Canucks Live: Edmonton maul, now onto the Flames

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Well, that was interesting. Maybe a shortened pre-season and less preparation gives you these kind of games to start a season but the Canucks losing 9-7 in their home opener to the Edmonton Oilers offers up a variety of viewpoints.

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It looks like a disaster to give up four goals in the first period, two within 16 seconds of each other. Or to fall behind 5-0 before finding the net. Or giving up two short-handed goals 34 seconds apart. Or going down 8-2 at one point.

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But how about a young team that went toe-to-toe with one of the NHL’s legitimate Cup contenders and outscoring them 5-1 to finish the game. Or that 5-on-5 you actually outscored the Oilers 6-5.

Weird, wacky but thoroughly entertaining and while surely coach Manny Malhotra isn’t happy, a young team that shows that kind of fight has to spark glimmers of hope. In contrast the Oilers have been struggling with goaltending seemingly since Grant Fuhr moved on and they’ve given up 13 goals in two games to the Canucks. Good luck with that Oilers fans.

Ben Kuzma covered the game on Thursday and highlighted some Canucks goaltending worries of their own.

At this rate, Kevin Lankinen is either going to run out of gas or suffer an injury.

The Canucks goaltender has already faced 90 shots in less than two games and a lack of support and fatigue were becoming demoralizing factors Thursday. He was given the mercy hook in favour of Leevi Merilainen in the second period after the Oilers scored a pair of short-handed goals in a span of 34 seconds to up the count to 8-2.

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First it was Boeser’s power play drop pass picked off by McDavid, who wheeled around a prone centre Elais Pettersson and tucked home a backhander. Kasperi Kapanen then wheeled away on another short-handed chance and slipped one past the besieged Lankinen.

“We were trying to claw back into it and the power play let us down in the second,” said Boeser. “I made a bad play there when we tried to get going. They really took it to us and then our mindset in the third was no quit in here. We have to fight and try to win the third period and we did a really good job with that.”

As for Lankinen, it was a bizarre night of facing too many clear looks and even an odd one. Draisaitl’s effort from a wide angle — below the goal line that went of played off the back of Lankinen — made it 5-0 in opening minute of the second period. 

From Edmonton’s viewpoint, they can’t be sure what to take out of their two-game start against the Canucks but this has been the Oilers trademark no matter who’s behind the bench.

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Head coach Mike Babcock called it ridiculous how the Oilers lost on Tuesday.
You want ridiculous? This was ridiculous.
It was 8-2 Oilers with one second left in the second period. Game over. Then it was 8-3, then 8-4, then 8-5, then 8-6 with 13 minutes to play.
It wasn’t until Leon Draisaitl scored a power-play goal to stop the bleeding that Oilers fans could exhale.
“Weird to be excited about the ninth one,” grinned Connor McDavid. “But it was a big goal at the time.”
How a team that lead 8-2 late in the second period barely escaped with a 9-7 win is going to drive Babcock nuts. That’s why they brought him, to fix this stuff, and he clearly has a lot of work to do.
“I’m happy for the guys, happy for myself, we got three of a possible four points, but we have tons of examples of where we have to get better,” said Babcock, who could only chuckle at the way this one went south on his guys.
“We know we can be way better. What I saw tonight was a group that can play right, that knew what they were doing and then I saw a group that didn’t do it.” 

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Seeing old Flames

Next up for the Canucks is another Pacific Division battle with Alberta’s other outfit as the Calgary Flames visit Rogers Arena on Saturday.

The Flames got their season off to a woeful start being spanked 6-1 by Seattle.

On a night that started with a thundering ceremony to kick off the Flames’ final season at the Saddledome, the game itself was a huge letdown. The final score line, with the Flames losing 6-1 to the Seattle Kraken, was no less than either team deserved.
Look, Wolf won’t be happy to have let in six goals on 32 shots.

But this result doesn’t fall on his shoulders. The score line could have been even worse if he hadn’t come up with some spectacular saves and when the Flames review the video from Thursday’s game, they’ll focus on the guys in front of him.

Beyond that, though, there weren’t many positives. Simon Nemec had his moments, as did fellow blueliner Zayne Parekh in the offensive zone, although he finished with a minus-3.

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But there’s no use searching for silver linings. The Flames need to be a lot better on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks.

Prospect points

This Canucks team is purely about the future. There’s hope from fans that the team ends up with another pick at the top of the order in next summer’s draft to boost the haul they got last year with Caleb Malhotra and Adam Novotny, both picked in the first round and both starting their progression outside of the NHL. So, how do the Canucks prospects stack up?

