The Canucks are 3-13-1 after 17 games, last in the NHL on 7 points. So why are the Canucks losing? The easy reading is a team that cannot score. That is not what the numbers say, and the cause is narrower than it looks.
They have 51 goals, which is more than ten other clubs. They have conceded 77. The second-worst defence in the league has conceded 58.
Where the season actually went
| Vancouver, 2026-27 | Figure | Where that ranks |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 3-13-1 | 32nd |
| Points | 7 | 32nd |
| Goals for | 51 | better than ten clubs |
| Goals against | 77 | 32nd, and 19 worse than 31st |
| Power play | 21.8% | mid-table |
| Penalty kill | 63.2% | 31st |
| Last ten | 1-8-1 | – |
That is the season in one line. The attack is ordinary and the defence is 19 goals worse than anyone else’s. No club in the league is closer to average at one end and further from it at the other.
Three wins, and only one of them in regulation
They beat Calgary 4-1 at home on 3 October. That is the only time all season they have won a game inside sixty minutes.
The other two came in overtime, 6-5 at Edmonton on 29 September and 6-5 at Anaheim on 27 October. Both were games in which they conceded five. They are on a three-game losing run and 1-8-1 in their last ten.
The crease is most of it
Thatcher Demko is on injured reserve with a hip injury and a return date of 21 December. It is the same hip that ended his last season early, after surgery in January. The club has not put a firmer date on it than that.
| Goaltender | GP | Record | Save % | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leevi Merilainen | 11 | 2-5-1 | .897 | 3.31 |
| Kevin Lankinen | 8 | 1-7-0 | .812 | 6.17 |
| Thatcher Demko | 0 | injured reserve | – | – |
If you want one answer to why are the Canucks losing, it is here. Merilainen has been close to league average. Lankinen has not. A .812 save percentage is the lowest of any goaltender in the NHL who has made five or more appearances, and he has conceded 38 goals on 197 shots.
Put it another way. Had Lankinen merely matched Merilainen in his eight games, Vancouver would have conceded about 18 fewer goals, and the gap to the rest of the league would have closed almost entirely.
The penalty kill makes it worse
They kill 63.2 per cent, which is 31st, and they have been shorthanded 57 times, among the most in the league. A bottom-two kill in front of a struggling crease is how a goal difference gets to this point.
The power play is not the problem. At 21.8 per cent it sits in the middle of the league. That is the clearest sign that this is a team with one broken half, and it narrows the question to a single end of the ice.
What happens next
The schedule does not help. They are at Winnipeg on Thursday and at Edmonton on Saturday, the second against the team with the most goals in the league.
The honest read is that this is fixable and not quickly. Demko is the better part of seven weeks away on that date, the kill needs personnel rather than luck, and the forwards are already doing their part. Where they sit is on our NHL power rankings, and the week ahead is on the NHL schedule.
They are 3-13-1 after 17 games with 7 points, last in the NHL. Only one of the three wins came in regulation, a 4-1 against Calgary on 3 October.
Almost entirely at the back. They have scored 51 goals, more than ten other clubs, and conceded 77, which is 19 more than the next worst team in the league. The penalty kill is 31st.
The injury feed gives him a return date of 21 December. He is on injured reserve with a hip problem, the same one that ended his 2025-26 season after surgery in January. Treat the date as a projection rather than a club announcement.
Leevi Merilainen and Kevin Lankinen have split it. Merilainen is 2-5-1 with a .897 save percentage; Lankinen is 1-7-0 at .812, the lowest mark of any NHL goaltender with five or more appearances.
On points, yes. They are 32nd on 7, and their goal difference of minus 26 is the worst in the league by a distance.
19+ (18+ in AB, MB and QC). Statistics are through 3 November 2026 and change nightly. Please play responsibly. ConnexOntario: 1-866-531-2600 for Ontario residents; see your province’s helpline for resources elsewhere.