The Vancouver Canucks return to action tonight for their second and final road preseason game, travelling to Calgary to face the Flames.

After dropping their preseason opener on Saturday to the Seattle Kraken, the Canucks will be icing a similar lineup of youth tonight against the Flames. According to line rushes this morning at Rogers Arena, here is how the Canucks will line up tonight:

Here are five players/sitautions for you to keep your eye on tonight:

This will be Novotný’s second preseason action. While he didn’t light up the scoresheet, pairing him with a defensive-minded centre like Ilya Safonov didn’t necessarily allow the young Czech to flourish offensively. That line did not find the scoresheet, with right winger Trey Fix-Wolansky registering the only shots on goal from the trio.

Tonight, however, he will be slotted on the left wing with Braeden Cootes and Fix-Wolansky. Cootes was the Canucks’ best forward against Seattle on Saturday, and Fix-Wolansky has been the star of training camp. This could potentially be Novotný’s last game of the preseason, so we’ll see if he can make an offensive impact in tonight’s game.

Räty had a quiet night in the preseason opener. He finished with a minus-one rating, failed to register a shot on goal, and took the first penalty of the game when he tripped Tyson Jugnauth. The Finn delivered in typical fashion, winning 66.7% of his draws.

However, after learning that tonight will be Räty’s final preseason game before the regular season, it will be his last chance to show this coaching staff that he deserves a spot on the opening-night roster. Räty will skate in the middle of Arshdeep Bains and Matthew Stienburg.

The towering centreman will make his debut in a Canucks uniform tonight, sliding in on the wing with Ilya Safonov and Ty Mueller. He’s all but destined to return to the OHL this season, but it will be fun to watch how Rogowski uses his frame against NHL-calibre opponents.

It’s the preseason debut for Tom Willander, so watching how the training and conditioning he worked on this offseason translates to game action is something we’ve been keen to find out. It was a good rookie season for the Swedish defenceman last year, but he may have been thrust into a bigger role than he was necessarily ready for. We’ll see how he fares as the top defenceman against a near full-go Flames roster after a full offseason of development following his first taste of NHL action.

We mentioned this as something to watch for Saturday’s game, and from what we’ve heard, we don’t have much more clarity on the situation. Both Victor Mancini and Kirill Kudryavtsev are battling for that seventh defenceman role.

Mancini had a tough training camp and followed that up with an uninspiring preseason Game 1. Meanwhile, Kudryavtsev continued playing his not-so-flashy but steady brand of hockey that has earned the former seventh-round pick a handful of NHL games over the past two seasons.

Based on the contract alone, Mancini seems to have the upper hand, since he is making $1 million on a one-way deal, while Kudryavtsev makes just $80K if sent down to the American League. That said, the Russian defender will need to thoroughly outplay his competition to earn the opening-night spot. However, he has the chance to do just that tonight, paired with Cole Clayton, while Mancini slots in with Jimmy Schuldt.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Who are you watching in tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments below!