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler thinks quite highly of Malhotra, ranking him third in his ranking of NCAA freshmen.

3. Caleb Malhotra, C, Boston U. (Canucks — No. 3, 2026)
Malhotra is the top freshman forward in this class. He was Brantford’s best player between the regular season and playoffs as a rookie last year in the OHL, a standout at the CHL-USA Prospects Challenge, and you can expect him to be one of the Terriers’ best players as a freshman. He needs to fill out and get stronger, and that’s going to show up in some games, but he has all of the rest (smarts, skill, skating, feel, detail, intangibles) and doesn’t have the off games most players his age do.

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Malhotra isn’t the only Canucks in Wheeler’s top though as Niklas Aaram-Olsen comes in at 17th as the NCAA season gets underway this weekend.

17. Niklas Aaram-Olsen, LW/RW, Boston U. (Canucks — No. 41, 2026)
After leading goal scorer Cole Eiserman turned pro, the Terriers are going to have to replace his goals by committee this season. I expect sophomores Ryder Ritchie and Jack Murtagh to step up, but Aaram-Olsen’s combination of speed, skill, shooting and athleticism should allow him to make an impact on the power play and potentially even flank centres Tynan Lawrence or Malhotra. The Norwegian has the ability to score from distance and attack in cuts. 

Next time you pay for a round of drinks at a Canucks game at Rogers Arena remind yourself that the team dropped two spots in the Sportico rankings of franchise value. The sports business outfit has the Canucks as the 20th most valuable team in the NHL down from 18th last year, however, the overall value still went up 10 per cent and is now worth $2.05 billion US. The Senators and Jets are the only Canadian teams behind the Canucks in the value rankings.

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Hughes reduxs

It’s somewhat surreal to see the season start in Minnesota and read nearly identical stories that started to pop up in Vancouver a year ago. Former Canuck captain Quinn Hughes has one year left on his deal and it seems every Wild fan is terrified the narrative we had shoved down our throat here a year ago is coming into play: Hughes will walk for nothing and go to New Jersey to play with his brothers if he’s not re-signed at the top of the market.

The Athletic dived into the issue with a broad look at how important a decision this is for the Wild. Just as in Vancouver, he will be paid the maximum at the term of his choosing. But if he wants to play elsewhere and isn’t sold on a long-term tether to the Wild, he can sign wherever he wants next summer.

The Wild’s president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin expressed confidence all summer that he’d be able to extend superstar defenceman Quinn Hughes.

He preached patience, said that these kinds of contracts take time and asserted that he has a great relationship with Hughes and his agent, Pat Brisson, and knew what was going on when fans and media didn’t. But Guerin didn’t expect this — for Hughes to still not have a deal by the morning of Thursday’s season opener, with seemingly no rush from the defenceman’s camp to get one done.

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The Wild would clearly pay Hughes as much as the maximum the collective bargaining agreement allows — $20.8 million per year — and would do it for multiple terms. And Hughes has said all the right things about liking it in Minnesota and the Wild having everything he wants hockey-wise. 

Sign Hughes, then go big-game hunting for a No. 1 centre, and perhaps you’re a legitimate Cup contender for years. But if Hughes decides he won’t sign, the team will have to consider the nightmare scenario, trading Hughes a year after giving up a haul to get him.

Trading Hughes would feel like punting on this season. And if this season goes south, there are several other pending unrestricted free agents who could be moved at the deadline to recoup some of the assets the Wild have given up the past few years to “win now.” 
Before last season, the Vancouver Canucks knew Hughes didn’t plan on extending his contract past the 2026-27 season. Then-president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said as far back as April 2025 that he knew Hughes wanted to play with his brothers, Jack and Luke, who are both on the New Jersey Devils.

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Maybe that’s tugging at his heartstrings, although if he’s a free agent and can sign anywhere after next July 1 — for up to $22.7 million annually, as the maximum salary will rise along with the cap — several teams would pursue him, especially the Philadelphia Flyers, coached by his old Canucks coach, Rick Tocchet.

Still, Guerin and Hughes continue to say publicly how much mutual respect they have for each other. Hughes has given Guerin no indication he won’t sign.

Can’t say Canucks fans aren’t enjoying this as the rebuild has started here and the pieces they got for Hughes offer great promise for a rosy future.

Canucks Live runs every Monday-Friday through the season, we’ll update the post several times throughout the day whenever news from the team pops up. Sign up for our Canucks Report newsletter to get all our Canucks content delivered to your inbox every day. 

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