2020–21 Vancouver Canucks season

The 2020–21 Vancouver Canucks season was the 51st season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on May 22, 1970.^[1]

2020–21 Vancouver Canucks
Division	7th North
2020–21 record	23–29–4
Home record	13–12–3
Road record	10–17–1
Goals for	151
Goals against	188
Team information
General manager	Jim Benning
Coach	Travis Green
Captain	Bo Horvat
Alternate captains	Alexander Edler Brandon Sutter
Arena	Rogers Arena
Minor league affiliate(s)	Utica Comets (AHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Brock Boeser (23)
Assists	Quinn Hughes (38)
Points	Brock Boeser (49)
Penalty minutes	Alexander Edler (58)
Plus/minus	Jordie Benn (+5)
Wins	Thatcher Demko (16)
Goals against average	Thatcher Demko (2.85)
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

Due to the Canada–United States border restrictions brought in as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canucks were re-aligned with the other six Canadian franchises into the newly formed North Division. The league's 56 game season was played entirely within the new divisions, meaning that Vancouver and the other Canadian teams played an all-Canadian schedule for the 2020–21 regular season as well as the first two rounds of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.

On March 31, 2021, the first of several Canucks games were postponed due to COVID protocols. By April, a majority of the team had tested positive for COVID-19, including several coaches.^[2][3] It is the most extensive COVID outbreak in the NHL and in North American professional sports to date.^[4][5] The Canucks were eliminated from playoff contention on May 10 after the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4–3 in overtime.^[6]

Standings

Divisional standings

North Division

Pos	Team v t e	GP	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	y – Toronto Maple Leafs	56	35	14	7	29	187	148	+39	77
2	x – Edmonton Oilers	56	35	19	2	31	183	154	+29	72
3	x – Winnipeg Jets	56	30	23	3	24	170	154	+16	63
4	x – Montreal Canadiens	56	24	21	11	20	159	168	−9	59
5	Calgary Flames	56	26	27	3	22	156	161	−5	55
6	Ottawa Senators	56	23	28	5	18	157	190	−33	51
7	Vancouver Canucks	56	23	29	4	17	151	188	−37	50

Source: National Hockey League^[7]
Rules for classification: 1) Fewer number of games played (GP, only during regular season); 2) Greater number of regulation wins (RW); 3) Greater number of wins in regulation and overtime, excluding shootout wins (ROW); 4) Greater number of total wins, including shootouts (W); 5) Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded; 6) Greater goal differential (GD); 7) Greater number of goals scored (GF)
x – Clinched playoff spot; y – Clinched division

Schedule and results

Regular season

The regular season schedule was released on December 23, 2020.^[8]

