The Vancouver Canucks are gearing up for opening night tomorrow.
The team skated at Rogers Arena today and showed off some new lines ahead of the first game of the season.
The Canucks forwards lined up as follows today. They went through a variety of drills.
DeBrusk – Pettersson – Sprong
Heinen – Miller – Boeser
Höglander – Suter – Garland
Aman – Blueger – Sherwood
Räty
The 21-year-old Aatu Räty skated as the extra forward. It was revealed that he made the team yesterday when the Canucks set their opening day roster.
Conor Garland returned to practice after missing a few days with an ailment. He skated on a line with Nils Höglander and Pius Suter as winger Dakota Joshua remains away from the team with an injury.
Star Elias Pettersson has two brand-new wingers on the team. He skated with Jake DeBrusk and Daniel Sprong, who have more than 200 NHL goals between them.
The team’s defence looked as follows.
Hughes – Hronek
Soucy – Myers
Forbort – Desharnais
Juulsen
The Canucks predictably kept together their top pairing of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek. The team’s captain made it clear in training camp how much he loves playing with the Czech-born blueliner.
Mark Friedman was not at practice after being waived by the team earlier in the day. The veteran blueliner will report to Abbotsford if he clears.
Kevin Lankinen and Arturs Silovs were the two goalies on the ice today.
The team also practiced special teams and showed off some new combinations in that area. The power play units looked as follows.
Boeser
Miller – DeBrusk – Pettersson
Hughes
Höglander
Sprong – Heinen – Garland
Hronek
The Canucks play their first game of the season tomorrow against the Calgary Flames. The puck drops at 7 pm PT as the two Pacific Division rivals face off against each other.