The Vancouver Canucks’ preseason is winding down as meaningful hockey approaches.
On Tuesday night, the Canucks hosted the Seattle Kraken for their fifth preseason game, a dreary 4-0 home loss. Two exhibition games remain now, with the final game scheduled to be played at home Saturday night with a roster that will be pretty similar to the opening night roster.
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For those lingering on the bubble, hoping to force the team into making an arduously tough decision, the hour is getting late. At most, there’s one more opportunity to properly audition for a spot in the lineup on opening night.
As we get down to brass tacks in the preseason, let’s handicap what we project Vancouver’s lineup to look like on Oct. 13 on a player-by-player basis and what unknowns remain to be sorted in the days ahead.
Dressed
Thirty-three healthy players remain on Vancouver’s roster going into the final weekend of the preseason, but only 20 can dress on Oct. 13 when the Canucks’ season opens in Edmonton. We think we have a pretty good handle on who 16 of those 20 players are.
It’s been seven months since Elias Pettersson suited up for an NHL game. The pressure’s on for him to shake off any rust from his wrist injury, find chemistry with his line and hit the ground running as a dominant force after a slow start last season put the team behind the eight ball. We can pretty safely presume he’ll play with Brock Boeser but the hole on Pettersson’s left wing remains a mystery.
J.T. Miller seemed like the front-runner to slot there before camp opened but Brandon Sutter’s injury may force him to play the middle. Whether it’s Miller, Conor Garland, Nils Höglander or another dark horse, Pettersson’s going to have to quickly mesh with whoever’s on his left flank over the final two games of the preseason.
Brock Boeser
Although Brock Boeser is working through an injury that will cause him to miss the rest of preseason, expect him back on opening night.
While there’s no precise certainty on this publicly, it’s always important to assume that unfit to play in the preseason and unfit to play when there are points on the line are two very different standards in the NHL.
This is a huge season for Boeser, whose contract expires following this season. He’ll be a restricted free agent but can enhance his leverage and overall market value significantly if he can once again lead the club in scoring, the way he did as a rookie in 2017-18 and again last season.
Bo Horvat
The Canucks captain looks set to play a lot of tough minutes again this season. And it appears likely that — in contrast with the vast majority of his career — he’ll have some continuity on his wings. Horvat has spent the entirety of preseason with Tanner Pearson on his left wing and has skated with both Pearson and Nils Höglander, his two most common linemates in the 2021 season, at evens over the past two preseason games.
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Expect the Pearson-Horvat-Höglander line to be a thing again on opening night.
J.T. Miller
Will we see J.T. Miller at centre or on the wing to start the season? It’s honestly not an easy question to answer.
Miller’s spent all of camp down the middle but that’s obviously driven in part by necessity with Pettersson only recently returning and Sutter still out. You can expect the team to run a more veteran lineup that could mimic an opening night roster for the final two preseason games with Pettersson and Quinn Hughes returning — whether Miller slots on the flank or in the middle in this environment could be telling.
Miller’s exact spot and role to begin the season could hinge in large part on whether the club claims an additional centre from the waiver wire. Adding a centre would certainly be ideal because while Miller’s played well through preseason, details like his puck management in the middle continue to hint that he’s likely more effective on the wing.
Conor Garland
We haven’t seen the best of Conor Garland in the preseason, but it’s the preseason, and make no mistake: Garland is a true talent first-line rate scorer, with a high-work rate and some rat in his game. Canucks fans are going to love this guy.
While Garland will be a regular for Vancouver, it’s not precisely clear where he’ll fit into the lineup on opening night. He’s appeared in three preseason games so far, playing two on the wing with Miller and Vasili Podkolzin and playing in another game on the wing with Phil Di Giuseppe and Justin Dowling.
We’ll get a much better sense of his prospective usage over the coming week, with Pettersson returning to the lineup and the Horvat line seemingly set.
Tanner Pearson
Dependable, understated but effective, Tanner Pearson has continued humming along the way you’d expect. At this stage, he’s clearly best suited to being the third wheel on a line so it’ll be fascinating to see who will be the other winger to line up alongside Horvat.
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One thing to watch for will be his potential penalty kill usage. Pearson’s not someone you’d like to count on as a Plan A penalty killer in normal circumstances, but with Sutter and Tyler Motte out, he’s gotten looks shorthanded through preseason and may be counted on to assume a more substantial role.
Travis Green likes to have at least one defensively oriented checking line that can grind away against opponents. Sutter’s line would have been one option to fit that bill. In turn, his absence has forced the coaching staff to shoehorn Dickinson into a checking, grinder-type role with energy players on his wings. That’s not a bad spot for him given his defensive skill set but it’s severely limited the ways Green’s been able to experiment with Dickinson.
Had Sutter been available, Dickinson would have probably gotten a spin or two for a top-six wing spot. When playing the middle, he probably would have had the chance to play with some more skilled linemates on the wing.
Of course, all of this could turn on a dime if the club claims a right-handed centre off waivers to help free up Dickinson to be used in different roles.
Nils Höglander
Nils Höglander has shown flashes of brilliance this preseason. He’s also had a few moments like Tuesday’s contest where he perhaps tried to do too much and turned the puck over. It’s been by and large a positive showing for the 20-year-old Swede though as his skating, disruptiveness away from the puck and possession dominant game have made him a genuine play driver more often than not.
Höglander’s always been excellent on his edges but he seems even quicker compared to last season moving in straight lines to close gaps and carry the puck. That’s a great sign to see even if there’s a little bit of ironing out to do in terms of decision making and puck management.
