The Vancouver Canucks are back at Rogers Arena on Thursday night, and Game 3 of their 2026 pre-season brings a first look at several key names in front of the home crowd. Vancouver is still chasing its first win of the exhibition slate, and this one doubles as the club’s first home game of the pre-season, with the team skating in front of Rogers Arena fans for the first time since April 14.
There are a few different storylines packed into the night, but the most interesting ones center on players trying to make a case for bigger roles.
Filip Chytil is the cleanest place to start. This will be the first time Canucks fans see him in a game since February 2 against the Utah Mammoth.
His speed stood out during last year’s pre-season and training camp, though injuries limited him to 12 regular-season games. He’s looked just as quick in Vancouver’s training camp and practices this time around, even if he didn’t fully jump off the ice in the in-team scrimmage.
Tonight, he’s projected to center the third line between Drew O’Connor and Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
Lekkerimäki, in turn, enters the night with something to prove after Vancouver’s latest round of roster cuts. He opened the pre-season on the first line with Arshdeep Bains and Braeden Cootes in Game 1, but that outing wasn’t a strong one. For a forward still sitting in the bubble conversation for a full-time roster spot, this is the kind of game that matters.
Elias Pettersson also draws plenty of attention whenever he steps on the ice, and Thursday is no exception. For Vancouver’s more established players, this is the first in-game look since the Canucks returned to BC at the start of September.
Pettersson showed stretches of engagement in camp and made a positive impression in the scrimmage, but the real test is how that carries over against NHL competition. He’s slated to skate between Jake DeBrusk and Linus Karlsson, a pairing he has spent plenty of time with before.
Braeden Cootes is coming off a strong start to the pre-season, having impressed in both Tuesday’s and Saturday’s games. He already has three points and has looked like a legitimate offensive force while working on Vancouver’s top line.
Thursday brings a different assignment, though. He’s projected to center the fourth line with Paul Cotter and Brendan Gallagher on his wings.
How he handles that change in role will go a long way toward determining whether he can crack the opening-night roster for a second straight season.
On the blue line, Victor Mancini is still trying to make the job his own. The pre-season has been a rougher ride for him so far, with uneven showings in Games 1 and 2 and a training camp that didn’t exactly build momentum.
Even so, he’s continued to get heavy usage, logging close to top-pairing minutes in both games. Tonight, he’ll be back in the lineup for his third pre-season game alongside Guillaume Brisebois, who is also battling for the seventh-defenceman spot.
In Other News...
Former Canuck Andrei Kuzmenko Facing A Heartbreaking Family Tragedy
A deeply painful off-ice tragedy has struck former Canuck Andrei Kuzmenko, whose father, Alexander Kuzmenko, died in a bear attack in Russia. The loss comes as Andrei Kuzmenko has only recently started his NHL career with Vancouver after a successful season in the KHL, a transition that had already placed him under a brighter spotlight on the ice.
The news has drawn condolences from around the league, including a statement from the Pittsburgh Penguins offering support to Kuzmenko and his family. For the Canucks, it is a reminder that the human side of the game can suddenly dwarf everything else, leaving teammates, staff and fans watching closely as Kuzmenko deals with a devastating personal blow. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Suddenly Have A Filip Chytil Concern They Feared
Filip Chytils night ended early in the Canucks preseason meeting with the Oilers after he tripped over a referees skates and went into the end boards head first. Vancouver ruled him out for the rest of the game, but left the extent of the injury undisclosed, adding an immediate layer of concern around a player the club was already expected to monitor carefully.
Chytils health has been a lingering storyline because of his injury and concussion history, and this latest scare lands as he enters the final season of his contract with Vancouver. For a team looking to get through the preseason with its depth intact, any early setback involving Chytil is going to draw attention, even before the full picture of what happened becomes clear. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Camp Just Got Tougher For One Forward Fighting To Stick
The Canucks preseason roster churn tightened a little more before their first home game, with Matthew Stienburg landing on NHL waivers. The 25-year-old winger is trying to carve out a place in a crowded camp after signing a one-year, two-way contract with Vancouver this offseason, and the move underscores how little margin there is for players on the bubble once exhibition games begin.
Vancouver has already seen three other players it waived this week, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Cole Clayton and Jimmy Schuldt, clear and head to AHL Abbotsford. For Stienburg, the timing adds another layer of difficulty to a push that has already been complicated by injuries over the past two seasons, leaving him in a spot where every shift matters and every roster decision around him carries extra weight. [Read more 🡒]