Canucks now looking at Downtown Vancouver location for their practice facility: report
There have been more twists and turns in the Vancouver Canucks’ practice facility saga than the Sea-to-Sky Highway.
The Canucks have tried, without success, to get a practice facility built for more than a decade. It’s become a point of embarrassment for the franchise, as they’ll soon become the only team in the NHL to not have their own dedicated facility.
Just three months ago, the Canucks announced that they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to build a facility at Britannia. Two days later, a trio of Vancouver hockey associations expressed concern about the NHL club taking away valuable ice time from hockey-playing children.
Not a good look.
How could they proceed with such a plan, given everything the Sedins said recently about giving back to the community?
Well, maybe they won’t.
CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported on Friday that the Canucks are looking to partner with the City of Vancouver on a location even closer to Rogers Arena. They’re also apparently looking to add more than one sheet of ice, which would benefit the community.
"I have heard there is a location in mind downtown that is even closer than Britannia is.."@DhaliwalSports updated the latest on the #Canucks practice facility.https://t.co/GAYm4jT6bu pic.twitter.com/8pwjUnNsSD
— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) October 30, 2026
“The City’s got land in very ideal spots in proximity to Rogers Arena. I’ve heard there is a location in mind, downtown, that’s even closer than Britannia is,” Dhaliwal said on Donnie and Dhali. “They want more than one rink, possibly two or three. They want minor hockey to be involved. They want the City to be involved.”
So where could they build?
Once upon a time, the Canucks were in talks to build a practice facility across the street from Rogers Arena, as part of the redevelopment of the Plaza of Nations. After years of planning, the plan fell apart in 2021.
“In addition to the rink, the Canucks were also set to have about 25,000 sq ft of commercial space over multiple levels dedicated for their uses, including over 8,000 sq ft of space immediately adjacent to the rink as a sports medicine hub for both the team and the community,” Daily Hive Urbanized’s Kenneth Chan reported at the time.
You can’t get much closer to Rogers Arena than across the street, but it may be tough to fit multiple sheets of ice in that location.
2019 site plan of the Plaza of Nations redevelopment. (James Cheng Architects / KPMB Architects / PFS Studio / Canadian Metropolitan Properties)
How about the City-owned land near Main and Terminal? It’s not quite downtown, but the location is only a 10-minute walk from Rogers Arena.
Whatever they do, the key will be adding to Vancouver’s inventory of ice rather than reducing it. That’s something that Henrik Sedin appeared to recognize recently on the debut episode of The Sat Shah Show.
“I’m confident we’re going to get something done,” Henrik said. “For this organization, and for the owners, it’s important that we have discussions with minor hockey as well. We want to make sure that we do this the right way, and can help with the lack of ice sheets that we have in this city… We’re working on it, we’re getting there, it might take some time, but we’re getting closer.”