As the dust settles on Friday evening’s blockbuster trade, the newest members of the Vancouver Canucks joined the team in New Jersey and were all active participants in a Saturday afternoon practice. The Canucks begin a five-game road trip with an early start on Sunday against the New Jersey Devils. Based on practice, it looks like all three of the newcomers will make their Vancouver debuts in that game.

What we saw

Thomas Drance

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#Canucks took a drill with the following lineup at practice in Newark Saturday, but wingers cycled a bit. DeBrusk-Rossi-Boeser Bains-Kampf-Garland Kane-O’Connor-Sherwood Öhgren-Sasson-Karlsson Pettersson-Hronek Buium-Myers Pettersson-Willander Extras: Pettersson, Jospeh, Räty

6:51 PM · Dec 13, 2025

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While Elias Pettersson returned to practice with the team for the first time in a week, Marco Rossi was instilled as the club’s new first line centre skating in between Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser.

Liam Öhgren found himself on the left wing of the fourth line with Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson.

Meanwhile, Zeev Buium was paired on defence with Tyler Myers, while Marcus Pettersson bumped up to the top spot on the left side with Filip Hronek in the wake of Quinn Hughes’ departure.

In addition, Rossi and Buium were slotted in on the team’s top power play unit along with DeBrusk, Boeser and Conor Garland. That likely indicates Pettersson isn’t quite ready to return after missing the past week with an undisclosed upper body injury. Evander Kane, Kiefer Sherwood, Linus Karlsson, Aatu Räty and Filip Hronek filled out the team’s second power play unit.

It was somewhat surprising to see Drew O’Connor remain at centre on a line with Evander Kane and Kiefer Sherwood while Aatu Räty was an extra during line rushes. The fact that Räty had a spot on the second power play unit indicates he still figures in the team’s plans for Sunday’s game. The other forward line had David Kämpf skating between Arshdeep Bains and Conor Garland. Nils Höglander was absent from the team practice.

News and notes

Interestingly, the Canucks took to the ice at the New Jersey Devils’ practice facility, which is at Prudential Center, where the Devils were hosting the Anaheim Ducks, down the hall from where Vancouver was conducting its workout.

The new players will wear the following uniform numbers: Zeev Buium (24), Liam Öhgren (92) and Marco Rossi (93). For the moment, Rossi remains on the injured list, where he has been since November 11th. He was slated to return to the Minnelineupne-up this weekend, and the fact that he practiced on the Canucks top line indicates he’s ready to return to game action. However, he will need to be activated from the IR, which means the Canucks will need to make a corresponding move to fit Rossi on the 23-man roster.