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Foote drops lineup hints and gives injury updates on Vancouver Canucks players

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
|
Oct 2 2025, 11:01 pm
Foote drops lineup hints and gives injury updates on Vancouver Canucks players
Bob Frid/Imagn Images

The Vancouver Canucks have one preseason game left before the games begin to count.

According to head coach Adam Foote, fans can expect to see a lineup that resembles what the Canucks plan to do on opening night.

“[Our lineup] is pretty full,” Foote said after practice at UBC on Thursday. “Edmonton is going to put a full lineup in. It doesn’t matter what Edmonton or anyone who comes in here, we want 90 per cent of it solid, ready to go.”

If that’s the case, there were some interesting takeaways following practice, with one week to go in the regular season.

Injury updates

Foote provided updates today on two defencemen who missed practice: Derek Forbort and Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

“Forbes, we’re managing him,” Foote said. “He had some tweaks during training camp. My main concern is for him to play the home opener.”

“He’s a great penalty killer, so we don’t want to push that. He won’t play tomorrow night. We’ll make sure that he gets extra days.”

Forbort played in the Canucks’ last preseason game against the Calgary Flames, and the defenceman even jumped up on the rush and scored a shorthanded goal.

However, he only played one shift in the third period and was seen at practice in street clothes.

“In camp, I feel like maybe we brought him back one day too soon,” Foote said. “So I just wanna make sure that he’s clear.”

Pierre-Olivier Joseph was also absent from practice, which led the Canucks to have Nils Åman skate as a defenceman during line rushes with Victor Mancini.

“Joseph has a groin issue that happened in the previous practice, just a tweak, so he can’t go for us right now,” Foote said.

Although neither of these injuries sounds serious, they could affect what the Canucks decide to do with their roster early on in the season.

The Canucks play six of seven games on the road after their home opener against the Calgary Flames. With both defencemen, Elias Pettersson and Mancini, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see both of them up with the big club before they embark on a five-game road trip, which sees them play five games in eight nights.

Canucks lineup hints

The top line of Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser has been a constant since day one of training camp. However, the rest of the lineup has been a revolving door, and that remained true at practice.

The lineup from Thursday could resemble what the Canucks are looking to do on opening night, although there were a couple of interesting decisions.

The Canucks loaded their top two lines with all of their highest-paid forwards. For most of training camp, Evander Kane and Filip Chytil skated alongside Jonathan Lekkerimäki, while Conor Garland rode shotgun with Teddy Blueger.

Meanwhile, Braeden Cootes continues to get a look in the third-line centre spot, and Kiefer Sherwood continues to be stapled to his wing.

On the fourth line, Aatu Räty practiced on the wing alongside Blueger, a spot he hasn’t normally played throughout his pro career.

“It’s a little different,” Räty told Daily Hive following practice. “But I think the way we play, it’s always just the lowest guys filling in for the centre in the D-zone, so it’s not that much different.

“There’s plenty of times when I’m playing centre and I’m almost more at the wing.”

Most expected the 22-year-old Finn to play centre, and potentially even third-line centre, prior to camp. However, the emergence of Cootes has forced Räty out of his natural spot.

Raty Canucks

Räty lined up at wing during Canucks practice on Thursday. (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)

Räty’s skating appeared to be a potential issue early in camp, as he spent some of this offseason recovering from an injury. However, he’s looked more comfortable and has scored twice in the Canucks last two preseason games.

“I think it’s been okay,” Räty said when asked about his play during camp and preseason. “I think I can play better, but it hasn’t been bad.”

Whether Räty sticks at wing, or if the Canucks are comfortable with Cootes and Lekkerimäki in their bottom-six, are stories to watch before the regular season opener. The potential injuries on defence could affect the Canucks roster decisions at forward as well.

Finally, after missing practice earlier this week due to personal reasons, goaltender Thatcher Demko was back on the ice for the Canucks on Thursday.

Foote confirmed he would start the final preseason game for the Canucks on Friday.

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