With the 2025 NHL Draft and the initial free agency frenzy in the books, we now turn to previewing the 2025-26 season for the Vancouver Canucks. Instead of doing report cards, I thought I would change things up and do previews instead. In this ongoing offseason series, I will endeavour to dive into every player in the Canucks organization – even the prospects – and do a recap of last season, what their expectations are going into this season, and finally, predict what their final stat line could look like. In the case of the prospects, I will go a little deeper and talk about their place in the pipeline as well as their future in the NHL and Canucks colours.
Related: Canucks 2025-26 Player Previews: Aatu Raty
In the first of the series, I discussed Aatu Raty. Next up is a frequent linemate of his towards the end of the 2024-25 season, NHL regular-season record holder for hits, Kiefer Sherwood.
Kiefer Sherwood
- How Acquired: Free agent signing on July 1, 2024
- 2024-25 Team: Vancouver Canucks
- 2024-25 Stats: 19 goals and 40 points in 78 games, NHL regular season record 462 hits
- 2025-26 Contract Status: Signed to a two-year deal worth $1.5 million average annual value that ends in 2025-26
2024-25 Season Recap
When Sherwood was signed on the first day of free agency last summer, there wasn’t a lot of fanfare around him. He was a bottom-six player who would provide physicality and score the occasional goal. Not too exciting. He definitely wasn’t expected to be the game-changer he turned out to be. Not only did he hit (a lot), he became one of the Canucks’ top goalscorers, finishing with a career-high 19 goals – four more than Elias Pettersson – and was tied with Conor Garland for fourth on the team. Six of those 19 goals were also game-winners, which led the team. While that could just be an indictment of the roster’s overall lack of punch offensively, it’s still an impressive feat from a guy that was brought in to be a pest, not an offensive dynamo.
Sherwood’s physicality was on display every night, as he easily broke his former teammate Jeremy Lauzon’s 2023-24 record of 386 hits. In fact, he finished with 76 more. There was rarely a game when he finished with fewer than five hits, and he easily led the league in 10-plus hit games; he had 10, including two 12-hit outings. Somehow, he did have one on April 10 against his former club, the Colorado Avalanche, where he was credited with zero, which seems like an error on the statistician’s part. He did finish with a goal and two points, though, which makes up for it. But I find it hard to believe he didn’t throw a hit in that game, considering that’s his MO.
Overall, Sherwood exceeded every expectation experts, fans, and likely even the Canucks front office and coaching staff had when the 2024-25 season began. He essentially replaced Dakota Joshua, who was out for the first few weeks recovering from offseason surgery, and now Sherwood is on the roster and Joshua is not. That’s how impactful he was. Hopefully, he can replicate that same success this season. The difference is that everyone will be expecting it from him, which could place a little more pressure on his shoulders. I have a feeling he will rise to the challenge, though.
2025-26 Season Expectations
As mentioned, Sherwood will be expected to make the same impact on the lineup this season as he did last season. He is seemingly wired to throw the body, so I have no doubt he will be among the hit leaders again. Whether he matches his record or exceeds it remains to be seen, but I think the main question on everyone’s mind will be, can he replicate the offence he provided to the bottom-six? Before last season, he had never scored more than 10 goals in his career. Was 2024-25 the beginning of something, or just a flash in the pan? Canucks fans hope it’s the former, as he was probably the most exciting positive they got in a season full of disappointments.
Sherwood has a history of offence in the American Hockey League (AHL), where he had 58 goals in 99 games between 2021-22 and 2022-23, so it’s not like he’s never been classified as a goalscorer. His speed and shot also bordered on elite at times last season, as seen in his first-career shorthanded goal and natural hat trick against the Avalanche on Dec. 16:
Sherwood also fits head coach Adam Foote’s style of rough-and-tumble hockey, as the NHL veteran was always in the middle of the physicality when he played for the Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets. He will surely get a lot of opportunities to crack the top nine and play with talented players. He was showing chemistry with Raty towards the end of the season, so I expect he will line up with the rookie on the third line on opening night. As a duo at even strength, they posted a 54.10 Corsi for percentage (CF%) and out-chanced opponents 73-51 (35-23 high-danger), along with the Canucks scoring seven high-danger goals with them on the ice. If Foote sticks to his duos like his former boss, Rick Tocchet, they could be joined at the hip to start the season.
Quotables
“You know what, he just finishes everything. If he’s around another guy, he’s finishing him. It doesn’t matter where he is. He’s a warrior. He competes with the best of them. He broke the hit record this year, right? But, yeah, I mean, anytime he was around somebody, he was leaning into it, whether it was big or small. It was really good for us. He brought an element that I think our team needed. He did great for us.”
– Tyler Myers on Sherwood’s impact on the team last season
“Being hard to play against, that’s why the team brought me here…I just try to be hard to play against. Whether that’s mentally, verbally, or physically, it’s something that I’ve come to embody. That’s my identity that I need to bring every night.”
– Sherwood on his playing style
Final Stat Prediction
Sherwood should be a big part of the Canucks again this season. He might not score 19 goals again, but his physicality will still make a difference wherever he plays in the lineup. I am predicting double-digits, but probably between 10-15 goals, unless he gets into the top-six alongside Filip Chytil or Elias Pettersson. If that happens, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him crack 20 goals. One thing is for certain, though, he will have over 300 hits, making his opponents afraid of being slammed into the boards every time he’s on the ice.
