After an off day on Sunday, when the team was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, the Vancouver Canucks returned to practice at Rogers Arena on Monday. Unlike Friday’s quick 30-minute session, the Canucks held a full hour-long practice.

It was a near full-attended skate, with only Filip Hronek given the day off. Head Coach Adam Foote confirmed that the Czech defenceman was given a maintenance day.

Evander Kane, who is just four games away from reaching 1,000 NHL games, was promoted up the lineup, skating on the right wing of Elias Pettersson’s line with Drew O’Connor. Max Sasson returned to a line with Teddy Blueger and Linus Karlsson, skating on the left wing. Jake DeBrusk, Aatu Räty and Curtis Douglas made up the fourth line.

These rushes had Nils Höglander skating as the extra at today’s practice. After a three-game stint since his last scratching, it appears Höglander will be the odd one out for tomorrow’s contest against the Anaheim Ducks. Over those three games, Höglander was held without a point, logged just two shots on goal, while averaging 11:51 minutes of ice time. It’s been a struggle for the Swedish winger to find consistent ice time this season, and it is a contributing factor to his minimal point totals (1G + 2A = 3P).

The BRÖ line was the only Canucks line that remained intact. Marco Rossi continued his point streak, picking up an assist on the Canucks’ lone goal against the St. Louis Blues. His streak has reached six games, totalling three goals and seven assists for 10 points. Brock Boeser had his four-game point streak snapped on Saturday. Still, he has one goal and six assists for seven points in his last five games. This line has been carrying the offensive load for the Canucks of late.

The Canucks started practice with special teams drills at both ends of the ice. With Hronek given the day off, Zeev Buium manned the point on the first power play unit with Pettersson, Boeser, Rossi and DeBrusk. Räty, Blueger, E. Pettersson and M. Pettersson were the penalty killing unit against them. At the other end, Kane, O’Connor, Karlsson, and Willander remained on the second unit, with Öhgren playing in Buium’s spot. Despite skating as an extra, Höglander was given some penalty kill time in practice, skating with Sasson, Mancini and Joseph.

Other drills the team worked on were: defensive zone puck retrievals and zone exits, dump-in forechecking work, and ended the session with two-on-twos down below the goal line.

Adam Foote on dialling in some of the details moving forward that they worked on in practice: “Today we just worked on our F1 and F2, even on tired legs, getting up ice for especially the second period, our changes we, you know, got to change better. But the F1 and F2 have to come on quicker, and push them, pressure them down ice. We’re a little bit passive in the last game, especially then, you know, they just get through the neutral and way too easily, and we can’t get our players off, so we worked on that. You know, that will help us spend less time in our end and more time in the other team’s end.”

Victor Mancini on having his mind at ease now after getting an extension done in Vancouver: “Absolutely. Even before the deal, I just wanted to go out there and put my best foot forward and play the game. But this definitely puts an ease to your mind for the next 13 games. Just go out, play my best, keep my feet moving and hopefully I can get my teeth fixed now, too.”