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Scenes from practice: Blueger centres Canucks’ third line, possible return Monday vs Islanders
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Photo credit: © Danny Wild-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Jan 18, 2026, 18:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 18, 2026, 17:47 EST
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After their worst loss of the season, the Vancouver Canucks were back at practice at Rogers Arena on Sunday. It was a season-ticket holder event with a couple of hundred hearty fans in the stands taking in the 40-minute session.

What we saw

After being shutout 6-0 on Saturday by Edmonton, and with just two goals in their last three games, the Canucks re-arranged their forward lines in an attempt to spur some offence.
Veterans Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser flanked Elias Pettersson on the top line while Evander Kane and Drew O’Connor skated with David Kämpf. Teddy Blueger, out since October 19th, filled the third line centre spot between Liam Öhgren and Conor Garland while Max Sasson skated with Nils Höglander and Linus Karlsson. Höglander has been a healthy scratch the past two games. Blueger remains on injured reserve and will need to be activated before returning to game action. He is considered a possibility to return on Monday against the New York Islanders.
With a bevy of additional forwards on the ice, Arshdeep Bains, Aatu Räty and Filip Chytil comprised a line of extras during practice. Bains will likely be re-assigned to Abbotsford if Blueger is ready to go on Monday.
With a heavy workload of late, Filip Hronek was given a maintenance day Sunday, but will be ready to play on Monday night. In his absence the Canucks had P-O Joseph paired with Marcus Pettersson while Zeev Buium formed a tandem with Tyler Myers and Tom Willander skated with Victor Mancini.
As they did at Saturday’s morning skate, the Canucks had three goalies on the ice as practice netminder Alex Kotai joined Kevin Lankinen and Nikita Tolopilo to tend the nets.
Kiefer Sherwood was seen in the Canucks locker room, but he did not participate with the group at practice. Adam Foote had no further updates on either Sherwood or Thatcher Demko on Sunday. Marco Rossi, out since December 30th, was also spotted around the locker room area, but has not been on the ice with his teammates since leaving the line-up.

What we heard

Teddy Blueger on getting close to a return to game action: “Yeah, I’m feeling the best I’ve felt in a long time. It’s good to be out there with the guys. It’s been a long progression. It’s been difficult. But feeling the best I’ve felt in a while, so it’s good. We had a couple of setbacks through the process. It was a difficult rehab and it wasn’t as straightforward as we had expected and would have liked, so it definitely took more time than I thought it would. It’s been tough for sure.”
Blueger on how being ready to play for Latvia at the Olympics fueled his motivation to get back into action: “It wasn’t really at all until the last couple of weeks, probably, because the whole time I was thinking I had plenty of time really, not worries. Probably around the time when they announced the whole line-ups, it’s starting to come together and feel a little bit more real. And then it’s like ‘I haven’t played in a long time and the games are dwindling quick before I get to go’ so I think probably the last couple of weeks it’s been a little bit on my mind.”
Blueger on returning to a much different team without Quinn Hughes and one that’s winless in 10 games: “It’s a frustrating time, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I don’t think our job changes much regardless of what the direction of the team is or the outlook is. Our job is to show up and compete and work as hard as we can every day and try to win every game. That doesn’t change whether Quinn is here or not. It’s the same for whoever is in the line-up. It’s your job to compete and play for your teammates. Fans pay a lot of money to watch up play and they deserve an honest effort, I think. It’s a tough period, but I don’t think the overall outlook changes from game to game.”
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