Which Canucks Could Be Most Impacted By The 2026 Winter Olympics?

After a dismal 57 games, the Vancouver Canucks are now on break as the 2026 Winter Olympics progress. The first bit of the season has seen Vancouver trade two fan-favourites in Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood while also admitting to being in a rebuild. This stretch of the season also saw the Canucks go on an 11-game losing streak for the bulk of January. 

You could say the Canucks have been struggling quite a bit. 

What doesn’t help Vancouver’s issues is the fact that this season has been condensed a fair bit to make room for the Olympics. By February 4 of the 2024–25 season, the date of the Canucks’ last game before the break this season, Vancouver had played in 53 games. That’s four less than the 57 they took part in before this year’s break. 

With the Olympics now reaching elimination stages, the bulk of the Canucks have gotten the opportunity to take time away from the rink, though seven members of the organization are currently in Italy representing their respective countries. The competition — as well as the break — will be heavily impactful for many Canucks, in both a good and bad way. But who will be most impacted by what takes place this month? 

There’s not much of an argument to be made that the break will be beneficial for the Canucks that won’t be heading to the Olympics. Some may argue that the break will be bad for teams that have found success as of late, but remember, Vancouver still sits at the bottom of the NHL without any hope at doing on-ice damage during the post-season. 

For the injured players in particular, the next two weeks will provide a good chance to rest without feeling the need to rush back into playing. With players like Marco Rossi expected back right after the break, Vancouver will look much healthier once their injury woes start to subside. 

The break will also serve players well when it comes to stepping away from the game for a short span of time. Players like Conor Garland and Brock Boeser, who haven’t quite performed the way many have expected them to throughout the past little while, will likely benefit from the time away to mentally re-set and approach the rest of the season with a different perspective. 

While their season is nowhere near salvageable from a playoff perspective, the break will be good for many of Vancouver’s high-minute players. Defenders like Marcus Pettersson and Tyler Myers, who have become very heavily leaned-on in penalty-killing roles with the introduction of younger defencemen, will finally get some time to rest. 

Prior to the start of the 2026 Winter Olympics, many were torn when it came to what to expect from Elias Pettersson. Last year, many anticipated that the forward would have a strong showing at the 4 Nations Faceoff, though he ultimately finished the tournament without making much of a difference on the ice. 

This year, it looks like things will be much different. 

From the first game of the preliminary round, Pettersson made an impact for Team Sweden. Though he has mainly been deployed in a defensive role, not seeing any power play time and playing on his team’s penalty kill, Pettersson was easily one of the more dangerous forwards on the ice in Sweden’s 5–2 win against Italy. He ultimately made the difference in a 5–3 win against Slovakia by scoring two goals including the game-winner. 

A good overall showing at the Olympics would be great for Pettersson, whose confidence has seemed to wane throughout the past couple of years. Where it could get dicey is in consideration to his health. The forward has struggled with injuries through the past couple of seasons, to the point where his play and ability to train has been impacted by recovery. Playing extra this season rather than getting a break partway through could end up factoring into any potential injury outcomes later on in the year. 

While he hasn’t played more than five minutes per game for Latvia, Abbotsford Canucks forward Anrī Ravinskis hasn’t looked bad during his Olympic performances. The forward has two goals and an assist in 27 games played with Abbotsford, but could definitely try and push for a more permanent, higher-minute role with the AHL Canucks. Establishing some of that increased energy and physicality in his game, even in limited minutes with Latvia, could boost organizational opinions towards his play and encourage them to give him bigger roles. 

With the Canucks seemingly on the path towards a rebuild, the Olympic break may have come at one of the worst times possible regarding trades. Vancouver will only play in four more games before the NHL Trade Deadline on March 6, which means this will be the final stretch of time for teams to scope out the Canucks’ players, or for the Canucks to scope out other teams’. Players like Evander Kane, who appears to be up for trade, won’t have much time to showcase themselves when they get back from break. 

While some players won’t be able to showcase themselves as much heading into the trade deadline, some may have gotten the perfect opportunities to do so. Lukas Reichel, who the Canucks have been open to trading, has taken on a pretty big role with Germany at the Olympics, as have Canucks centres Teddy Blueger (Latvia) and David Kämpf. More exposure at the international level could bring in more interest for these particular players from other teams, especially those looking to add some depth for a playoff run. 

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