The Abbotsford Canucks have officially reached the halfway point of a difficult 2025-26 AHL season.
The Abbotsford Canucks have officially reached the halfway mark of the 2025–26 season, having played in 36 of their 72 total games. Since winning the 2025 Calder Cup back in June, things have hit a downward skid for the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate, though some of these issues have come about due to external forces. Let’s take a look at how the first half of Abbotsford’s 2025–26 season has gone.
Wins Have Been Hard To Come By For Abbotsford
For the first two games of the 2025–26 season, played against the Henderson Silver Knights, Abbotsford had gone undefeated. After those two, the AHL Canucks were unable to grab a win until November 12 — a whole month after their last. It was that long winless stretch, as well as a few other multi-game losing skids, that contributed to their current position at 30th in the entire AHL.
Throughout the past three months of play, the AHL Canucks have not been able to find wins. Their two lone wins in the month of October came at the start of the year, while November also only saw them win twice. Things picked up in the month of December, during which Abbotsford won five of their 11 games and took three of their losses into overtime or a shootout to nab extra points. With that being said, throughout the first half of January, Abbotsford has won two of five games.
The AHL Canucks Have Had Problems Generating Offence
Throughout their 36 games in 2025–26, Abbotsford ranks 31st in the AHL in goals-for with 77. That’s a goals-for pace of 2.14 per game — something that isn’t going to help them get any wins if it keeps going.
From a month-to-month basis, Abbotsford’s worst month for goal-scoring came in October, when they scored a total of only 13 goals over the course of eight games. Abbotsford generated an overall average goals-for of 1.63 per game throughout this month, as they only scored more than two goals in one game throughout October. November saw their goals-for average increase, as they scored 24 goals over 12 games for an average of two goals per game. December and January have both trended upward from this, putting up averages of 2.18 and 2.2 goals per game respectively. In 23 of their 36 games, Abbotsford has scored two goals or less.
Abbotsford’s lack of offence is also reflected on their players’ individual statistics. Currently, Arthur Kaliyev of the Belleville Senators holds the league lead in points with 24 goals and 17 assists in 36 games played. Abbotsford’s current points leader, Nils Åman, doesn’t appear on the league’s points-lead list until past the 100th-player mark. Only one team has a points-leader with a lower total than Abbotsford, with that being Trey Fix-Wolansky and Justin Dowling of the Hartford Wolf Pack with 19 each.
Looking more into Abbotsford’s individual player stats, Åman is the lone player to hit the 20-point mark on the season. Ben Berard is close behind with 18, but has also played in six more games than Åman. After those two, no other AHL Canucks player has hit 15 points yet. Two of their top-five points leaders are defencemen, as Sawyer Mynio and Kirill Kudryatsev each have 13 points on the season.
Abbotsford Hasn’t Been Able To Ice A Consistent Lineup
A big reason as to why Abbotsford hasn’t been able to generate consistently is the fact that they’ve dealt with so many roster changes throughout the season. October dealt Vancouver a handful of injuries that ultimately trickled down to Abbotsford. As a team that saw quite a few changes during the off-season, it would have been hard for the AHL Canucks to get their mojo off the bat. Dealing with multiple roster changes throughout the weeks made this even harder.
When comparing the lineups from Game 6 of the 2025 Calder Cup Final and Abbotsford’s 2025–26 opener, seven total players from the championship have since moved on to different organizations. At the time, four players had also received organizational promotions, earning themselves the opportunity to play with Vancouver at the start of the season. The interesting thing to view is the amount of new faces in the lineup, as Abbotsford welcomed 10 brand-new players to their lineup at the start of the year.
The roster turnover from the 2025–26 season-opener to Game 36 wasn’t as dramatic as the change-up from the off-season, though that’s to be expected. Abbotsford is currently in the midst of an interesting stretch during which a handful of players have been absent from the lineup. The only player who has since departed from the organization is Vitali Kravtsov, whose contract was terminated. Max Sasson, Tom Willander, and Nikita Tolopilo are currently with Vancouver. Seven players who skated in the season-opener are currently absent, while eight new players have taken their place.
Abbotsford’s inconsistent lineup has been reflected in their individual players’ performance in points-per-game averages. Measuring the AHL Canucks’ points leaders by average rather than overall totals reveals that Abbotsford’s top-three in points per game have all collectively played less than 20 games. Though it’s not the most reliable way of counting this stat, as it doesn’t measure the consistency of each players’ individual performance, it does show how important some of Abbotsford’s longer-tenured players have been to producing offence. Four of the top-five played in at least 30 games for Abbotsford last season.
Photo Credit: Kaja Antic-THNDespite The Negatives, Abbotsford’s 2025–26 Season Hasn’t Been Without Positives
It’s hard to find positives in a season riddled with negatives, but believe it or not, Abbotsford has had their fair share. After seasons spent grinding in the AHL, Linus Karlsson seems to have found himself a spot in Vancouver’s lineup, absences aside. The forward has scored 10 goals and 11 assists throughout 43 games played this season and has consistently been one of Vancouver’s top producers at 5-on-5. He has earned himself stints on Vancouver’s top-line alongside players like Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk and even signed a two-year contract extension at the beginning of 2026.
Another positive for Abbotsford this year has been the play of Jonathan Lekkerimäki. Though the forward has not consistently been in either Vancouver or Abbotsford’s lineup, when he has joined the AHL Canucks, he’s been able to produce significantly. Throughout 10 games at the AHL level this season, Lekkerimäki has scored seven goals and five assists. Despite playing nearly a quarter-less games compared to the rest of the AHL Canucks, he’s still tied with Kudryavtsev in shots on the season with 44. While Lekkerimäki has seen NHL time this season, putting up a goal and an assist in eight games, the extra time he’s spent in Abbotsford will help his confidence and overall development as Vancouver eyes contention from a long-term perspective rather than short-term.
Finally, the 2025–26 season has given Abbotsford any and all opportunities to do something they seemed poised to do after the off-season; let their young guys play. Many may have been concerned when the AHL Canucks didn’t end up re-signing a few key veteran players (Phil Di Giuseppe, Sammy Blais, Christian Wolanin, etc.). However, their departures have made room for young players like Willander and Mynio to get bigger minutes in expanded roles compared to what they would have been given if stuck behind a full defensive core. Canucks prospects like Vilmer Alriksson and Anri Ravinskis have also been able to play more minutes because of this.
While 2025–26 hasn’t gone anywhere near planned for Abbotsford, the first half of the season has provided the AHL Canucks with plenty of takeaways. The second-half of their season begins tonight, when Abbotsford takes on the San Diego Gulls in the first of a three-game road trip.
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