After two preseason games spent mostly on the road and mostly with prospects, the Vancouver Canucks are finally ready to dress the veterans on Thursday night.
That fits the plan. With the preseason trimmed to four games and the new CBA limiting veterans to two appearances, head coach Manny Malhotra had every reason to wait until the Canucks’ third and fourth exhibition games, both at home, before rolling out something closer to an opening-night group.
And Malhotra sounds eager to get there.
“Really excited,” said Malhotra. “Playing in front of our home crowd, getting down to close […] to an opening day lineup is exciting, and I think the players are excited just to get into game action.
They’ve had enough of the camp skates and the summer skates and the drills. They want to get into some action here.”
There’s not much runway left. Opening night is five days away, and Malhotra made it clear the group can’t afford a slow start.
“There’s a very clear understanding that there’s no dipping toes in this year,” said Malhotra. “You don’t have a long time to get yourself back to game shape or match that game intensity.
“So, my expectation is that the habits and the details that we’ve been harping on in camp are going to be on full display. We, as a staff, understand there’s going to be some hiccups; there’s going to be some sloppy plays, which is to be expected. But in terms of the effort and the tenacity with which we play, there’s no easing your way into things.”
Thursday’s morning skate was optional because of the heavy practice load, but every healthy player on the roster showed up anyway.
The projected Canucks lineup has a distinctly regular-season feel to it, even if Malhotra wants everyone to remember that nothing is locked in yet.
Jake DeBrusk is slated to skate with Elias Pettersson and Linus Karlsson on the top line, while Liam Öhgren, Marco Rossi and Brock Boeser make up the second unit. The next two groups feature Drew O’Connor, Filip Chytil and Jonathan Lekkerimäki, followed by Paul Cotter, Braeden Cootes and Brendan Gallagher.
On the back end, the projected pairs are Zeev Buium with Filip Hronek, Jamie Oleksiak with Luke Schenn, and Guillaume Brisebois with Victor Mancini. Nikita Tolopilo is listed as the starting goaltender, with Chris Driedger, who is on a professional tryout agreement, potentially getting into the game later.
Even with those combinations on paper, Malhotra isn’t treating any of it as final.
“I’m not married to any pairing or any line that we have right now,” said Malhotra. “We want to see the chemistry the guys are able to build on - through these next two games, especially - but we’ll let that play out in terms of who is working well together as we move on.”
Still, there’s an obvious spotlight on the top of the lineup. Pettersson centring DeBrusk and Karlsson, and Rossi between Öhgren and Boeser, looks like the kind of setup the Canucks could carry into opening night.
The more interesting competition comes lower in the lineup, where Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Braeden Cootes are trying to force their way into the mix.
Malhotra said he isn’t asking for anything flashy from either prospect.
“We don’t need them to do anything extraordinary or outside the box,” said Malhotra. “We want to see their best game being put forward within our system and within our structure.
“That’s to say, if they come out and each have a hat trick, does that change our mindset? Probably not. We want them to display the habits and the game that is going to translate at the NHL level.”
The Oilers are bringing a much younger group into Vancouver, even if the Canucks will be the ones dressing the more established lineup.
Their projected forward lines, listed through the team’s website, have Isaac Howard, Owen Michaels and Quinn Hutson together on the top unit; Max Jones, Josh Samanski and Aku Räty on the second; Eduards Tralmaks, Viljami Marjala and Seth Griffith on the third; and Connor Clattenburg, Rudolfs Berzkalns and David Lewandowski on the fourth.
On defense, the projected pairings are Spencer Stastney with Ty Emberson, Riley Stillman with Tomas Cibulka, and Atro Leppanen with Damien Carfagna. Tristan Jarry is expected to start in goal, with Connor Ungar backing him up.
It’s not the kind of lineup that screams star power, but preseason has a way of giving hungry players a stage, and Edmonton’s group will have plenty to prove.
One small wrinkle: Aku Räty, the older brother of Aatu Räty, is in the Oilers lineup, but the brothers won’t get a head-to-head look. Aatu has already played more than 100 NHL games, which makes him a veteran under the preseason rules and limits him to two games. He’s already used both.
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