Welcome to The Hockey News - Vancouver Canucks site’s player preview series for the 2025–26 season. In these articles, we’ll preview the players who are expected to play for the Canucks in the 2025–26 season. Today, we’ll be taking a look at one of four January 31 Canucks acquisitions, Drew O’Connor.
O’Connor’s 2024–25 Season
O’Connor was part of the Canucks’ second trade on January 31, heading to Vancouver from the Pittsburgh Penguins alongside Marcus Pettersson. Because of this, he ended up accomplishing something never done in franchise history — skating in more than 82 games in one season. The forward finished the 2024–25 season with 10 goals and 15 assists in 84 games, putting up four goals and five assists in his 31 games with the Canucks. A speedy, heavy-on-the-forecheck forward, O’Connor impressed Canucks fans in his Vancouver debut by consistently being one of the first players on the puck heading down the ice. He filled his role solidly in 2024–25, but will likely be expected to chip in more with Dakota Joshua’s departure.
O’Connor’s 2024–25 Letter Grade
The Hockey News - Canucks site gave O’Connor a C for his efforts during the 2024–25 season. With both his time with the Penguins and Canucks combined, 2024–25 was his second-most offensively prolific season of his career with 25 points. As a checking winger, he isn’t expected to put up the same kind of offence as a player such as Elias Pettersson, but a 30-ish point season isn’t entirely out of the ordinary.
O’Connor’s 2025–26 Predictions
While O’Connor was solid in the role he played as a bottom-six winger in 2024–25, as mentioned, he’ll need to step up more to fill the gap created by the Joshua trade. O’Connor has found offensive success before, as he scored 16 goals and 17 assists in 79 games during the 2023–24 season. With a full season to adjust to his new team, O’Connor could repeat a similar offensively-dynamic performance while maintaining his heavy-forecheck playing style. It’s still unknown who will fill out the Canucks’ four lines come the start of the 2025–26 season, but if the pieces fall correctly into place, O’Connor and his linemates could produce a similar effort to that of Joshua, Teddy Blueger, and Conor Garland’s line from 2023–24.
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