Need him for what goal? Canucks won't win the 2015 Cup with him or without him. If he retired today, the Canucks would still field 12 forwards tomorrow.
He's a useful player, a veteran who has been on successful teams, has a good work ethic, defends and contributes on offence. When asked do the Canucks need him, though, the question becomes, need him for what?
If the question is intended to ask if he adds anything to the Canucks (so that they would be just as good without him) in my view the answer is absolutely, he adds to the Canucks and that they would not be as good without him. Further, having those veterans is useful for younger players, so for those like Kassian, Vey, Stanton and, presumably before Burrows' career is over, others such as Horvat, Jensen, Shink, Gaunce, Cassels, Virtanen, McCann etc it is helpful to have hard-working, knowledgeable veterans to pick a few things up from.