Not even 12 hours after they arrived back home from Chicago, the Vancouver Canucks were back on the practice ice at Rogers Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
Captain Quinn Hughes was given the day off to rest; otherwise, everybody on the roster was on the ice.

What we saw

The Canucks practiced with the same line combinations they used in Tuesday’s 6-3 win over the Blackhawks. Daniel Sprong remained as an extra forward after sitting out for the third time in six games on Tuesday.
With no Hughes, the defence pairings had a slightly different look. Noah Juulsen took shifts with Filip Hronek while the other pairs remained intact. Today was Erik Bränntström’s first skate with the Canucks at Rogers Arena after being acquired by the club and sent to Abbotsford before joining the team on the road.
Late in practice, at the end of a battle drill, the temperature rose briefly as JT Miller and Elias Pettersson had a heated exchange. The two chopped at each other with their sticks before Miller delivered a cross-check to Pettersson’s upper body. A few words were exchanged before the two went their separate ways. Nothing more came of it, and practice continued. 
Dakota Joshua was once again an active participant in practice although he remains in a non-contact jersey.
The Canucks players and staff practiced in black skate gear ahead of Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh, when the black jerseys will make their season debut. Arturs Silovs has black-themed gear from last season, but Kevin Lankinen had to practice in his white, blue and green pads. He has black skate gear on order and the hope is it will arrive in time for him to wear it on the weekend.

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on two of his stars getting after each other in practice: “From my experience, listen, you don’t want players fighting each other but there’s a time and place when you want to challenge the pace or there is a certain drill somebody doesn’t like, or whatever that’s part of the game, it’s not a big deal. I’ve gotten into it a few times. You move on, be the first guy to take a guy to dinner. I’m sure if there was a scrum on Saturday night, Millsy would be the first to jump in for Petey.”
Elias Pettersson on mixing it up with JT Miller in practice: “It’s good. I think we should practice with an edge. It’s good.”
Kiefer Sherwood on leading the NHL with 44 hits through six games: “I definitely had my goals coming into the season of where I wanted to be. I know it’s a good start, but it’s a long season. Ultimately, I think it’s more about the style and identity I want to bring to the line and the team. I’m not looking necessarily at numbers of hits, it’s more about playing hockey. Obviously when the hits present themselves, I’ll take them, but the puck is out there too. I want to make plays first and get the puck back and over the time of games get after their D as much as I can.”
Erik Brännström on a whirlwind start to the season but settling into Canucks surroundings: “It’s been a wild couple of weeks here, but I’m really happy where I am right now to play with this team. It’s a lot of skilled players, fun team, offensive and I think it fits my style play really well so I’m happy to be here.”
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