The Vancouver Canucks have their work cut out to remain a top team

In the aftermath of the Vancouver Canucks losing in Game 7 of the Pacific Division Finals to the rival Edmonton Oilers, the team turns toward what is shaping up to be a busy offseason.

While the Canucks had a surprisingly great regular season, winning a division title for the first time in 11 years and clinching a playoff series for the first time since they made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011, it is not going to be easy for the team to be at the same level for the 2024-25 season.

The Canucks have a number of key players who are going to be free agents this summer. From veterans like Tyler Myers to guys Vancouver went out and bought, most notably Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm, there are eight unrestricted free against on the Canucks’ NHL roster, while defenseman Filip Hronek is a restricted free agent.

On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Canucks Army’s Jeff Paterson joined Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk to talk about the work the Canucks will have to do to be as good as they were this season.

Jeff Paterson: I’m really fascinated to see how [management] handles this situation. The management group did a nice job of bringing in a lot of players on short deals, one-year contracts, got them into coming here…but a lot of guys overachieved, exceeded expectations like the team did. I think some of these guys will price themselves out of Vancouver. They probably attract some interest around the National Hockey League. Whether it’s Zadorov, whether it’s Dakota Joshua and the season he had…The Canucks are going to have to do some internal soul-searching to figure out what went wrong. They got to figure out the guys they have under contract…and then it’s about surrounding them with the right pieces.

You can watch the full segment, and the entire episode here…