Dear Santa: Vancouver Canucks’ 2024-25 Wish List – The Hockey Writers Vancouver Canucks Latest News, Analysis & More

We are only a few days away from Christmas and the Vancouver Canucks are hoping they are on Santa Claus’ nice list. They need some holiday cheer because things have not gone as smoothly as last season when they were riding high with a 23-9-3 record (49 points) at the break. The best record they can hope for at this point is 18-10-6 (38 points), assuming they beat the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks tonight (Dec. 21) and Monday (Dec. 23) respectively. So, let’s send a last-minute letter to the man in red asking for some big things under the tree on Christmas morning.

2023-24 Versions of J.T. Miller & Brock Boeser

Last season, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser were the Canucks’ dynamic duo scoring goals and putting up points at an astronomical rate. Miller finished with 103 points and Boeser hit 40 goals, both career highs. This season, they look like shells of those players as Miller is on pace for his lowest full-season point total in a Canucks uniform (63 points) and Boeser is on track for only 24 goals. Now, there are extenuating circumstances as Miller took a leave of absence and missed 10 games and Boeser had a concussion and missed seven, but that still doesn’t negate the fact that the Canucks need them to rediscover their 2023-24 form sooner rather than later if they hope to make any noise in the playoff race.

So, Santa, please leave some magical sticks under the tree for Miller and Boeser and help them find that spark that allowed them to lead the Canucks in points and goals respectively last season.

Elias Pettersson got off to a scorching start last season, recording 13 goals and 43 points before the Christmas break. He then exploded for 14 goals and 21 points in January, seemingly cementing himself in the upper echelon of scorers in the NHL. But then, he fell off a cliff offensively and put up only seven goals and 25 points in the final 33 games of the season. His struggles have continued into this season as he has yet to hit double digits in goals and is on pace for the worst full-season goal total of his career.

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Santa, this might be a big ask, but give Pettersson a shoot-first mentality and the confidence he had last January when he lit up the league and finished tied with Sam Reinhart for the most goals in the month. Also, allow him to keep that confidence until the end of the season and (hopefully) into the playoffs.

A Goal (Or 5) For Nils Hoglander

Another Swede struggling to find goals is Nils Hoglander, who finished with a career-high of 24 last season. He is still stuck on two goals this season and has not hit the back of the net in 26 games. He hasn’t even recorded an assist in 21 games and remains in head coach Rick Tocchet’s doghouse. He was a healthy scratch on Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights and has found himself in the bottom-six more often than not.

Hoglander was one of the Canucks’ best five-on-five producers last season, and now it’s a rare occurrence that he finds the scoresheet at all. Like most of the forwards that had career highs in 2023-24, he is on pace for dismal numbers in the goals and points columns. If he continues the trend he’s on, he will finish with only five goals and 13 points in 81 games – his worst full-season totals since 2021-22 when he had 10 goals and 18 points in 60 games.

Santa, ask your friends, the hockey gods, for some luck around the net for Hoglander in the new year. Also, get him out of Tocchet’s bad books and help him build back the trust that he gained last season when he was often in the top six alongside Pettersson. If nothing else, give him at least a goal before the calendar flips to 2025.

This one is probably in the realm of impossible, but you’re Santa, so we’re going to ask anyway. While it’s not been confirmed by the players or head coach that there is a rift between Miller and Pettersson, there are far too many pundits reporting it to ignore it completely. So, if there is, please help them get along and co-exist in the same locker room. This apparently has gone back to the days of Travis Green, but maybe you can perform a Christmas miracle this year to get them to iron out their differences. The Canucks need both of them at their best, so, while it might be a lot to ask to get them to like each other and become friends, at least make it so that it doesn’t affect their play on the ice.

Another Puck-Moving Top-4 Defenceman

The Canucks have been looking for a top-four defenceman for a while now, and have not found one yet. They were reportedly desperate to get a deal done before the trade freeze on Dec. 19, but that date has come and gone without an addition to the blue line. So, Santa, now it’s up to you to help the process along.

Quinn Hughes has been the greatest gift the Canucks have gotten in franchise history, and while we know you can’t give them another one like him, a poor man’s version isn’t a lot to ask for right? Maybe it is, but the roster desperately needs more defencemen that can move the puck and get the transition game started – like Hughes does almost every shift. The Buffalo Sabres’ Bowen Byram and the Calgary Flames’ Rasmus Anderson are at the top of the wish list – the equivalent of asking for a PS5 – but we would also take someone like the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Ivan Provorov as well.

Stocking Stuffers

• Jonathan Lekkerimaki gets a permanent call-up and not only thrives next to Pettersson but helps him get back to the form he showed last January.
• Canucks’ home record starts reflecting their road record.
• Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen become a formidable tandem in the realm of Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider.

Canucks Need at Least One Big Gift Under the Tree

Santa, we know you’re very busy at this time of year, but please make one of these wishes come true so that Canucks Nation doesn’t have to endure another season without playoff hockey at Rogers Arena. While they are in a playoff spot right now, if the core forwards of Miller, Boeser and Pettersson don’t get going offensively, they will find themselves out of the picture very soon. If you can only give one gift to the Canucks this Christmas, it’s a bushel full of goals and points for that trio.

Here’s hoping you are heading to Vancouver filled with holiday cheer and a bunch of presents! Merry Christmas!