The Vancouver Canucks will begin their 2025–26 season on October 9 against the Calgary Flames, exactly a year after they began the 2024–25 season against the exact same opponent. 12 out of the 23 players on this year’s opening night roster took part in this game last year, with the other 11 having either been promoted from the Abbotsford Canucks or acquired via trade or free agency. Here’s how this year’s opening night roster stacks up against last year’s.
2024–25 Opening Night Roster
Forwards
Nils Åman
Teddy Blueger
Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk
Conor Garland
Danton Heinen
Nils Höglander
J.T. Miller
Elias Pettersson
Aatu Räty
Kiefer Sherwood
Daniel Sprong
Pius Suter
Defencemen
Vincent Desharnais
Derek Forbort
Mark Friedman
Filip Hronek
Quinn Hughes
Noah Juulsen
Tyler Myers
Carson Soucy
Goaltenders
Kevin Lankinen
Artūrs Šilovs
Only seven of the 13 forwards who were named to last year’s opening night roster remain in their positions, though this number would have been eight had the injury bug not bitten Höglander during the pre-season. Vancouver opted to go with an extra defenceman rather than an extra forward this time around, carrying eight on their roster including depth defenders like Friedman and Juulsen. With Thatcher Demko unavailable, Lankinen and Šilovs were called upon to man the crease, beating out players like Jiří Patera and Nikita Tolopilo for starting jobs.
2025–26 Opening Night Roster
Forwards
Arshdeep Bains
Teddy Blueger
Brock Boeser
Filip Chytil
Braeden Cootes
Jake DeBrusk
Conor Garland
Evander Kane
Linus Karlsson
Jonathan Lekkerimäki
Drew O’Connor
Elias Pettersson
Aatu Räty
Kiefer Sherwood
Defencemen
Elias Pettersson
Derek Forbort
Filip Hronek
Quinn Hughes
Pierre-Oliver Joseph
Tyler Myers
Marcus Pettersson
Goaltenders
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
This time around, Vancouver opted to go with an extra forward on the roster rather than a defenceman. The 2025–26 roster is noticeably faster than the season prior, with this attribute being specifically more prominent in players such as Chytil and O’Connor. The defence is much more mobile than last season’s, though the centerpiece of this unit is — and will hopefully always be — Hughes.
In terms of age, the 2025–26 roster only slightly beats out the 2024–25 squad, as the average age of this year’s players comes out to 27.04. For last year’s players, the average age was 27.4. The 2024–25 forward group averaged out to around 26.8 years old, while 2025–26 is slightly younger at an average of only 26.2 years. Vancouver’s defence, on the other hand, got over half a year younger on average, as 2025–26’s D-core averages out to around 28 years, while the year prior sat at 28.6. Canucks veteran Myers was the oldest player on the roster for both seasons at age 34 and 35 respectively.
Vancouver officially embarks on their 2025–26 season with their home-opener against the Calgary Flames on Thursday, October 9. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT.
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