Canucks Co-Presidents Daniel And Henrik Sedin Remaining Optimistic Despite Vancouver’s Struggles

Excel at the basics. 

That seems to be the pattern of success the Vancouver Canucks want to achieve amidst a rough 3–16–1 stretch to start the 2026–27 season. At least, that’s what co-Presidents of Hockey Operations Daniel and Henrik Sedin believe will help right the ship. 

The two Presidents met with reporters on Thursday morning, a couple of days after the Canucks dropped their sixth consecutive game and 16th in their past 17. This comes after a night that saw Canucks Head Coach Manny Malhotra thank fans for sticking by the team in the early stages of a rebuild that looks far more daunting than it may have seemed during the off-season. 

“We’re big believers that you’re never as good as people say you are, and you’re never as bad. Our roster is better than this. We know that, coaches know that, players know that,” Henrik Sedin said during Thursday’s media availability. “I think if you look at the schedule, we knew the start was going to be really, really tough. That’s just the way it was. And I think the last seven, eight games you’ve seen more stretches of us playing well. But again, there’s been certain games where we have not been happy. The start against Philly, the Winnipeg game, Detroit game at home. There’s certain games where it hasn’t been there, and it’s easy to say that it should be there. We also played for a long time, and some games you just don’t have it. But we have to learn to win games that are tight. And to be fair, we were up against San Jose. We lost the game. We’re up against Florida. We lost the game. So those are the moments where we need to get to the next level and learn how to win games. And that’s not easy, but that’s where we need to get to.” 

Rebuilds are often long, drawn-out processes that mean the impacted team won’t reap the benefits until at least a little while later. The San Jose Sharks went through it recently. So did the Montréal Canadiens. Vancouver fans knew what they were getting themselves into heading into the season, but that still doesn’t make things easy — especially if you’re a consumer paying anywhere above $80 per ticket. 

The Sedins understand the frustration. They also understand the frustration of being in a losing skid such as this one. 

“It is a big difference between being close in games and winning games. And again, I come back to, it’s really the same thing as missing the playoffs year after year. [...] When you miss the playoffs year after year, it’s hard to get back in. That’s just the way it is. It’s mentally hard, and the same as winning games — when you’re in a losing streak, it’s not easy to get the first one, to feel positive about things. But they’re going through something right now that’s tough as a player, as a coaching staff, and as an organization. But you’ve got to learn to do the things to win games, and that’s blocking a shot, that’s making the right play at the right times, it’s winning a 50–50 battle and being uncomfortable, and that’s what we need to get to.” 

So what’s the solution? 

“There’s so many details that go into every play on the ice, every shift. It’s doing the breakouts the right way. It’s playing neutral-zone traps the right way. So when you do that over and over, you’re going to take over games, and you’re going to have momentum shifts, and you’re going to get more shots. You’re gonna get more chances. Sometimes it’s easier to look [or say] the offence is not there or the defence is not there, but [...] everything is part of it.

“Right now, we need consistent efforts throughout 60 minutes. That’s the bottom line, and that’s been very hard for us to do this year. We see 25 minutes, we see 35 minutes, and we’re making mistakes within the structure. That’s costing us games and grade-A chances, and we need to get that out of our games. And I think we’ve seen improvement the last seven, eight games, for most of those games. But that needs to be consistent each and every night. That’s up to all of us to fix. [...] The staff is looking at all different options to not only get better now, but for the future. We’re trying to make decisions for this to be a long-term thing and to have continued success.” 

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