The Vancouver Canucks head into the 2025-26 season hoping to bounce back from a campaign where they fell from their Pacific Division penthouse and missed the playoffs. After a relatively quiet offseason where they only added Evander Kane up front and Pierre-Olivier Joseph on defence, they will be banking on their core stepping up and returning them to contender status.
As we get closer to training camp, the preseason, and finally opening night against the Calgary Flames, I will continue to get you set for the 2025-26 season with the player preview series, which got started early in the offseason with Aatu Raty and recently featured Teddy Blueger. Next on the docket is Drew O’Connor.
Drew O’Connor
- Age: 27
- How Acquired: Trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 1, 2025
- 2024-25 Stats: 10 goals and 25 points in 84 games
- Career Stats: 34 goals and 75 points in 241 games
- 2025-26 Contract Status: Year one of a two-year contract worth $2.5 million average annual value (AAV)
2024-25 Season Recap
O’Connor played 53 games with the Penguins before coming to the Canucks in the trade package with Marcus Pettersson at the beginning of February. Both of them were pending unrestricted free agents (UFAs) when they arrived in Vancouver, but it didn’t take long for general manager (GM) Patrik Allvin to secure their services for this season and beyond. First, he signed Pettersson to a six-year extension worth $5.5 million AAV on Feb. 5, and a little over a week later, O’Connor put pen to paper on a two-year deal worth $2.5 million AAV.
“Drew has really made a good first impression since joining our team from Pittsburgh at the beginning of the month,” said Allvin. “We like his size, speed and ability to get in on the forecheck and hound pucks. Our staff also feel confident that they can help Drew take his game to another level and we are excited to see what the future holds for him with the Vancouver Canucks.”
In the less than two weeks O’Connor was a member of the Canucks as a pending UFA, he impressed with two goals in his first three games, including a dramatic penalty shot in overtime to beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Feb. 6. He went on a 13-game goalless drought after that, but was still prominent on the penalty kill, averaging 1:11 of shorthanded ice time on the second unit with Kiefer Sherwood. He also added a lot of speed and physicality (32 hits) to the lineup and showed some chemistry…
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