Back by popular demand, it’s our second live blog of the Vancouver Canucks‘ 2026 training camp!
Yesterday, on day one, new head coach Manny Malhotra put a heavy emphasis on defensive work. The intensity was high, and even though the rebuilding Canucks know that there are going to be a good number of losses this season, they’re adamant on building good habits right from day one. Malhotra, Luke Schenn, Jake DeBrusk, and Zeev Buium all spoke about the difference between losing games and playing “losing hockey,” something Malhotra emphasized earlier this week when he spoke with the media.
“It goes without saying mistakes are going to be made on the ice, but it’s the frequency of those mistakes and how often you see those mistakes,” Malhotra told reporters Thursday. “Mistakes are going to be made. We’re good with that. But as long as we’re learning from them and we don’t see them often and repetitively in our game, that’s one thing. The structure of the game, making sure you’re in the place you need to be when you need to be there, plays a large part of it.”
“I think that there’s two ways to lose,” DeBrusk added. “I think when you buy in, you’re playing your system, and you’re doing it, and sometimes the puck doesn’t go your way or just bounces or something, but you played the game plan, you did everything that was asked, and you gave it your all. You can look yourself in the mirror and say you at least did that, whereas the other side is obviously if you’re not doing any of those things and you lose, then that’s losing hockey. So I think it’s more just a buy-in in terms of the day-to-day and the preparation of what our game plan is.”
First, a reminder of the groups. Group B will hit the ice first, with Group A going in the afternoon — the inverse of yesterday.
10 AM: Group B goalies hit the ice
Aleksei Medvedev, Chris Driedger, and Nikita Tolopilo hit the ice to run through their post integration and other crease navigation drills.
The rest of the group will join them around 10:20.
10:20 AM: Group B out on the sheet
Group B arrived and began with some simple flow drills. The second one focused on the defencemen quickly transitioning the puck from the neutral zone into a rush chance for the forwards, with the D jumping up as well.
One player who stood out in the early going was Aatu Räty; his shot looks a touch quicker, and his release looks deceptive. He’s a player with something to prove after being slotted in between Ty Mueller and Trey Fix-Wolansky, while Max Sasson skated with Drew O’Connor and Brendan Gallagher over in Group A.
The line combinations for Group B remain the same as yesterday:
Group B has hit the ice and here is how they are lined up:
Öhgren - Rossi - Lekkerimäki
Cotter - Chytil - Boeser
Mueller - Räty - Fix-Wolansky
Bryzgalov - Safonov - Schimek
Ravinskis - Patterson - Brimmer
Buium - Schenn
Pettersson - Willander
Mynio - Clayton
Arntsen -Show more
Tyson Cole
@tyson_cole
Line rushes haven’t begun yet, but based on jersey colours, it appears #Canucks Group A will line up like this:
DeBrusk - Pettersson - Karlsson
O’Connor - Sasson - Gallagher
Novotný - Cootes - Bains
Berard - Rogowski - Chiarot
Steinburg - Wouters - Alriksson
Oleksiak - Hronek
The group began some five-on-five drills, kind of. The drill began with the puck in the corner, with the two forechecking forwards trying to hold it in the zone, while the opposing two defencemen and three defensive forwards tried to regain possession. Once the defence cleared the zone, the third forward, who was waiting near the bench area, would burst across the ice to the far side to pressure the puck carrier in the neutral zone; then the defending group would get some offensive zone time.
In the next drill, all five skaters began on the blueline. A coach would dump the puck in the corner, and it would be a battle for possession. The defence tried to clear the zone, while the forecheckers tried to hold the zone. We noticed in every drill that whichever side the puck went along the boards, that side’s defenceman would pinch up along the walls. Oftentimes, two forwards would come back to cover for the pinching defenceman; however, if the defender is a second late and the puck gets chipped past him before the forwards get back in time to cover, that’s a two-on-one headed the other way.
Funny enough, the very next drill was two-on-one drills with a second defender chasing the rush. Another funny update: Liam Öhgren rang a shot off the crossbar that went so high, over the netting, off the roof, and just about hit all the assembled media in attendance. Apparently, he doesn’t like our line of questioning on this drill!
Nikita Tolopilo made a handful of cross-crease saves during the drill, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki ended the drill with a snipe into the top right corner on Aleksei Medvedev.
