The Vancouver Canucks got a little preview of a possible future Friday morning, skating at Britannia Community Centre on the city’s east side after weekend concerts pushed them out of Rogers Arena.
It was an informal workout, but there was still plenty to take in. The full NHL roster wasn’t quite there - veterans Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser sat out - but otherwise the group was largely intact. In all, 28 players were on the ice, including 17 forwards, eight defencemen and three goalies, along with several hopefuls.
One of the clearest takeaways came on the blue line. The pairings that showed up in Friday’s scrimmage could easily be the same ones the team leans on when training camp opens and the preseason begins.
Zeev Buium and Filip Hronek stayed together throughout, while Elias Pettersson and Luke Schenn were matched as well. Jamie Oleksiak and Victor Mancini formed another duo, and Tom Willander skated beside Kirill Kudryavtsev.
Up front, Boeser’s absence created a few different looks with Marco Rossi and Liam Öhgren. Max Sasson got a chance to bring his speed to that line, giving Rossi two wingers who can really move. Later, Jonathan Lekkerimäki joined Rossi and Öhgren.
Filip Chytil also turned heads again. As has been reported elsewhere this week, the Czech forward appears ready to push back against the doubters.
It’s still only the first week of September, and these scrimmages are almost entirely free of contact, but Chytil was flying on Friday and his speed stood out. He moved between centre and wing during the scrimmage, and that’s something worth watching once camp starts.
With nine forwards on one side and eight on the other, the coaches kept shuffling combinations and showing different looks. That makes it tough to pull too much from an informal skate two weeks before camp, but it was still an active session with plenty of movement.
Latvian forward Anri Ravinskis took part in the workout as well, though he wore a red non-contact jersey.
The blue team came away with a 7-6 win over the whites. And as usual, the losing side had to skate lines afterward as punishment for finishing on the wrong end of the score. The Canucks are expected to take the long weekend off from on-ice work and return to skating Tuesday.
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