The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night, a battle between two Canadian teams on very different trajectories. […]

At least in terms of what the club is projecting about its intentions, the Canucks are now comfortable noting both publicly and in trade talks with various teams that they’re willing to listen on veteran players, even those with term who have recently committed to the organization.

The Vancouver Canucks continue along their eastern swing and will face the Montreal Canadiens on Monday evening. Monday will be the first game of a back-to-back for the Canucks, as they head to Ottawa on Tuesday to match up with the Senators.

Mike Matheson and Juraj Slafkovsky scored goals 67 seconds apart to start the third period, propelling the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-3 win over the last-place Vancouver Canucks Monday night at Bell Centre.

In a parallel move to Demko’s IR placement, the Canucks reassigned 21-year-old defenseman Elias Pettersson to AHL Abbotsford on Sunday, and recalled blueliner Victor Mancini and goalie Nikita Tolopilo. Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said the goal for the franchise is to ensure proper development of its younger players.

Mike Matheson and Juraj Slafkovsky scored goals 38 seconds apart to break a third-period tie and send the host Montreal Canadiens to a 6-3 victory over the slumping Vancouver Canucks on Monday.

Canucks GM Patrik Allvin was busy on Sunday making some roster moves to deal with the injury. Nikita Tolopilo was called up from the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks under emergency conditions to help the team deal with the loss of Demko, who was placed on the IR.

Vancouver is now one of the league’s worst teams on a true talent basis. The Canucks will close the 2025 calendar year having amassed a 37-39-6 record, good for the 27th spot in the NHL by point percentage over the past 12 months.

For a few years now, the Vancouver Canucks have been in a weird place. Between dealing away two of the team’s biggest stars – Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller – to missing out on the playoffs, the Canucks seemed destined to head for a rebuild.