# 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.
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. It is the most extensive COVID outbreak in the NHL and in North American professional sports to date. The Canucks were eliminated from playoff contention on May 10 after the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4–3 in overtime.

## 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 | e – Calgary Flames | 56 | 26 | 27 | 3 | 22 | 156 | 161 | −5 | 55 |
| 6 | e – Ottawa Senators | 56 | 23 | 28 | 5 | 18 | 157 | 190 | −33 | 51 |
| 7 | e – Vancouver Canucks | 56 | 23 | 29 | 4 | 17 | 151 | 188 | −37 | 50 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

The regular season schedule was released on December 23, 2020.
2020–21 game log :
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 :
| 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 :
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Brandon Sutter | 1st career NHL hat-trick | January 25, 2021 |
| 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 |
| 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 | Details |
| October 12, 2020 (2020-10-12) | To Vegas Golden Knights3rd-round pick in 2022 | To Vancouver CanucksNate Schmidt |
| April 12, 2021 (2021-04-12) | To Chicago BlackhawksAdam Gaudette | To Vancouver CanucksMatthew Highmore |
| April 12, 2021 (2021-04-12) | To Chicago Blackhawks4th-round pick in 2021 | To Vancouver CanucksMadison Bowey 5th-round pick in 2021 |
| April 12, 2021 (2021-04-12) | To Winnipeg JetsJordie Benn | To Vancouver Canucks6th-round pick in 2021 |
| July 17, 2021 (2021-07-17) | To Dallas Stars3rd-round pick in 2021 | To Vancouver CanucksJason Dickinson |

### Free agents

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

### Waivers

| Date | Player | Team | Ref |
| March 17, 2021 | Jimmy Vesey | from Toronto Maple Leafs | |
| March 22, 2021 | Travis Boyd | from Toronto Maple Leafs | |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Contract term |
| October 6, 2020 (2020-10-06) | Zack MacEwen | 2-year |
| October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09) | Tyler Motte | 2-year |
| October 13, 2020 (2020-10-13) | Ashton Sautner | 1-year |
| October 16, 2020 (2020-10-16) | Jake Kielly | 1-year |
| October 19, 2020 (2020-10-19) | Adam Gaudette | 1-year |
| October 22, 2020 (2020-10-22) | Jake Virtanen | 2-year |
| October 30, 2020 (2020-10-30) | Guillaume Brisebois | 1-year |
| December 9, 2020 (2020-12-09) | Jalen Chatfield | 1-year |
| December 13, 2020 (2020-12-13) | Tyler Graovac | 1-year |
| December 17, 2020 (2020-12-17) | Justin Bailey | 1-year |
| January 6, 2021 (2021-01-06) | Carson Focht | 3-year |
| April 8, 2021 (2021-04-08) | Thatcher Demko | 5-year |
| April 8, 2021 (2021-04-08) | Tanner Pearson | 3-year |
| May 30, 2021 (2021-05-30) | Vasily Podkolzin | 3-year |
| June 1, 2021 (2021-06-01) | Karel Plášek | 3-year |

## 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 | 191$^3$ | Viktor Persson | D | Sweden | Kamloops Blazers (WHL) |
Notes:
* 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). 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.
    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.
* 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.
    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.
* 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.
* 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.
    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.