By Andrew Phillip Chernoff | CanucksBanter

July 1, 2026

Canucks’ Active With Signings as 2026 NHL Free Agency Opens

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Ryan Johnson announced today that the team has agreed to free agent signings with the following:

Player	Position	Contract	Details
Luke Schenn	D	1 year, $2.25 million	The veteran blueliner returns to Vancouver for his third stint with the franchise, bringing a physical presence and Stanley Cup-winning experience to the back end.
Paul Cotter	LW/C	1 year, $2.15 million	Coming off a season with the New Jersey Devils where he racked up 192 hits, Cotter brings size, grit, and bottom-six depth to the forward group.
Akil Thomas	C	1 year, two-way	The former 2020 World Juniors gold-medal hero for Team Canada signs a two-way deal to provide organizational scoring depth.
Trey Fix-Wolansky	RW/LW	1 year, two-way	$900k NHL / $525k AHL

Luke Schenn | Defenseman

Player Profile	Contract and 2025-26 Season
Position	Defenseman (Right Shot)
Age / DOB	36 (November 2, 1989)
Height / Weight	6’2″ / 225 lbs
Contract	1 Year, $2.25 Million AAV
2025-26 Teams	Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres
2025-26 NHL Stats	50 GP, 1 G, 6 A, 7 PTS, -12 (+/-)
Physicality Metrics	43 PIM, 149 Hits, 54 Blocked Shots
Ice Time Allocation	12:47 ATOI

The Profile: The acquisition of Luke Schenn marks an unprecedented moment in Vancouver Canucks history, as he becomes the first player to sign for three separate, distinct stints with the franchise.

• Originally drafted fifth overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Schenn has carved out a grueling, 18-year career defined by durability, physical sacrifice, and defensive attrition.
• Across 1,122 regular-season NHL games split among ten different franchises—Toronto, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Arizona, Anaheim, Vancouver, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Winnipeg, and Buffalo—Schenn has accumulated 45 goals, 167 assists, and 212 points, alongside back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021.

Schenn’s profile is deeply established at this advanced juncture of his career.

• He is a prototypical, traditional stay-at-home defensive defenseman whose primary utility is derived from crease clearance, shot-blocking, and high-impact physical engagement.
• During his previous tenure in Vancouver (2021 to 2023), Schenn routinely partnered with elite offensive defenseman Quinn Hughes, acting as a structural anchor that allowed Hughes to activate offensively without fear of odd-man rushes developing in the opposite direction. This ability to operate as a “calming presence” for dynamic partners remains Schenn’s core competency.

Skills, Talents, and What He Brings

At 36 years of age, Schenn’s skating mechanics have steadily degraded.

• His straight-line acceleration and lateral pivot speed are noticeably below the modern NHL median, rendering him vulnerable against high-speed, east-west offensive transition attacks and agile puck-carriers navigating the neutral zone.
  • To compensate for this lack of foot speed, Schenn relies heavily on elite spatial awareness, positional discipline, and conservative gap control. He rarely challenges the blue line on defensive zone entries, preferring to retreat and maintain a tight, compacted defensive posture closer to the hash marks to force attackers to the perimeter.
• His puck skills are functionally limited to safe, low-risk distributions.
  • Schenn possesses a heavy, albeit largely inaccurate, slap shot from the point but lacks the dynamic edge-work required to walk the offensive blue line to open passing lanes or manipulate goaltender sightlines. In transition, his first pass is generally rudimentary; he prefers off-the-glass clearances or short, ten-foot distributions to his defensive partner over attempting high-risk, vertical stretch passes through the neutral zone.

Despite these glaring mobility limitations, Schenn’s physical dominance remains a hallmark of his game and a rare commodity in the modern, speed-oriented NHL. He is the NHL’s all-time record holder for hits by a defenseman, surpassing Brooks Orpik in 2022, and his appetite for contact has not waned.

Even in a diminished role splitting time between the Winnipeg Jets and Buffalo Sabres during the 2025-26 season, Schenn recorded an astounding 149 hits and 54 blocked shots in just 50 games. His ability to violently separate attackers from the puck along the wall and physically punish forwards attempting to establish positioning in the crease remains elite.

He also brings:

• Physicality & Crease Clearing: Schenn is an elite hitter and shot-blocker. He leverages his 6-foot-2, 225-pound frame to separate opponents from the puck and make life miserable for opposing forwards near the net.
• Defensive Reliability: While he lacks foot speed, he compensates with excellent positioning, gap control, and a predictable, low-risk approach to zone exits.
• Intangibles: Outstanding locker room presence, vocal leader, and a fierce protector of his teammates.

Upside for Vancouver:

The Canucks know exactly what they are getting: a dependable bottom-pairing anchor who brings Stanley Cup-winning pedigree. Schenn’s upside isn’t in point production; it’s in stabilizing a third pairing, protecting star players, eating difficult defensive-zone starts, and mentoring younger defensemen.

