How is that for a reality check on the timeline for the Canucks’ rebuild?
Vancouver liquidated its second-best defenceman for a first-round draft pick in 2030. If the Canucks retain and use that pick, which is top-10 protected and could be pushed to 2031, it will likely be 6-8 years before the team sees any on-ice benefit from the deal that highlighted a hectic 2026 Canada Day for the organization.
Pettersson, 30, will be replaced in the meantime by Jamie Oleksiak, a rugged, dependable 33-year-old who signed a two-year, $10-million contract Wednesday to join the Canucks as a free agent from the Seattle Kraken.
It will be years before new general manager Ryan Johnson fully rebuilds the team.
But the re-construction of the Canucks’ culture is well underway.
Two days after the zero-cost acquisition of Montreal Canadiens veteran Brendan Gallagher, 34, the Canucks earlier Wednesday repatriated 36-year-old defenceman Luke Schenn, bringing the universally-respected leader back to Vancouver for the third time in eight years on a one-year contract signed shortly after NHL free agency opened.
None of Schenn, Gallagher or Oleksiak is expected to be around whenever the Canucks are championship contenders again, but they’re here to help set that bold trajectory by shaping culture as they mentor and shape their much-younger teammates.
Along with hard-hitting, 215-pound fourth-liner Paul Cotter, added Wednesday as a free agent from the New Jersey Devils, Oleksiak, Schenn and Gallagher will make the Canucks tougher and harder to play against, even if wins may be as scarce next season as they were this past year during the steep fall to last place as the team pivoted towards this rebuild.
It was an expectedly busy day for Johnson and his staff under new Canucks co-presidents Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who said in May that the fastest way to rebuild was to go slowly and carefully.
“Yeah, it was a good day,” Johnson told reporters after his busiest day on the job so far.
“We’ve solved some problems,” he explained. “We’ve made changes, we’ve got some different faces without having to take on long-term commitments that might have put us a year from now … rethinking things. I think this gave us a facelift a little bit. It gave us an opportunity to get new energy and new people.”
But Pettersson was relatively new, too, acquired 17 months ago from the Pittsburgh Penguins with the Rangers’ 2025 first-round pick that was part of the J.T. Miller trade to New York. Pettersson emerged as a conscientious, accountable leader in the first months of the rebuild and wanted to stay in Vancouver.
Until this week, the Swede hadn’t been mentioned in trade speculation as often as some of his veteran teammates, who are on long-term contracts. But it’s difficult to sell what other teams aren’t eager to purchase, so Johnson seized an opportunity to offload Pettersson and a contract that runs for five more years at $5.5 million per season – even if the return from the Rangers feels impossibly distant.
“I’ve been listening on everything, exploring options, trying to do what’s best for this organization, short term and long term,” Johnson explained. “I’ve made it clear that I’m okay looking into the future on some of these returns.
“Marcus – outstanding player and outstanding person. When he came here, he had a real impact on this dressing room, so I want to thank him. But it was just an opportunity that I felt I needed to take.”
Johnson noted the 2030 draft pick could be used as a trade chip before then.
After dealing Pettersson, who wanted to help with the rebuild but waived his trade protection to go to the Rangers, Johnson turned immediately to Oleksiak. The Canucks essentially shortened their commitment to two years from five for a 20-minute, penalty-killing defenceman.
“The timing of (trading) Marcus and looking at the opportunity that may come from today, you’ve got to pivot very quickly,” Johnson said. “That’s something I pivoted on extremely quickly, and I’m thankful of the timing of that to be able to come together. I feel like, on a shorter term, we’re getting a big body that can penalty kill, that gives us some stiffness.
“And again, (when) you look at the young defencemen we have, we’ve got the opportunity to pair each of them with an experienced player to help them through their process and their development. And again, we’re adding a really good person that wants to be in Vancouver, so that’s, again, a win-win for me.”
It remains to be seen if the flurry of transactions makes the Canucks better on the ice, but it significantly changes the dressing-room dynamics after two years (or more) of dysfunction.
Gallagher and Schenn, especially, immediately and naturally slide into leadership roles.
“They bring a sense of grit,” Johnson said. “They’ve experienced a ton through their careers. Obviously, with a young group around them … they almost become secondary coaches in a sense. Both are excited to help with this environment that I’m trying to put some life into. Both guys are extremely fired up and understand some of the influence that they can have on some of the players we have here.”
Schenn made it clear in a Zoom call with reporters that he didn’t sign his one-year, $2.25-million contract with the Canucks merely to extend what has been a lengthy and eventful NHL career.
“I care about the organization,” he said. “I care about … what they’re doing right now in terms of the rebuild and where they’re going, and I want to be a part of that … and help out in the room and on the ice and be a part of it. So I’m excited.”
The defenceman from Saskatoon, who has made Kelowna his off-season home since playing junior hockey there, saved his NHL career in Vancouver in 2019 after the Anaheim Ducks gave him a one-way ticket to the minors at age 29 before trading him to the Canucks.
Johnson was Schenn’s minor-league GM with the Utica Comets and facilitated his late-season promotion to Vancouver, where Schenn helped shepherd Quinn Hughes into the NHL. He did enough to earn a free-agent contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, with whom Schenn won two Stanley Cups before signing back with the Canucks in 2021. Near the end of that two-year contract, he was traded by former Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a third-round pick.
Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra coached Schenn as an assistant in both Toronto and Vancouver.
“This time around, yeah, I understand where I’m at, what my role is,” Schenn said. “That actually excites me to pass on some of my experience. You know, there’s not much in my NHL career that I haven’t really gone through.
“I think as a veteran you’ve got to be there and be positive with everyone and work with everyone before and after practice. I’m actually really looking forward to that kind of role. And, like I said, it’s not just me going there and riding it out and collecting a paycheque. I really care about the organization and want to … help out with the culture to (get it to) where it has been in the past.”
Johnson and the Canucks will continue to work on that culture. And the roster.
“I’m considering everything,” the GM said. “I’m not doing my job if I’m not listening, and will always consider options. And by no means am I content that … ‘we’ve done this and this is enough.’ That’s certainly not the case, so I will continue to listen, continue to look at opportunities and options. But I’m happy again for the staff and the people that did a lot of work (today). I said it would be a quick sprint when I took over, and we haven’t stopped running and don’t plan on doing that anytime soon.”