11:20 AM – Group B hits second sheet
Group B has continued today’s training camp session on the second sheet of ice, beginning with 2-on-0s, followed by 2-on-1s the other way. Tolopilo continues to make impressive saves, while Lekkerimäki seems to be hitting the iron just to make the crowd go, “Ohhhh.” Trey Fix-Wolansky and Ty Mueller connected on one of their chances, with multiple passes back and forth before Mueller slid it into the open net.
Next, we got another look at some offensive zone drills. You can watch some clips of the Liam Öhgren-Marco Rossi-Jonathan Lekkerimäki line during those drills below:
Then they added some defensive players and turned it into a five-on-five drill. Some standouts were Yaroslav Bryzgalov and Bennett Schimek, who connected on a few strings of passes that ended with two Schimek goals. Marco Rossi and Ty Mueller were two others who scored in our viewings. And we were banging the drum yesterday a bit on this guy, but Trey Fix-Wolansky continues to wire home shots from just about anywhere on the ice. At this point, it’s hard not to view him as one of the top standouts in camp.
Everybody’s favourite one-on-one battle drills in the corner were back today. Unlike yesterday, Lekkerimäki struggled to win his battle, oftentimes getting pushed off the puck. Filip Chytil and Elias Pettersson (D) went at it a handful of times, resulting in some great competition. Chytil’s speed was sometimes too much for Pettersson, yet he still managed to hold his own.
The sessions ended with a bag skate, and of course, Manny Malhotra and the rest of the coaching staff joined the skate.
And that’s a wrap on Group B! Group A goaltenders hitting the ice shortly!
12:25 PM – Group A gets going
Group A has hit the ice; now for the second session of Day 2. According to jersey colours, it appears the lines will remain the same as Day 1.
Line rushes haven’t begun yet, but based on jersey colours, it appears #Canucks Group A will line up like this:
DeBrusk - Pettersson - Karlsson
O’Connor - Sasson - Gallagher
Novotný - Cootes - Bains
Berard - Rogowski - Chiarot
Steinburg - Wouters - Alriksson
Oleksiak - HronekShow more
Just quick rush drills to begin the session. Elias Pettersson started the day hot, sniping one past Ty Young on his first look and getting his stick on the point shot to tip in his second goal of the drill.
The goalies are making the players feel good as Group A starts. During the rush chances drill, five players scored in a row: Jake DeBrusk, Drew O’Connor, Linus Karlsson, Filip Hronek, and Ben Berard.
As expected, all the drills remain the same as in the previous session. So instead of explaining them all, we’ll point out some standouts and nifty plays from players in these drills.
Braeden Cootes is making a good early impression today. He has pulled off some successful dekes to exit the zone, and on one instance, he lost his footing but managed to fend off his check as he stepped on the puck, kicked it over to the opposite side of the defender, regained his footing and held the zone in the offensive zone – right in front of Canucks observers to boot.
In the puck retrieval drills where all 10 skaters start at the blueline, the Jamie Oleksiak-Filip Hronek pairing has had minimal issues getting the puck out of the zone, as expected. When the puck has gone to Kirill Kudryavtsev’s side, he’s been able to have success. Otherwise, the forecheckers have beaten Group A’s defenders. Victor Mancini, who is vying for that seventh defenceman spot on the opening-night roster, has struggled with turnovers on his retrievals.
1:20 PM – Group A on the second sheet
Shifting to offensive zone drills now on the second sheet, Braeden Cootes and Adam Novotný looked to be enjoying themselves and finding each other. But the real stars of the drill were the goaltenders. From our view, Ty Young and Aku Koskenvuo stopped nearly every chance against them. Not to pick on Mancini again, but he struggled with handling the puck. It’s just Day 2 of training camp after a lengthy summer, so most of the guys are just ironing out the kinks in their game. But we’re here to share what we see, and these are the observations we’ve been making today.
Next up, everybody’s favourite: the battle drills. Pettersson and Hronek started it off. Both players went hard into the corner, with Hronek coming out with the puck and a chance all alone on net. Later on, the two were matched up against each other again, but this time, it was Pettersson who walked away with the puck and a chance on net.
Drew O’Connor and Matthew Stienburg took the cake for the most aggressive battle we watched.
After a quick 3-on-2 drill, the session finished with another bag skate. That will do it for us today! Tune in later today for a handful of features, and tomorrow for an instant reaction to tomorrow’s scrimmage!