The Canucks are actively attempting to reconstruct a fractured locker room culture following the disastrous 2025-26 season, and General Manager Ryan Johnson has explicitly identified a desperate need for leadership, resilience, and accountability. Schenn brings an unimpeachable professional pedigree and is widely revered as a premier locker room presence. The primary upside Vancouver receives from this transaction is environmental insulation for its emerging blue-line talent.

Should the Canucks find themselves outside the playoff picture by the 2027 NHL Trade Deadline, Schenn’s vast playoff experience, right-handed shot, and expiring contract make him a highly desirable rental asset for contending teams seeking physical depth.

Paul Cotter | Left Wing/Center

Player Profile	Contract and 2025-26 Season
Position	Left Wing / Center
Age / DOB	26 (November 16, 1999)
Height / Weight	6’2″ / 213 lbs
Contract	1 Year, $2.15 Million AAV
2025-26 Team	New Jersey Devils
2025-26 NHL Stats	79 GP, 9 G, 6 A, 15 PTS, -24 (+/-)
Physicality Metrics	19 PIM, 192 Hits, 61 Shots on Goal
Ice Time Allocation	10:41 ATOI

The Profile: A fast, physical, bottom-six winger with raw offensive tools who has struggled to find consistency and structure in his 5-on-5 game.

Drafted 115th overall in the fourth round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft by the Vegas Golden Knights, Cotter developed into a bruising depth forward, ultimately capturing a Stanley Cup with Vegas in 2023. Following a career-high 25-point season in 2023-24, Vegas traded Cotter, along with a third-round pick, to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Alexander Holtz and Akira Schmid.

Cotter’s tenure in New Jersey was largely characterized by offensive regression and extended slumps. During the 2025-26 season, he managed just 15 points (nine goals, six assists) in 79 games, generating a staggering minus-24 rating while averaging 10:41 of ice time primarily in a fourth-line capacity.

• Cotter frequently experienced massive offensive droughts, including a stretch where he went 23 consecutive games without registering a single point. Consequently, the Devils opted not to issue him a qualifying offer, rendering him an unrestricted free agent.

Skills & Talents:

• Straight-Line Speed & Hitting: Cotter is aggressive on the forecheck and extremely physical, having racked up 192 hits during his recent campaign with the Devils. At 6’2″ and 213 pounds, Cotter plays a highly disruptive, high-velocity, north-south game.
  • His straight-line acceleration is excellent for a player of his formidable stature, allowing him to close gaps exceptionally quickly on the forecheck and violently separate opposing defensemen from the puck.
  • His finishing of body checks, indicates a profound willingness to engage in the heavy, unglamorous areas of the ice.
• Shooting & Hands: He possesses surprisingly quick hands and a heavy shot, making him a lethal weapon in the shootout (converting at around a 40% clip) and dangerous on breakaways. His ability to execute complex, high-speed dekes in tight quarters against goaltenders stands in stark contrast to his 5-on-5 playmaking abilities.
• Drawbacks: In live, chaotic game action, Cotter significantly struggles with spatial awareness and processing speed. When entering the offensive zone on the rush, rather than utilizing his size to drive the net or protect the puck along the cycle, he frequently attempts low-percentage individual maneuvers or forces blind, low-probability passes into the slot, leading to rapid turnovers and odd-man rushes the other way. His defensive zone positioning is equally inconsistent; when operating as a winger, he frequently wanders out of the passing lanes, losing his defensive assignments and collapsing too low in the zone.

Upside for Vancouver:

Cotter is an intriguing low-risk, high-reward depth addition. If the Canucks’ coaching staff can simplify his game and get him to fully embrace a structured grinding role, he can be a highly disruptive fourth-line energy player. His upside is providing an injection of grit, pace, and secondary scoring to the bottom of the lineup.

At just 26 years old, Cotter fits the athletic profile of a player whose peak physical conditioning and power are currently being realized. Vancouver management explicitly targeted a dramatic increase in “snarl” and physical engagement following a season wherein the club frequently appeared physically outmatched in heavy, board-battle situations.

The Canucks’ investment of $2.15 million on a one-year term is a calculated, low-risk reclamation project.

The immediate, tangible upside is the stabilization of a heavy energy line capable of shifting momentum through punishing physical play and injecting energy into the building.

• The secondary, and perhaps more lucrative, upside lies in asset management. If Malhotra’s rigid structure succeeds in streamlining Cotter’s erratic game, optimizing his offensive zone starts, and stabilizing his underlying analytics, Cotter transforms into a highly covetable asset at the 2027 NHL Trade Deadline.

