EXPECTATIONS FOR THE CANUCKS AT THE 2025 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Four members of the Vancouver Canucks will represent their countries this year at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. All four players have taken part in the World Championships before, with their experience ranging from one to four other tournaments. Let’s take a look at each participating Canuck and what fans can expect from them. 

This Isn’t Drew O’Connor’s First Rodeo

Acquired by the Canucks on January 31, 2025, Drew O’Connor will be representing Team USA for the second time in his career and his first as a Canuck. His first time at the IIHF World Championship was in 2023. In 10 games played to get Team USA to fourth place, O’Connor scored three goals and five assists. 

This year, Team USA looks to be much deeper and younger offensively than they did in 2023. Young stars such as Matty Beniers, Logan Cooley, and Cutter Gauthier — all of whom represented USA at the World Juniors at some point — have been named to the roster. Because of this, O’Connor is likely to get pushed down the lineup, dressing in a third or fourth-line role. His speed on the forecheck will be an asset to Team USA, especially if paired alongside a sparkplug like NHL teammate Conor Garland.    

2025 Will Be Conor Garland’s Third Time at the IIHF World Championship

Garland has been widely touted as a leader in the Canucks’ locker room. In this year’s tournament, he’ll have a chance to prove this as an assistant captain for Team USA. This will be his third time at the IIHF World Championship and his second with a letter on his uniform.  Utah Hockey Club’s Clayton Keller (C), Nashville Predators’ Brady Skjei (A), and Buffalo Sabres’ Tage Thompson (A) will also lead Team USA. 

In 20 IIHF World Championship games, Garland has posted eight goals and 13 assists. USA has finished with a bronze medal (2021) and in fourth place (2023) with Garland in their lineup. Despite their recent successes in the World Juniors, 2021 was the last time Team USA placed on the podium in the IIHF World Championships. As a player who saw a spike in power play and penalty kill time with the Canucks this season, expect Garland to have an increased role on all sides of the ice.   

Will Marcus Pettersson Win His First IIHF World Championship Gold?

The 2025 IIHF World Championship marks Marcus Pettersson’s fourth time dressing for Sweden in the tournament. Sweden’s defensive core will host talent like Rasmus Andersson of the Calgary Flames, Simon Edvinsson of the Detroit Red Wings, and Adam Larsson of the Seattle Kraken. Pettersson likely won’t be expected to contribute as much offensively compared to the other defenders. However, his 11 points in 31 games with Vancouver this season prove he can still chip in when needed.

 Throughout his IIHF World Championship competition, Pettersson has yet to see a silver or gold medal. In his most recent endeavour in 2024, he and Team Sweden pushed their way to a bronze medal. However, prior to that, Pettersson and Sweden failed to crack the top-four. Before Pettersson joined the team in 2019, Sweden went on a gold medal-repeat in 2017 and 2018. With Sweden’s steady increase in recent tournament standings, 2025 could be the year Pettersson grabs his first gold medal at the IIHF World Championship. 

Filip Hronek Is a Veteran of the Tournament

This year, Filip Hronek will be joining the IIHF World Championship gold medal-defending Team Czechia. He has not participated in the tournament since being traded to the Canucks in 2023. Prior to that, he played in four other tournaments, with his most recent resulting in a bronze medal. Joining Hronek and Czechia in this year’s IIHF World Championship are David Pastrňák and Jakub Lauko of the Boston Bruins, and Filip Zadina of the San Jose Sharks. 

As it stands, Hronek is the only NHL defenceman on Czechia’s roster, meaning he’ll likely see the most playing time. Increased minutes aren’t uncommon to him. Throughout this season, Hronek has taken the role as the Canucks’ top defenceman, filling in for an injured Quinn Hughes. Because of this, he was also given 108:51 minutes on the power play. This year’s IIHF World Championship could provide him with an opportunity to build on this progress on international ice.

- Izzy Cheung

OILERS BEAT CANUCKS 3-2 IN GAME 7 TO ADVANCE IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL

The Canadian Press via AP

 VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The Edmonton Oilers are showing they have more scoring options than just Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist as Edmonton scored three times in the second period and held on to beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in Game 7 on Monday night to advance to the Western Conference final.

Zach Hyman and Cody Ceci also scored, and Evan Bouchard had two assists for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner finished with 15 saves.

“It takes every single guy in here,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Definitely proud to get the job done with this group.”

Draisaitl leads all players in the playoffs with 24 points, McDavid has 21. and Bouchard leads all defensemen with 20 points. The Canucks held McDavid off the scoresheet for the third time in seven games, and limited Draisaitl to just one assist.

Edmonton, back in the conference finals for the second time in three years, will next face Dallas with Game 1 of that series on Thursday night.

Conor Garland and Filip Hronek scored in the third period for Vancouver, and Arturs Silovs had 26 saves.

After learning leading goal-scorer Brock Boeser was sidelined due to a reported blood-clotting issue, the Canucks were forced to juggle their forward lines on Monday. Sam Lafferty and Ilya Mikheyev drew in for Game 7 after a two-game absence, while Vasily Podkolzin was scratched.

Coaching in his first Stanley Cup playoffs, the Oilers’ Kris Knoblauch singled out Nugent-Hopkins and the bottom-six forwards for successfully killing off a four-minute penalty called on Ryan McLeod late in the first period.

“We played, I thought, really well,” Knoblauch said of his team’s first-period effort, when Edmonton outshot Vancouver 13-2. “That could be a turning point in the game, but our penalty kill, like it has been for almost all the playoffs, has been really solid.”

Silovs was the story of the first period, stopping all 13 shots he faced.

Ceci opened the scoring on his team’s first shot of the second period, with a slap shot from the right point that beat Silovs high to the glove side at 1:16. The Oilers then went on their first power play, and Hyman scored his playoff-leading 11th goal by tipping Bouchard's point shot to Silovs’ stick side at 5:20.

Nugent-Hopkins extended the lead to 3-0 with a sharp-angle shot with 4:38 left. It was Edmonton’s first power-play goal in three games.

The Canucks looked hard-pressed to create any dangerous scoring chances for the first 52 minutes, before an unassisted slot shot by Garland with 8:23 left in the third gave life to the team and its fans. Hronek got Vancouver to within one with 4:36 left to play, and the Canucks kept the pressure dialed up until the final buzzer.

“For the most part, I thought we played really well,” said Draisaitl, who famously declared 2023-24 to be a ‘Cup or Bust’ season after the Oilers were eliminated from the second round of the 2023 playoffs. “Would we like to keep it a little less stressful? Yes, probably.”

Vancouver was 0 for 3 on the power play, while Edmonton was 1 for 2. The Oilers went 20 for 23 on the penalty kill in the series.

After giving up one goal on 15 shots in his return to the net for Edmonton’s Game 6 win, Skinner faced just 17 shots in Game 7, and only five in the third period.

But that didn’t make it an easy night.

“They were able to make plays, but just weren’t able to get shots on net,” Skinner said. “I was working really hard, believe it or not. But I just didn’t get a ton of shots, which is a credit to the guys in front.”

The Oilers improved to 8-4 all time in Game 7s, while the Canucks fell to 6-7.

The Canucks were making their first playoff appearance in front of fans since 2015. Despite losing Vezina Trophy nominee Thatcher Demko to injury after the first game of the first round, the Canucks advanced for the first time since the 2020 playoff bubble.

After the game, Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet emphasized the strides that his group has taken since he stepped behind the bench in January 2023.

“They put respect back to that jersey and into this city,” he said. “Fans have got something to be proud of.”