Heading into the 2026-27 season, the Vancouver Canucks are hoping for bounce-back seasons from most of the team, especially after finishing last in the NHL last season. If a team's leading points-getter is less than 55 points, the season was not ideal in the slightest.
One player who needs to step up and have a better 2026-27 season after a mediocre 2025-26 season is forward Jake DeBrusk. He is one of three forwards to watch for the Canucks this upcoming season, especially when the team needs him to produce at the level he is getting paid per season.
Bounce back for DeBrusk?
Before he joined the Canucks, DeBrusk finished with 19 goals and 40 points in 80 games in the 2023-24 season with the Boston Bruins. He would sign a seven-year, $38.50 million deal ahead of the 2024-25 season, where he went on to finish with 28 goals and 48 points in 82 games. In his second season with the Canucks in 2025-26, he had 23 goals and 42 points in 81 games.
DeBrusk led the team in goals, while being fourth in points. While those numbers are decent, it does not live up to the $5.5 million that the Canucks are paying him annually. Especially when he went from 48 points to 42 and finished with a minus-31 last season. On top of that, it doesn't help that out of his 23 goals, only four came from 5-on-5 play.
For someone who played most of the season with Elias Pettersson on the top line, while also being on the top power-play unit, it's tough to see him score only four even-strength goals. Even with him having 19 power-play goals last season, DeBrusk needs to show more finishing without needing to be up a man to score.
DeBrusk last season averaged 16:52 of ice time last season, the most of his career. Tallying 24 of your 42 points on the power play is not ideal for a guy who's on the top line with Pettersson and a mix of either Brock Boeser or anyone else on the right side.
With four more seasons left on his current deal, including this upcoming season, the hope is that DeBrusk bounces back in a big way. He is signed through the 2030-31 season, when he will be an unrestricted free agent (UFA) at 34 years old. For him to live up to the current deal, he needs to get back to around 27 to 30 goals and close to 50 points in 2026-27. Ideally, he will have a career season. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out for the Edmonton, Alberta native this season.
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