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Scenes from practice: Canucks shake up line combinations ahead of Monday’s game in Seattle
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Photo credit: © Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Jeff Paterson
Dec 28, 2025, 16:15 ESTUpdated: Dec 28, 2025, 16:27 EST
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The Vancouver Canucks will have a number of new looks to their forward ranks when they face the Kraken in Seattle on Monday. Following a listless 6-3 loss to San Jose on Saturday night, Adam Foote will be making veterans Jake DeBrusk and David Kampf healthy scratches.

What we saw

In an effort to get Brock Boeser going, the Canucks are reuniting him with Elias Pettersson. Those two will have Evander Kane on their line.
Liam Öhgren gets bumped up to a second line opportunity with fellow newcomer Marco Rossi and Conor Garland.
Aatu Räty returns to the line-up after sitting out four of the last six games including Saturday. He’ll centre Drew O’Connor and Kiefer Sherwood while Nils Höglander gets back into action after three straight press box visits. Hoglander will skate with Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson.
For DeBrusk, this will be the first time as a Canuck that he has missed a game. He and Teddy Blueger were the only players to suit up for all 82 games last season. And the winger had appeared in all 37 games to this point this season. Meanwhile, Kämpf will sit after playing 17 straight games since signing with the team in mid-November.
The other news of the day was head coach Adam Foote confirming that Filip Chytil is ramping up for a return to game action perhaps sooner than many had anticipated. The Czech centre, out since October 19th with a head injury, skated with the group for a second straight day. Once again, he wore a red non-contact jersey. But Foote said on Sunday that Chytil could play ‘within weeks’. No one in the organization is putting any firm timeline on Chytil getting back in uniform. And all of this is subject to him not experiencing any kind of setback. But the fact Chytil was on the ice with the team for a second straight day indicates that he got through Saturday’s morning skate without issue. He skated as an extra on Sunday, but was an active participant in all of the team’s drills. 
The Canucks coach confirmed that Kevin Lankinen will start on Monday in Seattle while Thatcher Demko will get the nod at home against Philadelphia on Tuesday. The Canucks have a second set of back to back games later in the week. The goalies will likely split those games at home against Seattle and Boston.

What we heard

Adam Foote on the possibility of Filip Chytil returning to Canucks line-up:
“Two to three weeks? I see it being less than four, but I don’t know for sure. We have to get him back up to speed, but he’s had a couple of really good weeks which is a real good sign. Knowing that he hasn’t had a setback in two weeks is huge. When we believe he is in full shape, then he’ll be able to take some contact.”
Foote on what he needs to see from Nils Hoglander in his return to game action: “When you miss that much time – and we had some wins going on, too – it’s just getting reps. He plays so well below the tops of the circles. He’s on that puck. Just pushing those routes and the pace. When you miss time you don’t necessarily have your legs completely even though you put the work in for two months, it’s hard in a game situation. He was going to come out with three in four anyway. And we won a few there. He understands. But he looked like he was really hungry today.”
Foote and Jake DeBrusk also spoke about the winger’s upcoming healthy scratch, and you can read those quotes by clicking here. You can also check out what they had to say via the CanucksArmy YouTube channel below!
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