2020–21 game log
January: 6–5–0 (Home: 4–2–0; Road: 2–3–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 13 Vancouver 5–3 Edmonton Holtby 0 1–0–0 2 [9] 2 January 14 Vancouver 2–5 Edmonton Demko 0 1–1–0 2 [10] 3 January 16 Vancouver 0–3 Calgary Holtby 0 1–2–0 2 [11] 4 January 18 Vancouver 2–5 Calgary Demko 0 1–3–0 2 [12] 5 January 20 Montreal 5–6 Vancouver SO Holtby 0 2–3–0 4 [13] 6 January 21 Montreal 7–3 Vancouver Demko 0 2–4–0 4 [14] 7 January 23 Montreal 5–2 Vancouver Holtby 0 2–5–0 4 [15] 8 January 25 Ottawa 1–7 Vancouver Demko 0 3–5–0 6 [16] 9 January 27 Ottawa 1–5 Vancouver Demko 0 4–5–0 8 [17] 10 January 28 Ottawa 1–4 Vancouver Holtby 0 5–5–0 10 [18] 11 January 30 Vancouver 4–1 Winnipeg Demko 0 6–5–0 12 [19]
February: 2–9–2 (Home: 1–4–2; Road: 1–5–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 12 February 1 Vancouver 2–6 Montreal Holtby 0 6–6–0 12 [20] 13 February 2 Vancouver 3–5 Montreal Demko 0 6–7–0 12 [21] 14 February 4 Vancouver 3–7 Toronto Demko 0 6–8–0 12 [22] 15 February 6 Vancouver 1–5 Toronto Holtby 0 6–9–0 12 [23] 16 February 8 Vancouver 1–3 Toronto Holtby 0 6–10–0 12 [24] 17 February 11 Calgary 3–1 Vancouver Demko 0 6–11–0 12 [25] 18 February 13 Calgary 1–3 Vancouver Demko 0 7–11–0 14 [26] 19 February 15 Calgary 4–3 Vancouver OT Demko 0 7–11–1 15 [27] 20 February 17 Vancouver 5–1 Calgary Holtby 0 8–11–1 17 [28] 21 February 19 Winnipeg 2–0 Vancouver Demko 0 8–12–1 17 [29] 22 February 21 Winnipeg 4–3 Vancouver OT Holtby 0 8–12–2 18 [30] 23 February 23 Edmonton 4–3 Vancouver Demko 0 8–13–2 18 [31] 24 February 25 Edmonton 3–0 Vancouver Demko 0 8–14–2 18 [32]
March: 8–4–1 (Home: 4–3–0; Road: 4–1–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 25 March 1 Vancouver 4–0 Winnipeg Demko 0 9–14–2 20 [33] 26 March 2 Vancouver 2–5 Winnipeg Holtby 0 9–15–2 20 [34] 27 March 4 Toronto 1–3 Vancouver Demko 0 10–15–2 22 [35] 28 March 6 Toronto 2–4 Vancouver Demko 0 11–15–2 24 [36] 29 March 8 Montreal 1–2 Vancouver SO Demko 0 12–15–2 26 [37] 30 March 10 Montreal 5–1 Vancouver Demko 0 12–16–2 26 [38] 31 March 13 Edmonton 1–2 Vancouver Demko 0 13–16–2 28 [39] 32 March 15 Vancouver 3–2 Ottawa OT Demko 0 14–16–2 30 [40] 33 March 17 Vancouver 3–2 Ottawa SO Demko 0 15–16–2 32 [41] 34 March 19 Vancouver 3–2 Montreal OT Demko 0 16–16–2 34 [42] 35 March 20 Vancouver 4–5 Montreal SO Holtby 0 16–16–3 35 [43] 36 March 22 Winnipeg 4–0 Vancouver Demko 0 16–17–3 35 [44] 37 March 24 Winnipeg 5–1 Vancouver Demko 0 16–18–3 35 [45] — March 31 Calgary – Vancouver Postponed due to COVID-19.[46] Rescheduled for May 16.[47][48]
April: 3–4–0 (Home: 3–1–0; Road: 0–3–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap — April 3 Vancouver – Edmonton Postponed due to COVID-19.[49] Rescheduled for May 6.[47][48] — April 4 Vancouver – Winnipeg Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 10.[47] — April 6 Vancouver – Winnipeg Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 11.[47] — April 8 Vancouver – Calgary Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 19.[47][48] — April 10 Vancouver – Calgary Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 13.[47][48] — April 12 Vancouver – Edmonton Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 8.[47] — April 14 Vancouver – Edmonton Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 15.[47][48] — April 16 Edmonton – Vancouver Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 3.[50][48] — April 17 Toronto – Vancouver Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for April 18.[51][48] 38 April 18 Toronto 2–3 Vancouver OT Holtby 0 17–18–3 37 [52] — April 19 Toronto – Vancouver Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for April 20.[48] 39 April 20 Toronto 3–6 Vancouver Holtby 0 18–18–3 39 [53] 40 April 22 Ottawa 3–0 Vancouver Demko 0 18–19–3 39 [54] 41 April 24 Ottawa 2–4 Vancouver Holtby 0 19–19–3 41 [55] 42 April 26 Vancouver 1–2 Ottawa Holtby 0 19–20–3 41 [56] 43 April 28 Vancouver 3–6 Ottawa Demko 0 19–21–3 41 [57] 44 April 29 Vancouver 1–4 Toronto Holtby 0 19–22–3 41 [58]
May: 4–7–1 (Home: 1–2–1; Road: 3–5–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 45 May 1 Vancouver 1–5 Toronto Demko 0 19–23–3 41 [59] 46 May 3 Edmonton 5–3 Vancouver Holtby 0 19–24–3 41 [60] 47 May 4 Edmonton 4–1 Vancouver Demko 0 19–25–3 41 [61] 48 May 6 Vancouver 6–3 Edmonton Demko 0 20–25–3 43 [62] 49 May 8 Vancouver 3–4 Edmonton Demko 0 20–26–3 43 [63] 50 May 10 Vancouver 3–1 Winnipeg Demko 0 21–26–3 45 [64] 51 May 11 Vancouver 0–5 Winnipeg Holtby 0 21–27–3 45 [65] 52 May 13 Vancouver 1–4 Calgary Demko 0 21–28–3 45 [66] 53 May 15 Vancouver 4–1 Edmonton Demko 0 22–28–3 47 [67] 54 May 16 Calgary 6–5 Vancouver OT Holtby 0 22–28–4 48 [68] 55 May 18 Calgary 2–4 Vancouver Demko 0 23–28–4 50 [69] 56 May 19 Vancouver 2–6 Calgary Holtby 0 23–29–4 50 [70]
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Detailed records

