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Scenes from practice: Malhotra hauls out line blender in attempt to help Canucks snap 10-game losing skid

Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By Jeff Paterson

Oct 26, 2026, 16:23 EDT

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Fresh off their 10th straight loss, the Vancouver Canucks returned to work on Monday morning with a brisk practice at Rogers Arena. And in an effort to find something that can provide a spark to help his team win for the first time in three weeks, Manny Malhotra rolled out a new set of line combinations ahead of a quick two-game road trip to Anaheim and San Jose.

What we saw

Jeff Paterson

@patersonjeff

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#Canucks at practice DeBrusk-EP40-Boeser O’Connor-Chytil-Lekkerimäki Cotter-Sasson-Gallagher Bains-Rossi-Öhgren Buium-Schenn DPetey-Willander Oleksiak-Mancini Brisebois (Hronek and Karlsson maintenance days)

6:13 PM · Oct 26, 2026

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With Linus Karlsson and Filip Hronek both granted maintenance days, the Canucks were down two regulars in their lineup at practice. So what they showed on Monday may not be the way they skate when they hit the ice at Honda Center to face the Ducks on Tuesday night.

Malhotra loaded up his top line with three veterans expected to lead the push for the first win since October 3rd. Jake DeBrusk skated on left wing with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. After scoring three goals in a three-game span, DeBrusk has gone six games without a goal.

Filip Chytil found himself between Drew O’Connor and Jonathan Lekkerimäki. Max Sasson, who had one of the Canucks goals in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild, centred a line with Paul Cotter and Brendan Gallagher, while Marco Rossi had Arshdeep Bains and Liam Ohgren as his linemates. It’s been a struggle for Rossi, who has just one point (an assist on Thursday) to show for his last nine outings. He and Sasson have identical counting statistics this season with two goals and three helpers.

On defence, without Hronek, Luke Schenn was paired with Zeev Buium, while Elias Pettersson and Tom Willander skated together. Jamie Oleksiak, a healthy scratch for the second time this season on Sunday, formed a duo with Victor Mancini, while Guillaume Brisebois was the extra blueliner.

Following practice, Malhotra indicated that there was no reason for concern for either Hronek or Karlsson. Both will travel with the team, and both are expected to play on Tuesday night.

What we heard

Manny Malhotra on constantly switching his lines rather than allowing trios to work through issues to find some chemistry: “The guys would like to have consistency in their linemates, but at the same time, we need to find chemistry. We haven’t quite found the lines that click yet, that we feel comfortable just rolling out four at a time. It’s a matter of finding that balance, but also within a game, just trying to find a spark, trying to find somebody to provide a line something that they may be lacking. So there’s a lot of tinkering that is required right now trying to find that spark in games where we lose that intensity and we lose that energy.”

Paul Cotter on being a healthy scratch against Minnesota after getting off to a terrific start this season: “Obviously, whenever you’re not in the line-up no matter who you are, you’re not happy about it. We’ve lost a lot in a row and obviously changes have to be made. It’s the way you think about it. Manny obviously expects a lot out of me and so to that extent I think it’s a compliment to me that he sees my game reaching another level. So he thought that would be the best way to do it. The only thing you can do at that time is be a good teammate and be ready to come back when you get the opportunity.”

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