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Canucks lineup notes: Kane returns, Lekkerimäki sits and Tolopilo starts vs. Wild
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Dec 6, 2025, 20:06 EST
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Nikita Tolopilo will make his first home start of the National Hockey League season as he gets the call for the Vancouver Canucks tonight against Minnesota.
Tolopilo started a pair of games to open the Canucks recent California road trip. He posted a 5-4 victory against the Anaheim Ducks on November 26th and took a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks two days later before leaving the team to return home for the birth of his baby daughter.
Evander Kane returns to the lineup after missing Thursday’s practice and last night’s 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth with the flu. Kane will return to his familiar spot on left wing alongside Elias Pettersson. To make room for the veteran winger, Jonathan Lekkerimäki will be a healthy scratch.
“I’m going to put him there [with Pettersson] and see how he is,” head coach Adam Foote told the media hours before Saturday’s 7 pm puck drop. “He was sick for a couple of days, hasn’t skated, and we’ll see how his legs are.”
Foote described what he’s seen from Lekkerimäki in his brief return from the AHL and what led to the young winger being one of the odd men out up front tonight, along with Lukas Reichel. 
“He’s young, and this [the Wild] is a big-bodied team, and they play gritty,” Foote said. “Lekker is getting more and more comfortable, and with more reps in the dirt or along the boards, that will change. He might be in next game, we’ll see.”
As for the decision to go with Tolopilo over Kevin Lankinen on consecutive nights, Foote just felt it was the right call for the hockey club. The fact that Lankinen is 0-4-1 in his last five starts may have played into the decision as well.
“We talked about it, and it’s a touchy thing,” he explained. “This is a team that, when they’re around the net, they’re hacking and whacking and putting Lanks in a back-to-back might not be the right thing for him and for our team moving forward. So we decided to go this way.”
Foote also said that injured players Nils Höglander and Thatcher Demko both skated again this morning and continue to get close to returning to the lineup. Foote also revealed that Filip Chytil has skated for four days in a row. The coach remained remarkably cautious about placing any sort of timeline on Chytil’s return to practice, but noted that had there been any issues, the team’s training staff would have immediately backed off further workouts. 
Foote sounded enthusiastic about the idea of injured players returning soon and being options for the coaching staff. And added he’s a big believer in internal competition bringing out the best in others on the roster.
“It starts in testing in camp when your best players are in competition,” he said. “It’s great stuff. Hoggy is close, and if nothing goes wrong it will be [versus] Detroit or Buffalo.”

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