Manny Malhotra running intense, efficient Vancouver Canucks training camp
Manny Malhotra wasted no time on the first day of Vancouver Canucks training camp.
He couldn’t. While training camp is technically four days long, the Canucks will be playing their first preseason game on Saturday — one of just four preseason games they’ll play before the start of the regular season.
So, really, Malhotra and his staff have just two days to get the Canucks game-ready.
“It’s a very short camp, so we’re going to have to make the most of the time that we have on the ice to balance the teaching and the intensity of the way we want practices to be,” said Malhotra on Wednesday.
Malhotra ramped up that intensity right away on Thursday. The practice flowed quickly from one drill to another, all at a high tempo: a two-man transition drill, a forecheck and retrieval drill, a battle drill that progressed from 1-on-1 to 2-on-2, and a full 5-on-5 offensive zone drill.
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“The pace was high every drill,” said Brendan Gallagher. “That’s what I know about Manny: that’s how he likes his practices. It’s going to be like that all year…You start early, because that’s the way we’re going to have to play.”
“The tempo was very good,” agreed Jamie Oleksiak with a slightly swollen lip. “You can tell, I got a little cut here on my lip, eating some elbows. It’s good.”
The teaching and systems lived inside the intensity and tempo of each drill. The transition drill not only got the legs moving, but also instilled Malhotra’s preferred way to break the puck through the neutral zone. The retrieval drill got the players working on the forechecking system.
Battle drills had defensive players layering in behind to support, while the 5-on-5 drill had players working on both sides of the team’s new in-zone systems.
It was efficient, tidy, and fast-paced.
“You’re not spending a lot of time on the board,” said Oleksiak, referring to the whiteboard suction-cupped to the glass near the bench. “You’re just getting up and down the sheet and getting ready for the next drill. It’s incumbent on us to know what’s going on, but it’s definitely an efficient way to practice.”
A very vocal Malhotra with Group A. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/bXrPRtdAbn
— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) September 17, 2026
Throughout, Malhotra was vocal, not only loudly correcting when an error was made — “Pucks have to come out!” and “Make them play through us; don’t open up the space!” — but emphatically beaver-tailing the ice and shouting encouragement when someone nailed what he wanted.
“It was a loud practice,” said Jake DeBrusk. “He wanted guys to be talking out there and engaged. I was really impressed with how he handled it.”