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Scenes from morning skate: Cootes, Lekkerimäki, Mancini in spotlight as Canucks face young Oilers lineup

Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By Jeff Paterson

Sep 24, 2026, 15:15 EDTUpdated: Sep 24, 2026, 15:10 EDT

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The Vancouver Canucks (0-2) play their first home preseason game tonight, hosting a young Edmonton Oilers squad (2-0) at Rogers Arena. Opening faceoff is set for 6 pm PT.

It’s also the launch of the Canucks’ three-day fan fest to close out the exhibition schedule. Players will walk a blue carpet outside the rink upon arrival, giving fans a chance to take photos.

What we saw

The Canucks conducted a full morning skate this morning and will ice a lineup which will closely resemble the one they go with next Tuesday in Edmonton to start the season. That said, there are still a handful of decisions to be made, and players like Braeden Cootes, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, and Victor Mancini will all be in the spotlight tonight.

Jeff Paterson

@patersonjeff

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#Canucks tonight vs EDM DeBrusk-EP40-Karlsson Öhgren-Rossi-Boeser O’Connor-Chytil-Lekkerimäki Cotter-Cootes-Gallagher Buium-Hronek Oleksiak-Schenn Brisebois-Mancini

4:58 PM · Sep 24, 2026

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For Cootes, Mancini and Guillaume Brisebois, this will be their third appearance of the preseason. With a goal and two assists, Cootes has had a hand in all three of the Vancouver goals scored in exhibition action so far.

With extra bodies still in camp, the likes of Aatu Räty, Max Sasson, Arshdeep Bains, Tom Willander, defenceman Elias Pettersson and Kevin Lankinen will all be healthy scratches tonight.

Nikita Tolopilo is slated to start in goal tonight, while Chris Driedger, in camp on a pro tryout, will back up. Manny Malhotra said this morning that the club will monitor the situation as the game unfolds to determine if Driedger will see any game action.

A television crew from RDS in Montreal is in town following Brendan Gallagher as the veteran winger makes his Canucks debut tonight after being acquired from the Canadiens in June.

The Canucks did not conduct any special teams drills at this morning’s skate. However, based on Tuesday’s practice, their first unit will likely consist of Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Marco Rossi, and Filip Hronek, with a second group of Filip Chytil, Linus Karlsson, Liam Öhgren, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, and Zeev Buium.

The Opponent

As has been the case throughout the early stages of preseason around the league, the Oilers are sending a skeleton crew on the road.

Bob Stauffer

@Bob_Stauffer

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The @EdmontonOilers morning skate for Vancouver: Howard-Michaels-Hutson Jones-Samanski-Raty Tralmaks-Marjala-Griffith Clattenburg-Berzkalns-Lewandowski Stastney-Emberson Stillman-Cibulka Leppanen-Carfagna Jarry Ungar

4:03 PM · Sep 24, 2026

198

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The Canucks will not see the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Vasily Podkolzin, Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, or Jake Walman.

Tristan Jarry is expected to get the start in goal tonight.

Mike Babcock, who won a gold medal in Vancouver as coach of the 2010 Canadian Olympic team, has not coached an NHL game in this building since the 2019-20 season when he was behind the bench of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

News and notes

The Canucks and Oilers will open the regular season with a home-and-home matchup next week. They start the season on Tuesday at Rogers Place, then meet again at Rogers Arena two nights later on October 1st.

Tonight’s game will be televised on Sportsnet One with John Shorthouse and Dave Tomlinson on the call.

What we heard

Manny Malhotra on his message to guys on the bubble heading into final preseason games: “I think we have to give them enough credit to understand where they are. The messaging to everyone has been the same: ‘play your game within our system and allow us to evaluate and allow us to put that puzzle together’. So with the returning guys, the bubble guys, whoever it is, everybody that’s been at camp understands the message: ‘put your best foot forward’.

Brendan Gallagher on playing wing with Braeden Cootes: “Yeah, I’m excited to play with him. Obviously, I know how important he is to this organization. A really good kid. He does everything properly. He puts in the work and a ton of talent. I’m looking forward to seeing him play and see what he can do. Help him out here or there. And we’re going to have some fun.”

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