The Vancouver Canucks returned to the practice ice in the noon hour Saturday at Rogers Arena following Friday night’s 5-2 comeback win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It was all hands on deck, with 12 forwards, eight defencemen and three goalies taking to the ice for the 35-minute workout.

What we saw

While Rick Tocchet was not willing to divulge his starter for Sunday, Thatcher Demko had a net to himself at practice while Kevin Lankinen and Arturs Silovs shared the other. That may be an indication that Demko was putting the finishing touches on his preparation for his return to game action against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Canucks will not hold a morning skate due to the early 1 pm puck drop, so it may be closer to 11 am Sunday before Tocchet holds his pregame media and announces his goaltending plan for the Lightning game. Tocchet said on Saturday that he still had to discuss his options with Demko and Lankinen.
Derek Forbort, who has been limited to just four games this season, shed his non-contact jersey and was a full participant in practice. He skated on an extra pair with Mark Friedman on Saturday. Aside from the goaltending decision, it looks like the Canucks will run with the same 18 skaters they used on Friday against Columbus.
Nils Höglander was the first skater on the ice this morning and spent 15 minutes prior to practice working on his game. Höglander’s goal drought has now reached 20 games. Despite his struggles, Höglander still had a spot on the team’s second power play unit on Saturday, along with Pius Suter, Kiefer Sherwood, Erik Brännström and Tyler Myers. The first unit remained intact after scoring a third period goal against the Blue Jackets.
While JT Miller remains on a personal leave, his locker room stall had all of his equipment in it on Saturday, which was in contrast to earlier in the week when it sat empty. The club has indicated it has a plan for Miller, but there was no talk on Saturday about when he may rejoin the team.
The club had junior reporter Mikhail on scene for Saturday’s practice. He conducted a series of interviews, including one with head coach Rick Tocchet, that will surely be posted to the team’s website and social channels in the near future.

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on trying to address the team’s slow starts after falling behind 2-0 and getting outshot 17-2 in the first period on Friday: “We had a couple of good meetings about our starts. It’s important that we all talk about it and we make each other accountable about it because it’s hard to come back in this league. There are a lot of good teams and you might not be as fortunate (as they were last night against CBJ).”
Tocchet on his plan for Derek Forbort: “We really like him. It’s been a tough start for him and he hasn’t put games together. But there’s a lot to like. I think he’s one of those guys that will help our starts. He’ll settle things down. A veteran guy like him, he’s a solid defender and he can eat some minutes up. There’s a lot of things we like about Forsy. He’s going to have to practice a few more times before he gets in the line-up.”
Vincent Desharnais on his breakaway after stepping out of the penalty box in the second period on Friday: “I blacked out and didn’t take the chance I had. I was a little pissed off about it. From the blueline in, my only thought was ‘don’t lose the puck, don’t lose the puck and put it on net.’ I’m smart enough to know to look for the holes and put my head up, but I didn’t do it. I had my mind made before I even shot it. I would love to get it back. It could have been better. It could have been a lot better.”
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