Vancouver Canucks training camp is over, and the first round of cuts have been made. Preseason starts on Tuesday night and by this time next week the Canucks will have played five of their six scheduled exhibition contests. It’s a huge week ahead in terms of evaluation and roster setting. The Canucks coaching staff surely has questions and so, apparently, do Canucks fans.
You asked and we will try to answer as many as we can in our weekly mailbag. Before we start, a quick shoutout to the people of Penticton who were remarkably enthusiastic about having the Canucks set up shop in their town for the past two weeks. 
A goalie question to start this week. Why not? It was the talk of camp and that discourse only heightened on Saturday afternoon with the addition of Kevin Lankinen. Without a doubt, Arturs Silovs was the best player on the ice in Sunday’s scrimmage. Funny how that works. Team adds a proven NHL goalie on Saturday. The young prospect with the impressive playoff performance lets the coaching staff and management know he intends to put up a battle for the crease.
The Canucks don’t have a back to back set on the schedule until the middle of November. So there will be plenty of rest and practice days for the hockey club. That will allow the coaching staff time to assess and evaluate the goaltending without having to lean on one guy in the early going. Of course, Thatcher Demko’s health and readiness plays a role in all of this, too. As for the opening night starter, unless Lankinen comes in and blows the doors off in whatever preseason action he gets into, Silovs has been here and had a full camp and deserves the October 9th start against Calgary based on what he did for this team in last year’s playoffs.
Umm, it was two periods AND a bag skate. Sunday’s scrimmage was 40 minutes in duration split in two halves. Both teams were then put through their paces with a short skating test – the losing White team forced to do a few more laps than the victorious Blues. The 5,000-seat South Okanagan Events Centre was close to capacity and the fans seemed to enjoy themselves. The game had a few moments including a beautiful Conor Garland deke for the winning goal, but overall was what most would have expected for an end of camp scrimmage. Did fans get their money’s worth at $40 a ticket (with service charge)? Who can say. But based on the throng of fans waiting at the back door of the arena after the game to bid farewell to the Canucks, it certainly seemed like the people of Penticton were sad to see the Canucks go. Just a hunch, but they’ll be back with another training camp soon.
Let’s go with Jake DeBrusk. He was brought here to score goals. He looked good at camp. Elias Pettersson set up Conor Garland for the first goal of the season a year ago in the 8-1 romp over Edmonton. DeBrusk will be playing with EP40, so it’s quite conceivable he’ll be on the receiving end of a pass in scoring position. I’m not going any deeper than that – time of the goal or even the period – I’m just banking on DeBrusk to score his first of many this season to open the Canucks account on October 9th.
Another trade with Calgary? What’s going on here? First it was Lindholm. Then Zadorov. And now you want Andersson? Who’s next? Backlund? Kadri? Are the Canucks going to trade for Andrei Kuzmenko? Is Jarome Iginla available? I’m not really into hypothetical deals. Do the Flames want Garland? And how high are the high draft picks you’re talking about? Andersson’s a good player with two years left at $4.55M per, so it would require a salary like Garland’s going the other way. But without knowing the true acquisition cost it’s simply spitballing. Andersson is the kind of player the Canucks should be interested in (cost-controlled 27-year-old 40+ point RHD), but he’s also the kind of player the Flames should want to keep in their fold. 
Well, 12 months ago, the Canucks opened the preseason with a 10-0 loss in Calgary. So things are looking up this year. I think. That disaster aside, the team was coming off Rick Tocchet’s first training camp and optimism was high. But Jim Rutherford warned that everything would have to go right for the Canucks to be a playoff team. We now know that just about everything did go right in a 50 win/109 point season. This year’s Canucks do seem to have better winger depth on paper and Tocchet appears to have a few more options in the event of individual struggles (no more just riding with Ilya Mikheyev night after night).
The defence is deeper than the one that started last season – and Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek are better players now than they were at the outset of last season. The biggest question and concern with this team right now is in goal with Thatcher Demko on the shelf. Last year, this team stated with a Demko and Casey DeSmith tandem. Right now they’re looking at Arturs Silovs and Kevin Lankinen as their opening night netminders. I’d say the team has upgraded its skaters, but goaltending is the great equalizer. A lot is riding on Silovs and Lankinen holding up their end of the bargain.
Who impressed you most at camp? Kiefer Sherwood, Johnathan Lekkerimaki, or Danton Heinen? All three were noticeable for the right reasons. Sherwood’s motor was running through camp and there’s no question he’s going to bring energy to the mix. Lekkerimaki’s shot is undeniable even at his first NHL camp. And it was good to see the Canucks put him in a position to succeed from Day 1 skating with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk.
But I’m going to go with Danton Heinen as my answer to the question. He looked dangerous in Sunday’s scrimmage with a couple of solid scoring chances. He seemed to find chemistry with JT Miller and Brock Boeser right away. He’s not the kind of player that will produce highlight reel moments. He’s just a solid veteran that understands his game and seemingly was always in the right spots to make plays at both ends of the ice.
Probably not. I don’t think the Blueger injury will keep him out much longer and he’s likely to play preseason games. But the other two are unlikely to be ready for opening night. One way to keep the team cap hit in line is to limit the number of players on the roster that count against the cap. Lots has been made about the team’s intention to avoid LTIR. It’s going to be challenging, but Patrik Allvin has insisted in recent weeks that there are ways the Canucks can achieve their goal. Starting at home for a couple of games may allow the Canucks to start the season with a 21-man roster. Heading out East on a road trip in the second week of the season, however, they probably want to have a couple of extra healthy bodies on the roster as insurance policies.
I assume you’re talking about Elias Pettersson – the forward – here. You didn’t name names, but the salary was a tip off. He was fine at camp. I know people wanted him to single-handedly dominate Sunday’s scrimmage. That didn’t happen. But there is no need for alarm or even concern. In his only media appearance in Penticton, he said his knee felt good. And he battled and competed in drills throughout camp as you’d expect. We’ll all get a much better sense of where his game is as the Canucks enter the preseason. Pettersson is slated to play Wednesday in Abbotsford and then probably again in one of the three games next weekend. He doesn’t need to set the hockey world on fire in exhibition action. The Canucks simply need him to do whatever is required to be on top of his game by the time October 9th rolls around.
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