3 Canucks Players Not Returning Next Season
A season that was already difficult became a roster liquidation exercise as the year wore on.
Quinn Hughes, Conor Garland, Tyler Myers, David Kampf, and Lukas Reichel were all moved before the trade deadline, and coach Rick Tocchet has been vocal about wanting less roster turnover this summer rather than more.
The belief internally is that too many new faces at once caused integration problems this year.
That said, there are at least three players whose futures in Vancouver look murky at best heading into the offseason.
Evander Kane
The Kane situation feels like one of the more obvious outcomes of the summer.
Vancouver acquired him from the Edmonton Oilers last offseason for a 2025 fourth-round pick, hoping the veteran power forward could add some weight to their top nine.
It did not work out.
"Teddy Blueger is not closing the door on the #canucks by any stretch, but where he's at in his career and where the Canucks are in their rebuild, he wants to understand his options" @mattsekeres | @justBlakePrice | @TheFourthPeriod
— Sekeres and Price (@sekeresandprice) April 16, 2026
Preseented by @YellowDogBeer pic.twitter.com/hadIppvcAw
In 71 games this season, Kane posted 13 goals, 31 points, and a minus-20 rating.
At 34 years old, Kane is not a fit on a team that is clearly trending younger and rebuilding from the bottom of the standings up.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period noted on Sekeres and Price that Kane will not be back with the club next season, a sentiment that appears to be shared on both sides of the situation.
Kane will hit unrestricted free agency on July 1 and will almost certainly be looking for a new home.
Derek Forbort
Forbort is a pending unrestricted free agent who appeared in just two games this season due to injury.
At 34 years old, coming off a season in which he was essentially invisible, it is hard to make the case that re-signing him makes sense for either party.
He quietly emerged as a valued veteran presence in the room in previous seasons, but with the Canucks needing to get younger and healthier on the blue line, carrying a player who could not stay on the ice this year is a difficult proposition to justify.
Unless the two sides agree on a deeply discounted deal that reflects the risk involved, Forbort looks like a player who will be moving on.
Teddy Blueger
Blueger is the most interesting of the three because the door is not fully closed on either side.
The Canucks wanted to keep him badly enough that they held him at the trade deadline when interest from other teams did not meet their asking price.
Pagnotta reported that Vancouver has interest in bringing Blueger back, and that Blueger has not ruled out returning.
"I don't think he's closing the door on the Canucks by any stretch," Pagnotta said on Sekeres and Price.
Blueger is at the stage of his career where understanding his full market value matters before making a commitment. Apparently, they didn't get any trade offers for him at the deadline, according to Patrik Allvin, but others pushed back on that.
The Canucks are in the middle of what looks like a real rebuild, which naturally makes a pending UFA think carefully about how long any deal would be and what kind of team he would be committing to.
The expectation is that Blueger heads to July 1 to survey his options before making any final decision. Vancouver has the interest and the willingness to keep him.
Whether they can offer him enough on both the financial and competitive sides of the equation is the question that will get answered this summer.
Photo Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