Akil Thomas | Center/Right Wing

Player Profile	Contract and 2025-26 Season
Position	Center / Right Wing
Age / DOB	26 (January 2, 2000)
Height / Weight	6’0″ / 195 lbs
Contract	1 Year, Two-Way Contract
2025-26 Teams	Ontario Reign (AHL), Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL)
2025-26 AHL Stats	39 GP, 9 G, 13 A, 22 PTS, -6 (+/-)
2025-26 Playoff Stats	12 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 PTS, -2 (+/-)

The Profile: A versatile, right-shot forward who can play center or wing. Once a highly touted prospect who scored the gold-medal-winning goal for Canada at the 2020 World Juniors, he has battled through injuries to rebuild his stock primarily in the AHL.

Acquired via a one-year, two-way contract, brings a deep reservoir of high-leverage experience, high-end hockey intelligence, and organizational flexibility. Originally a highly touted second-round pick (51st overall) by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Thomas achieved international prominence by scoring the dramatic, gold-medal-winning goal for Team Canada against Russia at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Catastrophic shoulder injuries, requiring multiple surgical interventions between 2021 and 2023, severely interfered with his trajectory to full-time employment in the NHL. Despite these massive setbacks, Thomas demonstrated extraordinary resilience, culminating in a breakout 2023-24 AHL campaign with the Ontario Reign where he recorded 22 goals, 24 assists, and 46 points in 64 games, notably leading the team with nine game-winning goals.

Following a trade to the St. Louis Blues organization in December 2025 in exchange for Nikita Alexandrov, Thomas split his 2025-26 season between the Ontario Reign and the Springfield Thunderbirds, remaining exclusively in the AHL.

Skills & Talents:

• Playmaking & Vision: Thomas is a pass-first player with excellent vision. He excels at making slick cross-ice and seam passes, particularly when given space on the power play. He processes the game at an elite intellectual level. He excels in tight spaces, utilizing his high hockey IQ to locate soft spots in defensive coverage, draw defenders toward him, and execute sharp, tape-to-tape cross-seam passes.
  • Throughout his professional career, Thomas has demonstrated an innate ability to drive offensive transition efficiently and generate high-danger scoring chances without sacrificing defensive integrity.
• Skating: He possesses strong edge work and an explosive stride, allowing him to be elusive in the offensive zone and transition the puck efficiently. While he may lack overwhelming, breakaway top-end speed, his anticipation and route efficiency allow him to play significantly faster than his raw physical metrics suggest.
• Two-Way Effort: He has developed into a reliable two-way player who can contribute in all situations, though he sometimes lacks the pure physical strength to win heavy board battles at the NHL level.
• Highly Intelligent: Professional scouting evaluations consistently note that Thomas is a highly intelligent, fluid skater with excellent edge work, lateral agility, and an effortless stride. He operates primarily as a right-shooting center but has the tactical flexibility to transition seamlessly to the wing.
• Defensively, Thomas is committed and structurally sound. He demonstrates a profound understanding of leverage and positioning in the defensive zone, actively supporting his defensemen low in the corners, stopping on loose pucks, and maintaining highly active stick discipline to clog passing lanes. His physical strength, which was a historical point of critique during his draft year, has vastly improved, allowing him to hold his own in board battles against heavier, mature professional forwards.

Upside for Vancouver:

Thomas is an excellent organizational depth pickup with legitimate middle-six upside. Having finally enjoyed a healthy, productive stretch of professional hockey recently, he is hungry to prove he belongs in the NHL full-time. The Canucks receive a highly motivated player who can jump into the bottom-six, fill in on a second power-play unit, and provide intelligent, energetic depth down the middle.

From a systemic standpoint, Thomas is an absolutely seamless fit for Manny Malhotra’s demanding puck-possession framework. Malhotra’s breakout structures heavily rely on the center swooping low into the defensive corners to receive reversing passes, then cutting sharply up the strong-side wall and pivoting back toward the middle of the ice to create four-way passing options. Thomas’s superior vision, poised puck handling under pressure, and passing accuracy make him highly suited for this central distribution role.

Malhotra places immense value on defensive responsibility and face-off proficiency from his centermen; Thomas’s history as a trusted two-way pivot ensures he can execute the demanding lower-zone support roles required without compromising the team’s defensive structure.

Signing Thomas to a two-way contract provides the Vancouver Canucks with a virtually zero-risk, high-reward proposition that strengthens the organization at multiple levels.

• The primary upside is the immediate establishment of elite depth down the middle for their AHL affiliate. As the franchise resets, Thomas represents a premium candidate to lead the Abbotsford Canucks as a top-line AHL center. The Abbotsford roster is preparing to integrate high-end prospects, and Thomas will provide critical offensive production while simultaneously offering the necessary defensive insulation to ensure younger wingers are not overwhelmed by professional competition

Thomas possesses genuine, plug-and-play NHL call-up utility.

