Penticton BC – Before the Vancouver Canucks embark on a new season, there are still questions to be answered – especially when there’s a new bench boss.

Sessions were divided into three separate groups, with Group C – comprising invitees and other AHL players – leading off the day. Following them were notable names from Groups A and B, such as Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Thatcher Demko.

With Adam Foote leading his first NHL camp, Day 1 was a lot more about implementing new systems, rather than noticing any particular standout players.

Here are three of the takeaways from opening day of the Canucks 2025-26 training camp.

On Wednesday, Foote touched on what the typical ‘Adam Foote hockey‘ entails, emphasizing being adaptable, explaining that his outlook on each game depends on the opponent they’re playing. However, on Day 1 of camp, Foote placed a strong emphasis on the rush offence, quick transitions, and an aggressive style of defensive play.

The day started with some drills involving two players. One player went into the corner to retrieve the puck, quickly turned, and found the other player on a breakout pass, allowing them to exit the zone quickly and head up ice. Then, the two had to dodge some development staff and head in on a 2-0.

Last season, the Canucks were one of the lowest teams in rush goals. So putting an emphasis on fixing that with a quick transition game early in camp was an encouraging sign that they will hopefully improve in that area under Foote.

They later also worked on a 5-on-1 drill. Which NHL teams won’t find themselves in that situation much – if at all – in game action, but this drill was more to work on neutral zone breakups.

One white jersey player would head up the ice along the wall through the neutral zone. He was then met by that side defender, who would get support from the F3 (defensive forward) with the other support defenceman hovering around in case the loose puck crept into the middle of the ice. Once they turned the puck over, they quickly sent the puck north to the wingers, and head in on the attack.

Again, this was a 5-on-1 drill. They had the man power to strip the puck and an easy avenue quickly turn up ice. This was more showing how the Canucks might be attacking their netural zone defence, with multiple guys swarming over the puck carrier and instead of re-grouping, fire the puck up the ice and transition into attack mode.

This is where the Canucks mind find themselves in trouble next season.

They went through a drill where skated into the defensive zone and would have areas in which to stop, putting an emphasis on maintaining proper positioning. Once the puck was passed from down low to the blueline, the winger on that halfway’s job was to give the defenceman little to no space whatsoever. The defenceman sent it D-to-D, where now the other winger met the new defenceman puck carrier met him tight to the blueline.

When this works, it can cause a quick turnover and wingers who are in line to head up ice on the attack. But when this doesn’t work, it opens up so much in the middle of the ice for the opposition to work with, and a high chance of ending up in the back of your net.

The defensive zone scheme should be high risk high reward. If this is something the Canucks roll with this heading into the season, then maybe the team will be more high event hockey than the low event Canucks fans saw in 2024-25.

The notable forward lines for Group A were:

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser
Bains-Cootes-Sherwood
Kravtsov-Räty-Karlsson

And here were the forward lines for Group B:

Kane-Chytil-Lekkerimäki
Höglander-Blueger-Garland
O’Connor-Sasson-Klimovich

What does this tell us?

Well, it appears that Foote is inclined to head into the preseason with DeBrusk, Pettersson and Boeser as his top line. DeBrusk was brought in to be Pettersson’s winger, while Boeser is the top right wing option. So this made sense.

The presumption would be the top line of Group B would be second line. Kane and Chytil look like a duo that Foote wants to test out. But seeing Lekkerimäki up there indicates that Foote wants to give the young Swede every chance to impress in this camp and see if he can crack the roster.

This leaves Garland on a potential third line with Höglander and Blueger in the middle. Garland and Höglander flashed chemistry in last years training camp. However, what was a little confusing was seeing Blueger centring them, and not Räty. Last seasons biggest standout was Räty, who was centring Garland and Höglander. So, seeing him not get the Day 1 shot to re-establish that chemistry that was so good one year ago was surprising.

The other three lines were a hodge podge of players. Of course, Sherwood and O’Connor will be on the roster. But the other two spots are no guarantees. Many view Räty as a lineup lock and a hopeful 3C, but he did not skate with any NHL players.

These lines can of course change over camp with Foote wanting to see looks from other combinations of players, but some interesting takeaways from opening day lines.

The Canucks’ 2025 first-round pick made an impression on opening day. While it’s never great to look into how most NHL players perform on the first day of camp, it it excited to see how the rookies and NHL tweeners pushing for an NHL spot pan out.

Cootes centred a line with Bains and Sherwood, and didn’t look out of place. But where he really impressed was on the one-on-one drills. He would often come out of the battle with the puck and was able to bury his chances. Something that came as a surprise was his shot and his ability to pick corners in tight spaces to find the back of the net.

It’s a long shot for the 18-year-old to make the roster, but his chance at getting a few tester games to open the season grew from before camp.

Make sure to tune into CanucksArmy tomorrow for Day 2 action.