Welcome to The Hockey News – Vancouver Canucks site’s player preview series for the 2025–26 season. In these articles, we’ll preview the players who are expected to play for the Canucks in the 2025–26 season. Today, we’ll be looking at what to expect from the 2024–25 hit king, Kiefer Sherwood.
Despite only joining the Canucks in free agency last year, Sherwood quickly became a fan-favourite due to his work ethic and no-quit style of play. The forward caught the attention of his current team during the first round of playoffs in 2023–24 for his physicality and willingness to throw his body around. This performance continued throughout his first season with the Canucks, with the forward finishing the year with a new NHL record in hits made in a single season with 460. Sherwood also performed excellently from an offensive perspective, scoring a career-high 19 goals and 21 assists in 78 games.
For his excellent debut season with the Canucks in 2024–25, The Hockey News – Canucks site gave Sherwood an A-. In a season filled with twists and turns, Sherwood was one of only a few constants during the year. With his current contract expiring after the 2025–26 season, this year will be an important one for him and Vancouver if they wish to keep Sherwood for longer.
2025–26 could see Sherwood move up and down throughout the Canucks’ lineup. With Vancouver choosing to move on from Dakota Joshua and Pius Suter, the team will need to fill each player’s roles in various circumstances. Suter finished first on the team in minutes played on the penalty kill with 184:24, while Joshua had nearly 30 minutes even after missing 25 games during the season. Because of this, Sherwood, who spent 113:42 minutes on the penalty kill last season, could end up being relied upon more while shorthanded.
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While it’s unlikely that Sherwood records another 460-hit season, it’s still likely that he’ll place first on his team in hits — and maybe even in the top-15 in the NHL. Sherwood played in more than 50 games in a single season for the first time in 2023–24 and still managed to put up 234 hits in this year (15th in the NHL). He even averaged the same amount of hits per game the season before that (2022–23), putting up 103 in 32 games. If Sherwood has a full season under his belt in 2025–26, he could very well continue this streak of a near-3.5 hits per game rate.
One area where Sherwood will excel if Vancouver can make it is in the playoffs. The forward was very noticeable for the Nashville Predators in 2023–24 and can definitely carry that success on for the Canucks. However, this also depends on whether Vancouver will actually make the playoffs in 2025–26 or not.
Adam Kierszenblat’s Stat Prediction: 20G, 20A, 40P
Izzy Cheung’s Stat Prediction: 15G, 17A, 32P
Bold Prediction: Sherwood throws more than 300 hits in 2025–26
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