North Division
Opponent	Home	Away	Total	Pts	GF	GA
Calgary Flames	2–1–2	1–4–0	3–5–2	8	26	35
Edmonton Oilers	1–4–0	3–2–0	4–6–0	8	29	33
Montreal Canadiens	2–3–0	1–2–1	3–5–1	7	26	41
Ottawa Senators	4–1–0	2–2–0	6–3–0	12	30	20
Toronto Maple Leafs	4–0–0	0–5–0	4–5–0	8	23	32
Winnipeg Jets	0–3–1	3–2–0	3–5–1	7	17	27
Total	13–12–3	10–17–1	23–29–4	50	151	188

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular season^[71]

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Brock Boeser	56	23	26	49	−3	16
J. T. Miller	53	15	31	46	−7	43
Quinn Hughes	56	3	38	41	−24	22
Bo Horvat	56	19	20	39	−6	23
Nils Hoglander	56	13	14	27	−4	16
Elias Pettersson	26	10	11	21	0	6
Tyler Myers	55	6	15	21	−8	51
Tanner Pearson	51	10	8	18	−15	26
Nate Schmidt	54	5	10	15	−7	4
Brandon Sutter	43	9	3	12	−9	2
Travis Hamonic	38	3	7	10	−3	39
Tyler Motte	24	6	3	9	0	14
Jordie Benn‡	31	1	8	9	+5	9
Alexander Edler	52	0	8	8	−8	58
Adam Gaudette‡	33	4	3	7	−13	12
Jake Virtanen	38	5	0	5	−4	41
Matthew Highmore†	18	3	2	5	0	2
Jayce Hawryluk	30	2	3	5	−7	9
Jay Beagle	30	1	4	5	−2	8
Tyler Graovac	14	3	1	4	−3	6
Antoine Roussel	35	1	3	4	+4	37
Olli Juolevi	23	2	1	3	−1	0
Jack Rathbone	8	1	2	3	+1	0
Jimmy Vesey†	20	0	3	3	−10	6
Travis Boyd†	19	2	0	2	−6	0
Zack MacEwen	34	1	1	2	−2	44
Jalen Chatfield	18	0	1	1	−11	12
Brogan Rafferty	1	0	1	1	−1	0
Loui Eriksson	7	0	1	1	−3	2
Justin Bailey	3	0	0	0	−2	2
Marc Michaelis	15	0	0	0	−5	2
Guillaume Brisebois	1	0	0	0	0	0
Kole Lind	7	0	0	0	−4	0
Jonah Gadjovich	1	0	0	0	−1	17
William Lockwood	2	0	0	0	−2	2

