Grading Canucks forward Max Sasson's 2025-26 season.
Welcome to the 2025–26 installment of The Hockey News - Vancouver Canucks’ Player Report Card Series. Throughout the off-season, THN will conduct a deep dive into how each member of the Canucks performed throughout the 2025–26 season. Today’s article will focus on forward Max Sasson.
Sasson’s 2025–26 Season Review
After a tidy 29-game stint at the NHL level and a Calder Cup championship secured last season, Sasson came back ready to push for a full-time roster spot for the 2025–26 season. A highly-competitive training camp and the NHL debut of 2025 first-round pick Braeden Cootes resulted in Sasson being assigned to the Abbotsford Canucks at the start of the season, though he was quickly called back up and stuck in Vancouver for the remainder of the year.
Through his first five games with the Canucks in 2025–26, playing primarily with Calder Cup championship teammates Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Bains, Sasson ended up scoring three goals. From the start of the season to mid-December, he put together a solid six-goal effort that ranked sixth among his team at the time.
On December 15, Vancouver signed Sasson to a two-year contract extension valued at around $1M per year.
The biggest component to Sasson’s game throughout his time with the Canucks has been his speed, and that remained on full-display during the 2025–26 season. On April 1 against the Colorado Avalanche, he clocked a maximum skating speed of 38.13 km/hr — the fastest he’d recorded throughout the season. For reference, the league’s highest-recorded skating speed in 2025–26 was 40.14-km burst by Beck Malenstyn of the Buffalo Sabres.
Sasson also racked up a total of 15 speed bursts of 35 km or more throughout the year, ranking within the 95th-percentile in the NHL in that category. He also put together 175 speed bursts between 32–35 km — a whole 103.6 more bursts than the league’s average for forwards.
Ironically enough, though he put up some intriguing numbers this year, speed was one of the things Sasson said he wanted to work on during his end-of-season media availability in mid-April.
“I want to continue to work on my speed. I don’t think you can ever be fast enough.”
Another intiruguing part of Sasson’s 2025–26 season was determining which position suited him better. The forward has played at center in the past, but spent the bulk of the season’s end at wing instead. That said, when representing Team USA at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, he primarily played as his team’s third-line center.
Sasson wrapped the 2025–26 season with 13 goals (sixth-most among current Canucks) and 19 points in 66 games played.
Sasson’s 2025–26 Letter Grade
2025–26 was a solid first full-time NHL season for Sasson. Though Vancouver struggled with figuring out their identity, often resulting in players like Sasson being placed in different roles alongside different players, the forward made the best of it and continued to build on his strengths. For his efforts this season, Sasson gets a B+.
Mar 17, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Max Sasson (63) handles the puck against the Florida Panthers in the first period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn ImagesCanucks 2025–26 Letter Grades
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