3 Canucks’ Breakout Candidates for 2026-27

After finally embracing a rebuild, the Vancouver Canucks will be looking for a new core of players to lead them into the next era. Right now, no one has really established themselves as a member of that core, but there are plenty who are speculated to drive it. This season could see a few solidify themselves, chief among them this trio, two of whom were acquired in the Quinn Hughes trade that shocked the hockey world and unofficially began the rebuild.

Aatu Raty

It’s been three years since the Canucks traded captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders for a package that included Aatu Raty, Anthony Beauvillier and a first-round pick (which was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings for Filip Hronek). Horvat has thrived as the Islanders’ top-line centre, notching two 30-goal seasons while continuing to establish himself as one of the premier two-way pivots in the NHL. By all accounts, it appears the Canucks made a huge mistake trading him, or at the very least, didn’t get enough from the Islanders in return.

That said, Raty is doing his best to make the deal look better from a Canucks perspective. Since his first game with the team back in 2023, he has steadily improved, adding a Horvat-like faceoff prowess to his toolbox that wasn’t a noted strength when he was drafted in 2021. Over the last two seasons, he has a 59.6 faceoff percentage and was fifth in the NHL last season at 60.5. He became then-head coach Adam Foote’s most trusted faceoff man and took 777 draws in 66 games.

However, despite Foote’s trust in his faceoff ability, he seemed hesitant to give him more of a role beyond the fourth line. He averaged only 12:01 of ice time and was deployed almost exclusively in the defensive zone, starting 63.7 percent of his shifts there. Then, when he did get an opportunity in the offensive zone, he was thrown out for faceoff duty, then quickly removed for another centre. Basically, Foote didn’t think he could be an offensive threat and pigeonholed him as a defensive faceoff specialist.

Luckily for him, his development and the Canucks’ future, Foote is no longer the head coach; Manny Malhotra is. While it’s unlikely Raty will take Elias Pettersson’s or Marco Rossi’s jobs as top-six centres, he should get more opportunities offensively, especially after what he did at the World Championship with Team Finland. Along with his usual faceoff mastery, he scored four goals and seven points in 10 games, helping lead his country to a gold medal.

Raty has a lot more in the tank when it comes to goals and points, and with Malhotra behind the bench, he should be given the chance to show it this season. If that happens, he’s the biggest breakout candidate the Canucks have.

Liam Ohgren

When Liam Ohgren was acquired as part of the Hughes trade, there wasn’t a lot of fanfare around him. He was a throw-in prospect alongside the headliners of Rossi and Buium. But it didn’t take long for that “throw-in” label to get tossed out the window. He started his Canucks tenure with two goals and three points in three games, including the shootout winner against the Boston Bruins on Dec. 20. Later in the season, he also developed chemistry with Rossi and Brock Boeser on a second line dubbed the “BRO Line” and finished with eight goals and 18 points in 51 games.

Ohgren was a first-round pick of the Wild in 2022, so he obviously has talent and the potential to be more than what he showed offensively last season. His speed, size and shot are weapons of a 25-30 goal scorer, and if Malhotra gives him consistent ice time in the top-six alongside Rossi and Boeser, he could approach the 20-goal mark, or maybe even more. He might even see time on the first-unit power play with Evander Kane off the team, which only makes the possibility of a breakout season more likely.

Zeev Buium

Zeev Buium was the crown jewel of the Hughes trade, a defenceman capable of doing all the things the former captain did for the Canucks, from supreme edgework and pinpoint passing to jumping up in the play and dictating the pace of a game. While there were hiccups defensively and frustrating games to watch, Buium, for the most part, delivered on that promise in the 45 games he was a Canuck. Fans got accustomed to Hughes and how he manipulated the ice every night; they forgot how frustrating he was defensively when he was Buium’s age. Buium is only 20 years old, after all.

Buium has 70-80-point potential written all over him. It’s unfair to expect the nearly 100-point pace Hughes has gone on in the past few seasons, but 60-70 is definitely a possibility this season. He will get better defensively, too, as Hughes did. Just look back at his time with the University of Denver. He was never a minus player, hitting a plus-33 in his freshman year. He was also a rock for Team USA at the World Juniors and World Championship, winning three gold medals alongside six goals and 15 points while notching a plus-23 in the plus/minus column. He has everything in his repertoire to become a dominant top-pairing two-way defender for the Canucks, maybe as soon as this season.

Rebuilding Doesn’t Have to Mean Negativity Every Night

This season likely won’t be pretty when it comes to the standings. The Canucks might finish in 32nd place again, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be positives and growth throughout the campaign. Raty, Ohgren and Buium will help see to that.