‘We’ve got a long ways to go’: Rebuilding Vancouver Canucks aim to snap losing skid

VANCOUVER — Luke Schenn believes his Vancouver Canucks need to be “a heck of a lot better.”

The veteran defenceman’s comments come after the NHL team sputtered through an early-season Eastern Conference road swing, going 0-5-1 and getting outscored 27-11.

“Obviously, you come back pretty humble, to say the least,” Schenn said Monday. “And we’ve got a long ways to go, for sure.”

The winless trip extended Vancouver’s losing skid to seven games.

Outside expectations for the rebuilding Canucks were low heading into the 2026-27 campaign.

The squad stunned many in a season-opening 6-5 overtime victory over the Oilers, and continued to raise eyebrows in a 9-7 loss to Edmonton two nights later.

But after beating the Calgary Flames 4-1 on home ice back on Oct. 3, Vancouver has struggled to keep pace with its opponents.

“I totally understand it’s about the process and getting better over time,” Schenn said. “But obviously within that process, we definitely want to see some progress, right?”

Ten games into the season, the Canucks (2-7-1) had the league’s worst penalty kill (58.1 per cent) heading into Monday’s slate of games.

Vancouver also sat at the bottom of the league in shots-for per game (21.1) and was second-last in shots-against per game (32.7).

“When you see the same mistakes repetitively from game to game, that’s where the frustration starts to set in,” said Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra.

Getting through a difficult stretch takes effort, he added.

“I think it’s more just making them aware and understanding why these losses are piling up right now, and just giving them more of something to focus on,” said the rookie NHL head coach.

“So it is frustrating for the guys to come to the rink and not feel the good vibes of winning. But at the same time, we have to maintain our focus on getting ourselves out of it. Because we’re the only ones that are going to do it.”

Some of Vancouver’s young stars have struggled to start the season, including Zeev Buium, who the Canucks acquired from the Minnesota Wild in December’s blockbuster Quinn Hughes trade.

Buium played 45 games for Vancouver last season, tallying three goals and nine assists, then signed an eight-year, US$75-million extension with the team in early December.

The 20-year-old defenceman has averaged 21:10 in ice time over the first 10 games of the season, but has just one assist.

Even losses hold lessons for young NHL players, Buium said.

“It’s not acceptable to lose seven in a row, but … you can’t live in it. You can’t stay negative, you can’t dig yourself a deeper hole,” he said. “And you look at those negatives, you try to realize why that happened and fix it. And that’s individually, that’s as a group. And I think that’s something we’re trying to do.”

Vancouver’s locker room is made up of a lot of good players, Schenn said, and every one of them wants to get better, but they all need to hold one another to a higher standard to make that happen.

“Sometimes it’s the game within the game a little bit,” Schenn said.

“Rather than seeing maybe the final score, it’s whether or not you’re improving on certain things within your game, whether it is special teams or whether it is limiting some more high-danger chances or shots or winning more battles. There’s a number of things within it that ultimately make up the end result.”

The Canucks spent nearly 90 minutes practising on Monday — much-needed ice time that Malhotra hopes will help the players as they prepare to host the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.

“Obviously we continue to talk about (how) this is a work in progress,” he said. “But the quicker we get to our identity and establish what that identity is, the better things are going to look.”

Getting onto the ice and competing against teammates provides an opportunity to harp on little details, Buium said.

“It’s easy to watch video, easy to talk about, but hard to go out there and execute,” he said.

“And I think when it starts to feel like you can’t get it wrong, that’s the point you want to get to. And I think we’re still working toward that.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2026.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press