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Canucks Coffee: When trusting the process gets hard

The Canucks come home licking their wounds. This season wasn't going to be easy, but this is as bad as could be feared.

Published Oct 18, 2026  •  Last updated 2 days ago  •  2 minute read

Linus Karlsson takes a shot for the Vancouver Canucks in the first period at the Benchmark International Arena on Oct. 17 in Tampa. Photo by Mike Carlson /Getty Images

We weren’t there in person, but the video from the Canucks’ room post-game Saturday showed a very downtrodden Linus Karlsson.

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And the look on his face told a story, even from all the way across the continent.

This stuff is hard. Very, very hard. The Canucks have lost seven straight. The last three games they had leads. The last two games they had early leads. And yet they keep getting crushed by their own mistakes.

“I mean, it sucks to lose. It’s frustrating. But I mean, we need to trust the process.”

That’s Karlsson, trying to keep his chin up. But I’ve spoken with this guy enough times to know how intense he is, about why he does have a letter on his jersey. There’s little doubt he’s here to play the games, to play them hard.

The mood in the room, he acknowledged, is tough. No one wants to lose seven games in a row. There have been good moments, and yet …

“We need to battle a bit harder,” he said. “And I mean, it’s time to learn.”

That time-to-learn mantra is a fair one, but also a tough one: From the outside we know this team is undergunned. To have a chance every night they can’t afford too many mistakes.

They don’t have enough scoring talent to make up for those mistakes. Somehow, some way, they’re just going to have to find a way to win, just for morale’s sake.

Remember the offensive explosion of the first week, 19 goals in the first three games of the year?

The Canucks have just 13 goals in the seven games since. They’re down to just 20th overall in goals per game.

They’ve given up the second-most goals against per game.

As we’ve said more than once already this season, that’s tough living.

Can Filip Chytil change this story? He’s played a ton in his two games back. There’s a big difference between giving him ice time vs. giving it to Aatu Raty or, with respect, Max Sasson.

The early returns aren’t great. In the two games vs. Florida and Tampa, the Canucks were outshot more than 2 to 1 when he was on the ice.

He’s a much better player than that, so hopefully that’s just about rust.

There’s little doubt the Canucks need him to find his game.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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