, the latter began taking more of the starts instead of the two splitting them more evenly. Meriläinen has started in Vancouver’s past four games, logging a 3.31 GAA and .897 SV%. 

The Kids Are Alright 

Good things are happening for Vancouver’s young talent both at the NHL, AHL, NCAA, and junior levels of hockey. With the Canucks, Jonathan Lekkerimäki has gotten his season off to a hot start, currently leading his team in goals (6) and sitting second in points (13). In the AHL, Braeden Cootes, who is currently injured, has three goals and three assists in six games, while Riley Patterson is averaging nearly a point per game with the Abbotsford Canucks. Anthony Romani is up to seven goals and three points in six games with Michigan State University in the NCAA, Adam Novotný has scored eight goals and 12 assists in 15 games with the Peterborough Petes in the OHL, and Brooks Rogowski is at 12 points in 14 games with the Oshawa Generals. 

Is Elias Pettersson Back? 

Whether Elias Pettersson is actually back or not is up for debate. That said, the important signs seem to be pointing towards him being back. Pettersson started the month of October looking much more engaged than previous seasons, putting up back-to-back eight-hit games. He went on a five-game point-streak to start the season, before going on a separate six-game point streak that ended in Vancouver’s final game of the month against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Points aside, he’s been an asset on the Canucks’ revamped penalty kill alongside Drew O’Connor and has demonstrated additional levels of offensive creativity. 

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