The Vancouver Canucks are back at Rogers Arena tonight for their first home preseason game, and there’s a little more going on than your standard exhibition tune-up. Vancouver enters at 0-2 and welcomes a young Edmonton Oilers group that has started 2-0, with puck drop set for 6 pm PT. It also marks the opening night of the Canucks’ three-day fan fest to wrap up the preseason, with players set to walk a blue carpet outside the rink before the game.
A full morning skate gave a clearer picture of how Vancouver plans to handle the night. The Canucks are expected to dress a lineup that looks a lot like the one they’ll use next Tuesday in Edmonton when the regular season begins, though there are still a few roster calls left to sort out. That puts a few names squarely in the spotlight, including Braeden Cootes, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, and Victor Mancini.
Cootes, Mancini, and Guillaume Brisebois are each making their third preseason appearance. Cootes has been especially noticeable so far, recording a goal and two assists and having a hand in all three Canucks goals in exhibition play.
With the camp still carrying extra bodies, several players are slated to sit: Aatu Räty, Max Sasson, Arshdeep Bains, Tom Willander, defenceman Elias Pettersson and Kevin Lankinen are all expected to be healthy scratches.
In goal, Nikita Tolopilo is expected to start, with Chris Driedger backing him up. Driedger is in camp on a pro tryout, and Manny Malhotra said the team will watch how the game develops before deciding whether Driedger gets into action.
Brendan Gallagher’s first game in a Canucks sweater is another subplot worth watching. A television crew from RDS in Montreal is in town as the veteran winger makes his Vancouver debut after being acquired from the Canadiens in June.
Special teams weren’t part of this morning’s skate, but Tuesday’s practice offered a pretty good hint at how the Canucks’ units may line up. The first group was projected to feature Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Marco Rossi, and Filip Hronek, while the second included Filip Chytil, Linus Karlsson, Liam Öhgren, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, and Zeev Buium.
Edmonton, meanwhile, is bringing a stripped-down road lineup, which has become standard around the league this early in preseason. The Canucks won’t see Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Vasily Podkolzin, Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, or Jake Walman.
Tristan Jarry is expected to start in goal for the Oilers.
There’s also a familiar face behind the opposing bench. Mike Babcock, who won a gold medal in Vancouver as coach of the 2010 Canadian Olympic team, hasn’t coached an NHL game in this building since the 2019-20 season, when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Canucks and Oilers will meet again quickly once the regular season opens. They begin next Tuesday at Rogers Place before squaring off again at Rogers Arena on October 1st.
Tonight’s game will be on Sportsnet One, with John Shorthouse and Dave Tomlinson calling the action.
Malhotra said the message to players fighting for jobs has stayed consistent as the preseason winds down: “I think we have to give them enough credit to understand where they are. The messaging to everyone has been the same: ‘play your game within our system and allow us to evaluate and allow us to put that puzzle together’. So with the returning guys, the bubble guys, whoever it is, everybody that’s been at camp understands the message: ‘put your best foot forward’.”
Gallagher sounded eager to get going alongside Cootes, saying: “Yeah, I’m excited to play with him. Obviously, I know how important he is to this organization.
A really good kid. He does everything properly.
He puts in the work and a ton of talent. I’m looking forward to seeing him play and see what he can do.
Help him out here or there. And we’re going to have some fun.”
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