Goaltenders

Regular season^[72]

Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Thatcher Demko	35	35	2,086:48	16	18	1	99	2.85	1,164	.915	1	0	0	0
Braden Holtby	21	21	1,260:29	7	11	3	77	3.67	695	.889	0	0	1	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Canucks. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.
^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

Awards and honours

Milestones

Regular season Player Milestone Reached Nils Hoglander 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point January 13, 2021[73] Olli Juolevi 1st career NHL regular season game January 13, 2021 Brock Boeser 200th career NHL game January 16, 2021 Nate Schmidt 400th career NHL game January 18, 2021 Jalen Chatfield 1st career NHL game January 20, 2021[74] Nils Hoglander 1st career NHL assist January 21, 2021 Brogan Rafferty 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point January 21, 2021 Olli Juolevi 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point January 25, 2021[75] Brandon Sutter 1st career NHL hat-trick January 25, 2021[76] Tyler Motte 200th career NHL game February 2, 2021 Jay Beagle 600th career NHL game February 11, 2021 J. T. Miller 200th career NHL assist February 21, 2021[77] Antoine Roussel 1000th career NHL Penalty minute February 25, 2021 Jake Virtanen 300th career NHL game March 2, 2021 Marc Michaelis 1st career NHL game March 4, 2021 Quinn Hughes 100th career NHL game March 4, 2021 Alexander Edler 900th career NHL game March 6, 2021 Jordie Benn 100th career NHL assist March 14, 2021 Tyler Myers 300th career NHL point March 14, 2021 Jalen Chatfield 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point April 18, 2021 Kole Lind 1st career NHL game April 29, 2021 Tanner Pearson 500th career NHL game May 4, 2021 Brock Boeser 200th career NHL points May 4, 2021 Bo Horvat 500th career NHL game May 16, 2021 Jonah Gadjovich 1st career NHL game May 16, 2021 William Lockwood 1st career NHL game May 18, 2021

Transactions

The Canucks have been involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season.

Trades

Date	Details		Ref
October 12, 2020 (2020-10-12)	To Vegas Golden Knights 3rd-round pick in 2022	To Vancouver Canucks Nate Schmidt	[78]
April 12, 2021 (2021-04-12)	To Chicago Blackhawks Adam Gaudette	To Vancouver Canucks Matthew Highmore	[79]
April 12, 2021 (2021-04-12)	To Chicago Blackhawks 4th-round pick in 2021	To Vancouver Canucks Madison Bowey 5th-round pick in 2021	[80]
April 12, 2021 (2021-04-12)	To Winnipeg Jets Jordie Benn	To Vancouver Canucks 6th-round pick in 2021	[81]
July 17, 2021 (2021-07-17)	To Dallas Stars 3rd-round pick in 2021	To Vancouver Canucks Jason Dickinson	[82]

Free agents

Date	Player	Team	Contract term	Ref
October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09)	Braden Holtby	from Washington Capitals	2-year	[83]
October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09)	Jacob Markstrom	to Calgary Flames	6-year	[84]
October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09)	Christopher Tanev	to Calgary Flames	4-year	[85]
October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10)	Louis Domingue	to Calgary Flames	1-year	[86]
October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10)	Troy Stecher	to Detroit Red Wings	2-year	[87]
October 12, 2020 (2020-10-12)	Tyler Toffoli	to Montreal Canadiens	4-year	[88]
October 19, 2020 (2020-10-19)	Jayce Hawryluk	from Ottawa Senators	1-year	[89]
October 24, 2020 (2020-10-24)	Josh Leivo	to Calgary Flames	1-year	[90]
October 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)	Oscar Fantenberg	to SKA Saint Petersburg (KHL)	1-year	[91]
January 12, 2021 (2021-01-12)	Travis Hamonic	from Calgary Flames	1-year	[92]

