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Scenes from practice: Lekkerimäki to top line, Cotter to centre as Canucks prepare for preseason finale

Photo credit: © Tav Morisson-CanucksArmy

By Jeff Paterson

Sep 25, 2026, 18:56 EDT

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With a crowd of a couple of thousand on hand for an open practice as part of the club’s Fan Fest, the Vancouver Canucks took to the ice at Rogers Arena on Friday afternoon. After assigning Braeden Cootes to Abbotsford and placing Filip Chytil on injured reserve, the Canucks had 13 forwards, eight defencemen and three goalies take part in the 45-minute session.

Assistant coach Ryan Mougenel wore a microphone throughout practice so the fans in the stands could listen in as he guided most of Friday’s drills.

What we saw

Jeff Paterson

@patersonjeff

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#Canucks lines at Friday practice DeBrusk-EP40-Lekkerimäki Öhgren-Rossi-Boeser O’Connor-Sasson-Karlsson Bains-Cotter-Gallagher

8:44 PM · Sep 25, 2026

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The most notable change to the Canucks forward group was Jonathan Lekkerimäki getting a chance to skate on right wing with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. Linus Karlsson has patrolled that spot since the opening day of training camp and had a solid showing on that line in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Edmonton.

With Lekkerimäki earning a top-six opportunity, Karlsson dropped to a third-line role with Max Sasson and Drew O’Connor on Friday.

Knowing that Chytil will be on injured reserve to start the season and with Aatu Räty having already reached his two-game preseason limit, Paul Cotter was forced to slide into the middle on a fourth line with Brendan Gallagher and Arshdeep Bains. It looks like Cotter will skate in that slot in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Seattle Kraken. Räty served as an extra forward throughout Friday’s practice.

On defence, the Canucks paired veteran blueliners with youngsters on Friday, and it appears they will likely lineup like that against the Kraken. Zeev Buium skated with Filip Hronek while Tom Willander was paired with Jamie Oleksiak and Elias Pettersson spent practice alongside Luke Schenn. Guillaume Brisebois and Victor Mancini, who have played in each of the team’s first three exhibition contests, were a fourth pair at practice.

Manny Malhotra showed his hand on special teams. His first power play unit remained intact from Thursday night and consisted of Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk, Brock Boeser, Marco Rossi and Filip Hronek.

Without Chytil and Cootes, the Canucks opted for a two-defenceman set on the second power play unit, with Tom Willander joining Zeev Buium. Up front, it was the Swedish trio of Linus Karlsson, Liam Öhgren and Jonathan Lekkerimäki.

Kevin Lankinen is expected to go the distance in goal on Saturday. General Manager Ryan Johnson said he wasn’t sure when waiver wire pick-up Leevi Meriläinen would arrive in Vancouver, but hinted that it was unlikely Meriläinen would be in uniform against Seattle.

Meriläinen has worn jersey number one throughout his NHL career. No one has worn that number in Vancouver since Roberto Luongo left the hockey club in 2014. Meriläinen hails from the same Finnish hometown (Oulu) as forward Aatu Räty.

Jeff Paterson

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#Canucks conducting an open practice as part of their three-day fan fest

8:27 PM · Sep 25, 2026

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What was said

Kevin Lankinen on the addition of a fellow Finnish netminder: “I don’t know him personally. I’ve obviously heard of him. I’ve heard he’s a good guy and a good goalie. I’ve played against him. I know he’s got some good talent. So I’m excited.”

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