Penticton, BC — What an exciting first day it’s been. Earlier today, we announced that Halford and Brough will be joining us starting September 28th (more info here), and now, it’s time to officially kick off Vancouver Canucks training camp!

What better way to do that than with a live blog to keep you updated with the day’s events on this beautiful Thursday, LIVE from Penticton, BC, at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Canucks GM Ryan Johnson revealed yesterday that, as expected, goaltender Thatcher Demko wouldn’t be a full participant in training camp. While I strolled through the BC Sports Hall of Fame, Jeff Paterson caught video of Demko going through some light individual on-ice workouts.

An interesting thing to note was that Lucian Bernat and Akil Thomas (both of whom aren’t in the training camp groups) were Demko’s shooters. Bernat, who the Canucks drafted in the sixth round of June’s draft, missed the prospect showcase with an injury, and a Canucks spokesperson confirmed that Thomas is recovering from a previous surgery

The Canucks announced their two groups, along with the day’s schedule. First, the two groups.

Some things that stand out (remembering that it’s just trainign camp, but that these are going to be the first lines we’ve seen Manny Malhotra assemble as Canucks bench boss):
-Zeev Buium and Filip Hronek are in different groups, meaning the two won’t start training camp getting reps on the same pairing.
-Hronek is in the same group with Jamie Oleksiak. I would guess those two will get reps together.
-I’m interested to see how the Group B defence pairings shake down. Buium and Tom Willander spent time together last season, and I would assume if those two open camp together, that DPetey will skate with Luke Schenn
-We’ll know later this afternoon when they skate, but we could get a look at the BRÖ line featuring Öhgren-Rossi-Boeser in Group B.
-Braeden Cootes, Brooks Rogowski and Adam Novotny are in the same group.

The schedule reads: Group A at 10 AM (goalies), 10:20 AM (main), and 11:25 (practice sheet); Group B at 12:05 (goalies), 12:25 (main), and 1:30 PM.

The Group A line combinations courtesy of our very own Tyson Cole (who is sitting beside me in Penticton right now):

The group opened a neutral zone forechecking install drill. The drill isn’t appropriate for drawing conclusions about the Canucks’ new systems under their new head coach. But speaking of the new head coach…

One thing that was very noticeable right from the get-go: Manny Malhotra’s intensity was high, and if a player was coasting through a drill or doing it incorrectly, the Canucks’ new bench boss wasn’t shy about letting them (and everyone in the building) hear about it, whether it was a veteran player or a player attending their first camp.

A board battle drill was next, and the intensity was very high. The towering Brooks Rogowski excelled in that drill, as did Adam Novotny. Both players, drafted over the summer and attending their first NHL training camps, fared fine in the drill against legitimate NHL players. That doesn’t mean others didn’t, but those two certainly caught our attention.

The next drill was a good opportunity to see some defensive zone work. In the drill, the Canucks showed a zone coverage system, even though they started the drill’s reps in a box+1 formation. Here is some video:

It appears the Canucks will use a box+1 structure when the puck is down low, but when the puck moves up high, they’ll switch to man defence, with the centre taking the third man high, while the wingers take the opposing players up top.

Group A moved over to the practice sheet, and so did we! The players ran a simple flow drill where players pick up the puck through the neutral zone, then move in on the goaltender and let go of a shot on the rush. One takeaway from this drill: Vilmer Alriksson’s shot looks quicker — both in terms of release and velocity put on the puck — and more deceptive than last season.

The next drill was a D-Zone retrieval drill that featured some spirited battles along the wall. One takeaway from this one: I can’t wait to watch Brendan Gallagher protect pucks along the wall. I’ll miss Nils Höglander’s ability to do this with his low centre of gravity, but Gallagher will be a fun one to watch in this department this season. On Gallagher, he really doesn’t look like he’s lost a step. He stood out among this group.

Next up was a net-front battle drill where, again, Adam Novotny was a player I noticed not shying away from using his physical tools to battle for ice. The group finished off with a bag skate, and Manny Malhotra and other Canucks coaches participated as well, skating with the players who became slower and slower with each rep:

I am handing the live blog over to Tyson Cole while I run downstairs to do media with some Group A players!

Following a few opening drills, here is how the Canucks lined up as line drills began:

Interesting to note that Buium was paired with Schenn. I would have expected them to pair the youngsters together and for him to pair with Willander. However, it appears Malhotra is looking to re-create what the Canucks had with Schenn and Quinn Hughes, now with Buium.

As expected, Group B drills matched Group A. After some line rushes and O-zone drills, they transitioned to the same neutral zone system drill. In the viewing of half the group in front of us, Chytil, Willander, Pettersson, and Brimmer all did well against their assignments.

We were interested to see how Lekkerimäki, coming off shoulder surgery, would do in his first rep in this drill. Here is the clip:

Group B hit the fresh sheet of ice and ran the same drills as Group A. Some standouts from the first rushes were Nikita Tolopilo, who made nearly every stop on the rush chances. Except for, however, Trey Fix-Wolansky. It seemed that on every rush, Fix-Wolansky had no issues picking his spot and beating Tolopilo. He may be undersized, but his shot packs a powerful punch.

After a quick session on the second sheet, the Canucks returned to the main sheet to allow a youth team to practice.

The group began defensive zone drills, where two defenders and one forward would try to clear the zone from behind the net against three forechecking forwards. Once they gained possession, the whistle blew, and the two remaining forwards at the blueline would head up ice against two defenders while the other three caught up. Essentially, this is a two-part drill: defensive zone scrum clearances into quick transitions up ice.

And just like they did to end Group A, Group B partook in skating drills to round out practice.

Another thing I watched today was Lekkerimäki’s skating. Lately, his foot speed has been questioned. However, as you can see in the clip, he was at the front of his group, keeping up with known speedster Öhgren. An encouraging sight to see for a guy who’s in for a big year ahead.

And that’s it for our Day 1 live blog! Tune in tomorrow for more action! Stay tuned for standouts and takeaways from Day 1 to be posted later here on Daily Faceoff Vancouver!