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Scenes from morning skate: Cootes, Novotný & Rogowski among young Canucks suiting up vs. Flames

Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By Jeff Paterson

Sep 22, 2026, 14:35 EDT

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The Vancouver Canucks (0-1) continue their preseason tonight when they visit the Calgary Flames (0-1) at Scotiabank Saddledome. Puck drop is set for 6 pm PT.

Both teams are coming off 4-2 losses to the Seattle Kraken over the weekend.

What we saw

As they did in Seattle on Saturday, the Canucks are sending another young lineup to Calgary. The game group skated at Rogers Arena this morning and will charter across the Rockies this afternoon.

Jeff Paterson

@patersonjeff

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#Canucks tonight vs Flames Novotny-Cootes-Fix Wolansky Bains-Raty-Stienburg Safonov-Mueller-Rogowski Berard-Patterson-Bryzgalov Kudryavtsev-Clayton Brisebois-Willander Schuldt-Mancini Lankinen/Medvedev

5:05 PM · Sep 22, 2026

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For a dozen Canucks hopefuls, this will be their second action of the preseason. That group includes forwards Braeden Cootes, Adam Novotný, Arshdeep Bains, Ilya Safonov, Aatu Räty, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Riley Patterson, and Matthew Stienburg, along with defencemen Victor Mancini, Kirill Kudryavtsev, Guillaume Brisebois and Jimmy Schuldt.

Tonight marks the preseason debut of Canucks 2026 second-round pick Brooks Rogowski. Kevin Lankinen will make his first preseason appearance in goal, with Aleksei Medvedev backing him up.

The Canucks spent a little time at the end of morning skate working on special teams. Their first power play unit will consist of Cootes, Bains, Novotný and Fix-Wolansky, with Tom Willander at the point. The second unit included Safonov, Patterson, Stienburg and Ty Mueller while Kirill Kudryavstev mans the point.

While the game group took to the ice shortly before 10 am, the non-travelling group skated at 11 am. Manny Malhotra pulled double duty and skated in both sessions. The Canucks management group, including both Sedins, Ryan Johnson, Emilie Castonguay and Richard Seeley, were all interested observers as they continued their evaluations from the seats in the lower bowl.

The Opponent

Based on the morning skate in Calgary, the Flames are dressing a veteran-laden lineup tonight.

Pat Steinberg

@SteinbergYYC

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#Flames lineup for preseason game number two vs. Vancouver: Gridin-Frost-Coronato Honzek-Backlund-Farabee Zary-Strome-Sharangovich Tsyplakov-Pospisil-Klapka Bahl-Nemec Middleton-Parekh Kuznetsov-Whitecloud Wolf Zarubuin

3:58 PM · Sep 22, 2026

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Starter Dustin Wolff is expected to go the distance in his preseason debut.

On Sunday, Aydar Suniev scored both Calgary goals against Seattle while Devin Cooley allowed three goals on 22 shots.

News and notes

The Flames were the NHL’s lowest-scoring team last season with 208 goals, while the Canucks ranked last in 5-on-5 goals scored with 131.

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

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