• Should the inevitable injuries arise in the Vancouver bottom-six throughout the grind of the 82-game season, Thomas can seamlessly step into a fourth-line center or checking-winger role without requiring significant systemic sheltering or defensive babysitting. His exceptional character and leadership intangibles—highlighted by his proven willingness to step up and demand the puck in high-pressure, elimination moments—make him an invaluable cultural asset for an organization desperate to instill a resilient, winning pedigree at all levels.

Trey Fix-Wolansky RW/LW

Player Profile	Contract and 2025-26 Season
Position	Right Wing / Left Wing
Age / DOB	27 (May 26, 1999)
Height / Weight	5’7″ / 193 lbs
Contract	1 Year, Two-Way Contract ($900k NHL / $525k AHL)
2025-26 Team	Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL)
2025-26 AHL Stats	72 GP, 31 G, 24 A, 55 PTS, -9 (+/-)
Offensive Volume	214 Shots on Goal, 7 Power Play Goals
Physicality Metrics	121 PIM

The Profile: Trey Fix-Wolansky represents a highly specific, unique archetype within professional hockey: an undersized, aggressively offensive dynamo who absolutely dominates the American Hockey League level but struggles to translate that production to the NHL.

Measuring just 5’7″ but carrying a dense 193 pounds, Fix-Wolansky is built with a low center of gravity, granting him exceptional balance and the ability to absorb heavy contact despite his severe height deficit.

Drafted in the seventh round (204th overall) by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2018, Fix-Wolansky spent the majority of his professional career as the offensive engine for the Cleveland Monsters before signing a one-year deal with the New York Rangers organization for the 2025-26 season.

Skills & Talents:

Fix-Wolansky’s offensive toolset is undeniably elite by minor-league standards.

• He possesses a highly deceptive, explosive wrist shot featuring a rapid release, allowing him to score cleanly from the perimeter and freeze goaltenders off the rush.
• He is a relentless volume shooter, routinely eclipsing the 200-shot mark in full AHL campaigns, reflecting a player who constantly demands the puck, drives play toward the net, and acts as the primary focal point of offensive generation.
• His edge work is razor-sharp, enabling quick, tight cutbacks and explosive changes of pace that create critical separation from larger, slower-footed defenders.

Crucially, Fix-Wolansky plays with a distinct, ferocious physical edge—often bordering on outright agitation.

• His staggering 121 penalty minutes during the 2025-26 season with the Hartford Wolf Pack illustrate a player who is more than willing to engage in the physical attrition of the game, battle violently in the corners, and agitate opposing defensemen.
• While his lack of size inherently limits his effectiveness in prolonged board battles against elite, 6’4″ NHL defensemen, his sheer, unadulterated tenacity ensures he is rarely out-competed for loose pucks.

During the 2025-26 AHL season, Fix-Wolansky served as the primary offensive catalyst for the Hartford Wolf Pack, amassing an impressive 31 goals and 55 points in 72 games, registering 214 shots on goal and potting seven power-play markers. Over the previous three seasons spanning his time with Cleveland and Hartford, he has been a model of supreme consistency, producing at near a point-per-game pace (186 points in 195 games from 2023 to 2026) while securing multiple AHL All-Star nods.

Upside for Vancouver:

Within the Vancouver Canucks organization, Fix-Wolansky’s systemic fit is geared explicitly toward driving top-six offense and anchoring the power play at the AHL level in Abbotsford.

• While his defensive metrics and diminutive stature make him a significant liability in a checking-line NHL role, his offensive instincts make him a lethal power-play specialist in the minors. His ability to operate comfortably on the half-wall, distribute precise passes through tight penalty-killing seams, and capitalize on high-danger shooting chances ensures that the Abbotsford power play will remain highly functional.

The acquisition of Fix-Wolansky on a $900,000 two-way contract ($525,000 AHL salary) is a masterful stroke of minor-league roster management by Ryan Johnson.

• Entering the 2026 offseason, the Abbotsford Canucks had lost significant veteran scoring depth. By injecting a proven, consistent 30-goal AHL scorer into the lineup, Johnson ensures that the farm team possesses the requisite offensive firepower to win games, score on the power play, and maintain a highly competitive, winning environment.

The primary upside of this signing is premium prospect insulation.

• Developing high-end, blue-chip offensive talent like Jonathan Lekkerimäki requires an environment where the team actually controls the puck and dictates the pace of play, rather than constantly defending. Fix-Wolansky drives possession effortlessly at the AHL level and draws the opposition’s top defensive pairings, creating vital operational space and softer matchups for younger prospects to thrive.
• While his NHL upside is strictly limited to short-term, injury-replacement call-ups, his presence guarantees that Vancouver’s fragile offensive prospects are not forced into top-six NHL roles prematurely simply because the parent club is suffering a scoring deficit.

Until next time, hockey fans