The Chicago Blackhawks return to the United Center on Friday night following a four-game road trip (five if you count before the Olympic break) and host the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks sit dead last in the standings with an 18-36-7 record (good enough for a whopping 43 points). As the Canucks deal with the existential crisis of committing to a rebuild, a 1-7-2 record in their last 10 games has slid by, including losses in their last three games. With the trade deadline dominating headlines, here are the latest moves from Vancouver: Connor Garland to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2028 second and a 2026 third, defenseman Jett Woo (25 years old) to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Jack Thompson (23 years old), and 36-year-old defenseman Tyler Myers to the Dallas Stars for a 2027 second and a 2029 fourth. So, an already bad team was made worse in the last few week.
Of the players still around, center Elias Pettersson leads the Canucks in scoring with 37 points (13 G, 24 A) in 53 games while Jack DeBrusk is second among forwards with 30 points (13 G, 17 A) in 60 games. Wingers Brock Boeser (13 G, 14 A) and Evander Kane (11 G, 16 A) are tied at 27 points. In his 12 games with Vancouver, center Marco Rossi has four points (2 G, 2 A). On the blue line, Filip Hronek leads with 35 points (6 G, 29 A). Rookie Zeev Buium has six points with Vancouver, but five goals and 15 assists if we include his stats from Minnesota. 21-year-old defenseman Tom Willander has 16 points (4 G, 12 A) in his first NHL season. Injuries include: goaltender Thatcher Demko is done for the season (will undergo hip surgery), Evander Kane is listed day-to-day with an illness, and Filip Chytil is day-to-day. There’s just not a lot of firepower here.
The last time these two teams met was back in November, when the Hawks had a hot start and beat Vancouver 5-2 (Bertuzzi also scored a hat trick). The Canucks lineup is slightly different now that Quinn Hughes is gone and Rossi and Buium are part of their future. No morning skate lineups to report, but here was their lineup in their 6-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night.
Warmup #Canucks lines vs. @Canes
— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) March 5, 2026
Höglander. EP40. Garland.
Öhgren. Rossi. Boeser.
O’Connor. Kämpf. DeBrusk.
Sasson. Blueger. Karlsson.
EP25. Hronek.
MP29. Willander.
Buium. Mancini.
🥅Lankinen🥅
7pm on @Sportsnet650 https://t.co/J6DNM1E8Qt pic.twitter.com/GuBxY1EWjB
The Hawks are now 2-6-2 in their last 10 after losing 3-2 in overtime to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. Since then, Chicago has seen some roster changes with both Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach going to the Edmonton Oilers in return for Andrew Mangiapane and a protected 2027 first-round pick. Nick Foligno was also traded to the Minnesota Wild in return for future considerations (which you can read more about here). With Wyatt Kaiser returning to the lineup (he was officially activated from IR this afternoon), Kevin Korchinski was sent to the Rockford IceHogs. Ethan Del Mastro stays in the lineup as the Hawks’ seventh defenseman. Mangiapane is confirmed to be playing tonight and will wear No. 26. Ilya Mikheyev survived the trade deadline, but prospect Aidan Thompson did not and was traded to the New York Rangers for defenseman Derrick Pouliot (who will most likely spend his time in Rockford). There will be no announced lineup until warmups.
Considering both teams are near the bottom of the standings, some might be tempted to hope the Hawks get a “tank win” and lose to the last-place Canucks. I think it’s a lot more meaningful if we see an excellent performance from Chicago’s young players and collect their second win in seven games.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Canucks
46.25% (29th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 47.33% (27th)
43.79% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 46.01% (29th)
2.62 (27th) — Goals per game — 2.51 (31st)
3.11 (19th) — Goals against per game — 3.74 (32nd)
46.9% (30th) — Faceoffs — 48.3% (23rd)
19.7% (19th) — Power play — 18.4% (22nd)
85.9% (1st) — Penalty kill — 70% (32nd)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720