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Canucks juggle centres at practice; Sasson moves up, Reichel comes in, Räty odd-man out
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Nov 27, 2025, 17:30 ESTUpdated: Nov 27, 2025, 17:08 EST
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It looks like the Vancouver Canucks may be making a change at centre ahead of Friday’s game against the San Jose Sharks.
At practice in Anaheim on Thursday afternoon, Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy reported that Lukas Reichel was slotted in as one of the team’s centres with Aatu Räty appearing as though he may be a healthy scratch against the Sharks.
Räty saw just one 12-second shift early in the third period of Vancouver’s 5-4 win in Anaheim on Wednesday. He watched the final 18:20 of the game from the bench. On the night, the 23-year-old Finn logged only 7:16 of ice time and did not register a shot on goal. 
Part of the problem seems to be Räty’s play on Leo Carlsson’s goal late in the second period. Räty lost a defensive zone faceoff and then lost Carlsson in coverage as the Ducks centre was left untouched in the slot to deposit a backhand past Nikita Tolopilo.
On the season, Räty has just one goal and has gone nine games without scoring. With the arrival of David Kämpf recently, the Canucks have another option to take defensive zone faceoffs. 
For Reichel, this represents another opportunity to make any kind of mark. He has been a healthy scratch for three straight games and has just one point (a secondary assist) in 13 games since being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks one month ago. It was perhaps thought the Reichel at centre experiment was over when the club recently signed Kämpf as a free agent. It remains a mystery why the Canucks won’t try Reichel on the wing. 
Based on Murphy’s reporting, Sasson will slide into the third line centre spot between Drew O’Connor and Kiefer Sherwood, while Reichel will skate between Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson.
The Canucks are set to face the Sharks for a 1 pm PT puck drop on Black Friday.
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