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Scenes from morning skate: Lekkerimäki gets his shot as Canucks shake up lines vs. Sharks
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Jan 27, 2026, 15:14 EST
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The Vancouver Canucks (17-30-5) roll out the welcome mat for Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks (26-21-3) tonight at Rogers Arena. Game time is 7pm. 
Still just 19, Celebrini enters the night tied for fourth in NHL scoring with 74 points, trailing only Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nikita Kucherov.

What we saw

After a team day off Monday, the Canucks held a full morning skate this morning. Both Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Victor Mancini were on the ice after being recalled from Abbotsford yesterday. They’re back with the big league team after the Canucks placed both Brock Boeser and Zeev Buium on injured reserve. Both were hurt in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh.
Lekkerimaki will play tonight and will see time on the team’s top power play unit, while Mancini will be a healthy scratch along with Max Sasson and David Kampf. 
Jake DeBrusk and Teddy Blueger scored the Canucks goals against the Penguins. Blueger has now scored in back to back games and has three goals in the five games he has played this season. 
Amid trade speculation, Evander Kane will dress for the Canucks tonight, but will start the game on the team’s fourth line.
Kevin Lankinen will start in goal for the fifth straight game and the seventh time in the team’s last eight outings. Lankinen stopped 22 of 25 shots against Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Conor Garland had a first period goal disallowed for goaltender interference against Pittsburgh. Garland has gone 10 games without a point since recording a pair of assists against San Jose in the first game out of the Christmas break. The feisty forward has gone 14 games since his last goal – an empty netter – on December 16th against the New York Rangers.

The Opponent

The Sharks have been idle since a 3-1 win at home over the New York Rangers on Friday. Celebrini scored twice giving him 26 goals on the season. He has opened a 40-point lead over Tyler Toffoli and Alex Wennberg in team scoring.
San Jose is sitting in the second wild card position in the NHL’s Western Conference. However, the Sharks have their work cut out for them to remain above the playoff bar. They are tied with Los Angeles and Seattle with 55 points apiece. The Sharks have alternated wins and losses over their past seven games. 
They’re holding down a playoff spot despite a -19 goal differential and the fact they are 30th in the league in defence. Only Vancouver and Anaheim give up more goals on average than the 3.46 the Sharks surrender per game. The goal differential in regulation time is actually -26, but the Sharks lead the NHL with nine overtime victories and are 9-2 in games decided in OT.
Newcomer Kiefer Sherwood is skating with the Sharks, but will not make his debut tonight. He was nursing a hand injury at the time of last week’s trade from Vancouver and has not played since January 10th in Toronto. He is on the road trip and took part in the team’s morning skate, but as an extra forward.
The Sharks line-up does include a trio of former Canucks: Tyler Toffoli, Adam Gaudette and Vincent Desharnais.
Yaroslav Askarov gets the start in goal tonight. He is 16-13-1 on the season with a 3.51 GAA and an .890 save percentage. He’s 2-0 against the Canucks this season.

News and notes

The Sharks have taken the first two meetings of the season between these teams. They won 3-2 on home ice on Black Friday afternoon in late November and 6-3 in Vancouver on December 27th. Macklin Celebrini had eight shots on goal and 16 individual shot attempts in that one.
The referees for tonight’s game are Kyle Rehman and Graedy Hamilton.

What we heard

Adam Foote on the opportunity for Lekkerimäki: “He’s been hot down there (Abbotsford). When he gets time and space, he’s a good shooter. He doesn’t even need that much time. I like his game. He’s smart defensively. He’s smart without the puck. He’s got a great opportunity here on the power play to get out there and see what he’s got here.”
Evander Kane on hearing his name in trade talk: “There are a lot of names out there. All of a sudden a member of the Vancouver media decides to tweet it out I got a big scrum today. It’s part of the process. It’s part of the way business is done at the NHL level. I’m just looking forward to tonight’s game.”
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