Waivers

Date	Player	Team	Ref
March 17, 2021	Jimmy Vesey	from Toronto Maple Leafs	[93]
March 22, 2021	Travis Boyd		[94]

Contract terminations Date Player Via Ref

Retirement Date Player Ref

Signings

Date	Player	Contract term	Ref
October 6, 2020 (2020-10-06)	Zack MacEwen	2-year	[95]
October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09)	Tyler Motte	2-year	[96]
October 13, 2020 (2020-10-13)	Ashton Sautner	1-year	[97]
October 16, 2020 (2020-10-16)	Jake Kielly	1-year	[98]
October 19, 2020 (2020-10-19)	Adam Gaudette	1-year	[99]
October 22, 2020 (2020-10-22)	Jake Virtanen	2-year	[100]
October 30, 2020 (2020-10-30)	Guillaume Brisebois	1-year	[101]
December 9, 2020 (2020-12-09)	Jalen Chatfield	1-year	[102]
December 13, 2020 (2020-12-13)	Tyler Graovac	1-year	[103]
December 17, 2020 (2020-12-17)	Justin Bailey	1-year	[104]
January 6, 2021 (2021-01-06)	Carson Focht	3-year	[105]
April 8, 2021 (2021-04-08)	Thatcher Demko	5-year	[106]
April 8, 2021 (2021-04-08)	Tanner Pearson	3-year	[107]
May 30, 2021 (2021-05-30)	Vasily Podkolzin	3-year	[108]
June 1, 2021 (2021-06-01)	Karel Plášek	3-year	[109]

Draft picks

See also: List of Vancouver Canucks draft picks

Below are the Vancouver Canucks' selections at the 2020 NHL entry draft, which was held virtually via video conference call on October 6 and 7, 2020 from the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
3	82	Joni Jurmo	D	Finland	Jokerit U20 (Jr. A SM-liiga)
4	113	Jackson Kunz	LW	United States	Shattuck-St. Mary's High School (Minnesota)
5	144	Jacob Truscott	D	United States	U.S. NTDP U-18 (USHL)
6	175	Dmitry Zlodeyev	C	Russia	Dynamo Moscow 2 (MHL)
7	1913	Viktor Persson	D	Sweden	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)

Notes:

1. The Vancouver Canucks' first-round pick went to the New Jersey Devils as the result of a trade on February 16, 2020 that sent Blake Coleman to Tampa Bay in exchange for Nolan Foote and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade).^[110] The condition – New Jersey will receive a first-round pick in 2020 if Vancouver qualifies for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs – was converted when the Canucks advanced to the first round of the playoffs on August 7, 2020.^[111]

   Tampa Bay previously acquired this pick in a trade on June 22, 2019 that sent J. T. Miller to Vancouver in exchange for Marek Mazanec, a third-round pick in 2019 and this pick.^[112]

2. The Vancouver Canucks' second-round pick went to the Detroit Red Wings as the result of a trade on October 7, 2020 that sent Edmonton's second-round pick in 2020 (45th overall) to Los Angeles in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2020 (97th overall) and this pick.^[113]

   Los Angeles previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on February 17, 2020 that sent Tyler Toffoli to Vancouver in exchange for Tim Schaller, Tyler Madden, a conditional fourth-round pick in 2022 and this pick.^[114]

3. The Anaheim Ducks' seventh-round pick went to the Vancouver Canucks as the result of a trade on January 16, 2019 that sent Michael Del Zotto to Anaheim in exchange for Luke Schenn and this pick.^[115]
4. The Vancouver Canucks' seventh-round pick went to the San Jose Sharks as the result of a trade on October 7, 2020 that sent a fifth-round pick in 2020 (127th overall) to the New York Rangers in exchange for a seventh-round pick in 2020 (196th overall) and this pick.^[116]

   The Rangers previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on February 12, 2019 that sent Marek Mazanec to Vancouver in exchange for this pick.^[117][118]

Notes