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Here's what the Vancouver Canucks lines look like with five players still absent

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
|
Oct 21 2025, 4:54 pm
Here's what the Vancouver Canucks lines look like with five players still absent
Bob Frid/Imagn Images

Isn’t it a little early in the season for this?

The Vancouver Canucks managed to win the first three contests of their five-game road trip.

That might have been a blessing in disguise, because the test is going to get much tougher based on their lineup.

At practice on Tuesday morning in Pittsburgh, literally half of their forward lineup included guys who were AHL regulars last season.

Here’s how they skated at morning skate, courtesy of Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy.

Forwards

Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson – Conor Garland

Arshdeep Bains – Max Sasson – Linus Karlsson

Evander Kane – Aatu Räty – Kiefer Sherwood

Drew O’Connor – Nils Ă…man – Joe LaBate

Defence

Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek

Marcus Pettersson – Tyler Myers

Elias Pettersson – Pierre-Olivier Joseph

The Canucks have no choice but to roll with a skeleton crew in light of what’s transpired on this road trip.

All three of Filip Chytil, Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Teddy Blueger were injured during the Canucks 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.

The team announced yesterday that Chytil and Lekkerimäki have flown back to Vancouver and will miss at least the next three games after being placed on Injured Reserve.

Blueger went down clutching his leg on a harmless-looking play at the tail end of the Washington game. He wasn’t at practice on Tuesday, according to Murphy.

Vancouver’s most notable player missing is Brock Boeser. The team said he missed Sunday’s game against Washington due to personal reasons. He wasn’t at the morning skate on Tuesday either.

Finally, player number five, who’s still absent, is defenceman Derek Forbort. He hasn’t played since the Canucks lost to Edmonton back on Oct. 11.

All of this means that the Canucks will play against Arturs Silovs and the Pittsburgh Penguins with a depleted lineup.

Ironically, the Canucks Calder Cup line of Arshdeep Bains, Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson should play more minutes due to all the injuries. They’re forced promotion will begin with a game against the goalie they played with in Abbotsford last year. Arguably, those three forwards and Silovs were the main reasons why the Abbotsford Canucks won an AHL championship.

Nils Ă…man and Joe LaBate will make their season debut for the Canucks after being recalled on Monday. Both of them lead all Abbotsford Canuck’s forwards with three AHL points each in their first four games.

For Labate, this will be his first game for the Canucks in 3,130 days. He last played for the Canucks on March 28, 2017, after originally being drafted by the franchise in 2011. The 32-year-old re-signed with the organization this offseason.

After sitting as a healthy scratch for the last two games, Aatu Räty will draw back into the lineup. Defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph looks like he’ll play his first career game for the Canucks as well.

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