The Vancouver Canucks head into the 2025-26 season hoping to bounce back from a campaign where they fell from their Pacific Division penthouse and missed the playoffs. After a relatively quiet offseason where they only added Evander Kane up front and Pierre-Olivier Joseph on defence, they will be banking on their core stepping up and returning them to contender status.
As we get closer to training camp, the preseason, and finally opening night against the Calgary Flames, I will continue to get you set for the 2025-26 season with the player preview series, which got started early in the offseason with Aatu Raty and recently featured Teddy Blueger. Next on the docket is Drew O’Connor.
Drew O’Connor
- Age: 27
- How Acquired: Trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 1, 2025
- 2024-25 Stats: 10 goals and 25 points in 84 games
- Career Stats: 34 goals and 75 points in 241 games
- 2025-26 Contract Status: Year one of a two-year contract worth $2.5 million average annual value (AAV)
2024-25 Season Recap
O’Connor played 53 games with the Penguins before coming to the Canucks in the trade package with Marcus Pettersson at the beginning of February. Both of them were pending unrestricted free agents (UFAs) when they arrived in Vancouver, but it didn’t take long for general manager (GM) Patrik Allvin to secure their services for this season and beyond. First, he signed Pettersson to a six-year extension worth $5.5 million AAV on Feb. 5, and a little over a week later, O’Connor put pen to paper on a two-year deal worth $2.5 million AAV.
“Drew has really made a good first impression since joining our team from Pittsburgh at the beginning of the month,” said Allvin. “We like his size, speed and ability to get in on the forecheck and hound pucks. Our staff also feel confident that they can help Drew take his game to another level and we are excited to see what the future holds for him with the Vancouver Canucks.”
In the less than two weeks O’Connor was a member of the Canucks as a pending UFA, he impressed with two goals in his first three games, including a dramatic penalty shot in overtime to beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Feb. 6. He went on a 13-game goalless drought after that, but was still prominent on the penalty kill, averaging 1:11 of shorthanded ice time on the second unit with Kiefer Sherwood. He also added a lot of speed and physicality (32 hits) to the lineup and showed some chemistry with Filip Chytil before he went down with a concussion on March 15.
O’Connor ended up finishing the season with four goals and nine points in 31 games. Combined with the 53 games he played with the Penguins, he suited up for 84 games, becoming one of only seven players to play over the traditional 82. He also joined Conor Garland at the 2025 World Championship and helped Team USA win their first gold medal in 92 years.
2025-26 Season Role & Expectations
A lot of lineup projections have O’Connor playing alongside either Blueger or Raty, not with the centre he seemed to click with after arriving from Pittsburgh. He spent 117:06 with Chytil at even strength and logged solid underlying stats with a 56.52 Corsi for percentage and 23 high-danger chances. The Canucks also out-chanced the opposition 62-45 with them on the ice.
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O’Connor and Chytil’s speed added some extra zip to the Canucks’ attack and arguably started changing it for the better. According to NHL Edge, they both ranked in the upper tier of Top Skating Speed (88th and 90th percentiles, respectively) and Speed Bursts Over 20 mph (97th and 90th percentiles, respectively) last season. As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised if head coach Adam Foote puts O’Connor back with Chytil in training camp.
Regardless of where O’Connor plays at five-on-five, he will be expected to take a more prominent role on the penalty kill (PK) without Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua on the roster this season. Suter and Joshua were two of the high-minute men in shorthanded ice time over the past two seasons, and the Canucks will need to find a duo to replace them. O’Connor will definitely be one half of that duo, as he has extensive experience on the PK, having logged 289:43 (1:12 average) of shorthanded ice time over his career. With his ability to play both centre and wing, he might even centre the second unit, but I am betting Raty will step into that role, given his proficiency in the faceoff dot.
Final Stat Prediction
O’Connor’s versatility, speed and forechecking ability will be huge assets to the Canucks this season, and with Suter signing with the St. Louis Blues, he might end up being his replacement. Suter became a valuable Swiss Army knife for the coaching staff in the two seasons he was in Vancouver, and O’Connor has all the attributes to do the same thing in his first full season with the team. While I won’t make the bold prediction of him hitting 25 goals, I could see him around his career-high of 16, especially if he gets a chance to reunite with Chytil on the second line.
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