The Vancouver Canucks skated in two groups on Thursday afternoon at the University of British Columbia. Basically, the group that is headed for Seattle on Friday night skated on one rink while the remainder skated on a separate sheet.
Kevin Lankinen declared himself ready to play his first game since signing with the Canucks, and later, head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed the Finn would get the call against the Kraken. Tocchet said he’s leaning towards going with Arturs Silovs on Saturday in Calgary.
Tocchet himself took the day off from on-ice duty. He was in the building but said he had a couple of personal items he needed to tend to. He then joked he felt there was no shortage of coaches around to handle the job without him for a day.
The game group included veterans JT Miller, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and captain Quinn Hughes. Hughes was reunited with Filip Hronek for the first time in camp while Kiefer Sherwood skated on the right side with Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk on Thursday.
Miller, who has yet to appear in a preseason game, was on a line with Brock Boeser and Danton Heinen. Those three skated together throughout training camp in Penticton last week.
Veteran Tyler Myers spent much of Friday’s game group session paired with Kirill Kudryatsev, although Sawyer Mynio took some reps in that spot, too. Tocchet name-checked Mynio at camp last week and again on Thursday and said although he’ll be going back to junior, Mynio is a player the organization would like to see in preseason action.
The non-game group at UBC included the likes of Carson Soucy, Pius Suter, Vincent Desharnais, and Teddy Blueger.
Both Jett Woo and Guillaume Brisebois were missing from practice after being placed on waivers earlier in the day. They will have to wait until Friday morning to see if they clear. If they do, they will be assigned to Abbotsford.

What was said

Rick Tocchet was asked about Teddy Blueger’s availability for preseason action after missing training camp with a lower-body injury: “Teddy’s a possibility for Monday.”
JT Miller on the fact he hasn’t played a game yet: “I’m obviously ready to play. Preseason is never pretty, let’s be honest. I’m just trying to worry about my habits and get those in the right spots and hopefully by Game 6 we’ll play pretty much the full team and it will get better as it goes. But I’m going to get in soon.”
Kevin Lankinen ready to make his Canucks debut on Friday: “I’m ready to go. I’ve been preparing all summer. Working out. Doing conditioning. I feel better than every. So I’m good to go.”
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