The Canucks will play 16 games throughout the month of January in the lead-up to the 2026 Winter Olympics.
It’s no secret that the Vancouver Canucks have somewhat suffered from the consequences of a condensed 2025–26 schedule. One only needs to look at the Canucks’ upcoming schedule for January, the final month before the 2026 Winter Olympics, to see the impact this is having. Vancouver plays 16 games throughout the month of January, including two back-to-backs and one six-game road trip.
Many would consider it a concern for their team, regardless of how strong or far-up in the standings they are, especially in the case of a Vancouver team who only recently announced that Conor Garland and Marco Rossi would both be missing at least a week. However, Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote thinks otherwise.
“I don't worry about that,” he explained on Thursday. “If we’re a top-two team in the league, and there's depth, and we're winning, we might back them off three or four minutes, but even then I'm not sure I would do it guys. That's when you mess around with rhythm and or injuries. And if the guy comes off an injury, he better have done the right work, because I'm going to play him the minutes, not get him in easy, you know what I mean? So that's how you train off it. These guys, it's an Olympic year, they're aware of it, and it is what it is.”
“I think we’ve got to give it everything we have,” Brock Boeser added on what the team needs to do to prepare. “It’s a big break. I think these are important games. We’ve got to make sure that we come to the rink every day wanting to get better and prepare the right way. Like I said, we’ve got a lot of young guys around here, and we want to continue to play the right style out there and compete each and every night.”
One of the biggest concerns for the Canucks heading into such a packed schedule are their injury woes. Along with Garland and Rossi, Teddy Blueger, Filip Chytil, and Derek Forbort remain out of the lineup, though Chytil has been skating during practices as of late. Foote noted what he wants to see from players who may be making their way into the lineup as a result of injuries or fatigue that occurs throughout this span of games.
“With the pace of how we want to play and this schedule, it’s a whole week, it's nice to have the bodies, but it’s also [that] we want the guys to play with more pace,” he explained. “With these guys in and out or coming in with the schedule the way it is, we've got to use our depth. You're playing every other night, and so is the rest of the league. That's how we try to keep our legs and not get caught, especially in second periods, defending for a long time, maybe with younger bodies that may be not as strong and as big, and then they're wasting more energy burning, and it can change the game a little bit, and it's unnecessary. So that's what we're trying to instill.”
Vancouver’s last game before the Olympic break takes place on February 4 with a match against the Vegas Golden Knights. They’ll play a grand total of 18 games from now until then, 10 of which will take place on home-ice. Their first game of this stretch occurs tomorrow night, when the Seattle Kraken roll into town at 7:30 pm PT.
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