Weekend Wrap: The Tank Is Complete
Here's a sentence that would have been unthinkable two years ago: the Vancouver Canucks are the worst team in the NHL. Officially, mathematically, on paper. And the fan reaction is... complicated relief?
TSN reported that Thursday's 5-2 loss in Minnesota locked in Vancouver's 32nd-place finish — dead last in the league. The Wild clinched a playoff spot in the process, with Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy each scoring twice. The Canucks got goals from Tom Willander and Jake DeBrusk, but this wasn't really a game about winning.
The reason fans aren't entirely devastated: last place means the best odds in the NHL draft lottery. In a league where rebuilds live and die by top picks, finishing 32nd is a prize of its own kind.
There's also a subplot that stings a little. Quinn Hughes — the Canucks' former captain and franchise cornerstone, traded to Minnesota in December in a blockbuster deal — picked up his 67th assist of the season in that same game. Against his old team. The trade sent Hughes to the Wild in exchange for Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick. Whether that haul eventually justifies losing one of the best defensemen in franchise history is the question Vancouver fans will be debating for years.
The Canucks had actually beaten NHL-leading Colorado 8-6 the night before, which is the kind of chaotic energy that defines a team playing out the string — capable of beating the best, losing to everyone else.
Week Ahead: Utah Comes to Rogers Arena, and the Lottery Looms
The Canucks host Utah on Saturday. Standings-wise, it doesn't matter much. What does matter is the draft lottery odds that are quietly accumulating with every loss.
The bigger storyline to watch this week: The Province flagged that Vegas recently hired John Tortorella as head coach — a name Vancouver fans know well from his time behind the Canucks bench. That's a future matchup worth circling, though for now it's more of a "huh, weird" moment than an urgent rivalry.
The real event on the horizon isn't a game — it's the draft lottery. Vancouver's position at the bottom of the standings means they'll have the best odds at a franchise-altering top pick. For a team in full rebuild mode, that's the season finale worth watching.