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Scenes from practice: Canucks conduct optional on-ice session day after disappointing loss to Detroit
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Photo credit: © Tav Morisson-CanucksArmy
Jeff Paterson
Dec 9, 2025, 16:15 ESTUpdated: Dec 9, 2025, 16:17 EST
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The morning after a disappointing 4-0 loss to Detroit, the Vancouver Canucks were back on the ice at Rogers Arena. At least some of them were. The club had initially scheduled a full practice, but ended up giving most of the veterans the morning off from taking to the ice with a full group session scheduled for Wednesday.

What we saw

Ten skaters and goaltender Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen took to the ice for a 45 minute on-ice session. The skaters included forwards Drew O’Connor, Aatu Räty, Linus Karlsson, Nils Höglander, Max Sasson, Arshdeep Bains, Lukas Reichel and defencemen P-O Joseph, Elias Pettersson and Tom Willander. 
Head coach Adam Foote opted out of this morning’s practice leaving Scott Young, Brett McLean, Kevin Dean and skills coach Jason Krog to run drills while goalie coach Marko Torenius worked with Demko and Lankinen. The coaching staff spent much of today’s practice working on defensive zone coverage often stopping drills to instruct players on where they should be in various situations.
Even without the full roster on the ice, today’s session was important for Demko who is slated to start Thursday night against Buffalo. Out since November 11th with a groin injury, the veteran netminder continues to work his way back from injury. Wednesday should provide a dress rehearsal of sorts. 
Forward Elias Pettersson, who has missed the past two games with an undisclosed injury, was not among the players on the ice Tuesday morning. However, Adam Foote is hopeful that Pettersson will practice Wednesday and be ready to return to the line-up on Thursday against the Sabres.

What we heard

Adam Foote on how he decided who needed to skate this morning: “Just a feel of instincts on the team and where we’re at as a group. It’s nice to have two days here and we can really key on some walkthrough stuff with some of the younger guys and give a few of the older guys a bit of a break. They got a workout in. It’s just a feel.”
Foote on Pettersson on being ready to practice tomorrow: “Well, I hope so. How I feel today about it compared to yesterday is a big step as far as the news we got. So he should be practicing tomorrow. I think he should be fine. It was a good day today for him.”
Foote on what he hopes Demko’s return means to the team: “Hey, listen, he’s a top goalie, we all know that. Today he had a good day. If tomorrow goes well, he should be in the Buffalo game. He’s a number one goalie so he’s going to do what he does and it’s nice to have him back.”
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