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Scenes from practice: Canucks put DeBrusk back on top line, Höglander set to draw in vs. Panthers
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Mar 16, 2026, 15:46 EDT
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The Vancouver Canucks showed a couple of new looks during a 45-minute practice on Monday morning at Rogers Arena. The team had all of its players on the ice after giving veterans Brock Boeser, Filip Hronek and Marcus Pettersson the day off Sunday.

What we saw

After playing the past couple of games in a fourth-line role, Jake DeBrusk returned to the left wing on a line with Elias Pettersson and Drew O’Connor. And after being a healthy scratch for the previous two contests, Nils Höglander will draw back into the lineup on Tuesday against Florida. Höglander skated at practice with Aatu Räty and Evander Kane.
Newcomer Curtis Douglas appeared to be the odd man out up front and skated as an extra at practice.
The six defencemen on the roster rotated through pairings when the Canucks conducted line rushes. So there may be changes coming to the way the blueliners are deployed against the Panthers. There are no extra bodies on defence right now, so there is no doubt which six will be playing. It’s just a question of how they’ll be rolled out. Defenceman Elias Pettersson participated fully for a second straight day after leaving Saturday night’s game with an apparent knee injury. Pettersson had medical imaging done on Sunday morning and declared himself fit to practice and play.
One change of note saw Zeev Buium getting an opportunity to practice with the team’s top power play unit.
And Adam Foote confirmed Monday that he’ll be going back to Kevin Lankinen in goal on Tuesday. Nikita Tolopilo has started the last two games, but struggled in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to Seattle. Lankinen has shown flashes of his best form in recent outings, allowing just three goals in regulation time in his last two outings – a 3-2 overtime loss in Winnipeg and a 2-0 loss to Ottawa to open this eight-game homestand.

What we heard

Adam Foote on working with Nils Höglander to clean up a few habits in his game: “We’re trying to change just a couple of things he does when he forces it at the blueline. He wants it so bad. If can be a little bit more predictable, he’ll get more offensive zone time so we want him to make those decisions. We also don’t want him to go into a game and feel like if he makes one mistake he’s going to get pulled, so we want him to play the right way. But we’ve had great conversations with him and our coaches have been working with him. We want to correct a few things and hopefully he’ll have a great game tomorrow.”
Liam Ohgren on the chemistry he’s developing with Marco Rossi and Brock Boeser: “Yeah, obviously it’s a great opportunity for me to play with two great hockey players. Very skilled. And it’s been going pretty good, I think. We have been creating a lot of good chances and scored some goals. So it’s been a good run.”

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