Phil Di Giuseppe
Among the bevy of fourth line hopefuls that the Canucks splurged on this offseason, Di Giuseppe has pretty clearly separated himself from the pack.
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There’s still a couple of spots available in the Canucks lineup, but where the likes of Podkolzin, Dowling, Alex Chiasson, Nic Petan and Matthew Highmore are still in the race pack fighting over a couple of remaining contested spots in the opening night lineup, Di Giuseppe seems to have already carved his out at this juncture.
Fast, intelligent, possessing both NHL size and an ability to kill penalties, Di Giuseppe is now all but ensconced into Vancouver’s opening night lineup, and seems likely to play on a line with Dickinson. Here’s the tell: while Di Giuseppe has appeared in four games, splitting time with both Dickinson and Dowling as his centres in preseason action, in all three of the preseason game that Dickinson has dressed for, Di Giuseppe has been glued to his left wing.
Quinn Hughes
The biggest camp question surrounding Quinn Hughes doesn’t even pertain to him individually. It actually revolves around who he’ll play next to with Travis Hamonic’s uncertain status.
Building swift chemistry with whoever he gets paired with will be imperative. Last time, it took time for him and Hamonic to learn to play with each other which definitely set the wrong tone for Hughes’ season. Vancouver can’t afford that to happen again this time; Hughes needs to find a relatively seamless fit so he can just focus on refining his individual defensive game.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Oliver Ekman-Larsson has looked spritely and effective in preseason action. That the veteran defender’s mobility, in particular, has been zero cause for concern at any juncture in his three preseason appearances is a positive sign for the Canucks.
All of that said, be careful with preseason optimism. Two of the NHL’s best preseason performers over the past few weeks, after all, have been Loui Eriksson and Brendan Perlini.
When Ekman-Larsson struggled in the 40s skate, the Vancouver market overreacted. It was seen as a big deal, even though it clearly wasn’t. Now that Ekman-Larsson has been effective across three preseason games, the hyperbole pendulum has swung the other way.
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Ekman-Larsson’s 40s skate struggles didn’t matter and his strong preseason form doesn’t really matter either. What matters, really, is how well the club’s probable minutes leader on the back end fares when two points are on the line beginning next week.
The Canucks have typically been reluctant to use Myers as a matchup defender but they may have no choice but to change that trend considering that the only other right-handed blueliner with years of top-four experience in Hamonic has been absent so far.
Right now, Tucker Poolman seems like the logical choice to pair with Hughes if Hamonic doesn’t return. The Canucks believe Hughes is most effective when he’s with a defensively sound, stay-at-home partner. Tyler Myers would be an unlikely candidate given the clashing stylistic fit, in addition to how much they struggled together during occasional spurts last season. That leaves just Poolman and Luke Schenn with the latter frankly ill-suited for a top-four role at this stage in his career. The fact that Myers was paired with Ekman-Larsson for the first time on Tuesday makes you wonder if that’s a pair the club is considering experimenting with in the event that Poolman moves to play with Hughes.
Certainly, this would make Poolman’s job easier. He’d go from originally being pencilled in to play tough matchup assignments against the other teams’ best players to now potentially having the chance to ride shotgun with Vancouver’s best defenceman.
So far, Poolman’s looked mobile and relatively sound defensively through the preseason. The puck skills appear limited as does some of his offensive zone decision making but he’s played relatively mistake-free hockey to this point.
Luke Schenn
Of the players we project to dress in Vancouver’s opening night lineup, Luke Schenn is the one that we’re least confident about.
Uncertainty still surrounds Travis Hamonic’s status, the veteran defender absent from training camp and preseason action while working through what the team is describing as a “personal matter.” Hamonic’s absence would seem to make Schenn a shoo-in to be in Vancouver’s opening night lineup and at this point, that’s probably a fair way of looking at it.
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Because of the Hamonic uncertainty and a severe leg injury sustained by right-handed defender Brady Keeper during training camp, however, the club’s right-side depth has been fundamentally compromised over the past month. Accordingly, the club will look to address it, either with a waiver wire pickup or a trade over Thanksgiving weekend.
Depending on the quality of player the Canucks bring in to address their need on the right side, there’s a chance that Schenn could yet find himself in the press box on opening night. Even if that seems unlikely, even if Schenn is a shoo-in to play on opening night as the roster currently stands, it’s a factor to watch for in the days ahead.
Thatcher Demko’s been fine through camp — he hasn’t looked his sharpest but he hasn’t looked completely off either. Besides, it’s not like goalie performances at this time of year carry substance — we still recall the July 2020 training camp when both he and Jacob Markstrom looked shaky and yet both were dominant when the games actually mattered in the bubble playoffs.
Truthfully, Halak had some tough moments in main camp. But again, that’s not really the proper environment to evaluate goalies and he was solid in the two periods of work he’s seen thus far in preseason. We’ll just have to wait for the real games to see how he adjusts to Vancouver’s looser defensive environment.
Scratched
There are two layers to the scratched section: players that will get cut in the days ahead and players that are still in competition to be on Vancouver’s opening day 23-man roster, but regardless, won’t factor into the club’s opening night lineup.
With the exception of one thunderous body check on Tuesday, Zack MacEwen has been invisible since training camp opened on Sept. 23. That’s tough luck because he has an inspiring career story but there simply isn’t enough versatility and defensive/penalty kill value in his game to compensate for the quiet tools he’s displayed in camp.
Will Lockwood
Will Lockwood was one of the early standouts in camp. He was a buzzsaw every time he stepped on the ice, causing havoc on the forechecking, throwing hits and using his speed to recover pucks. Lockwood carried that momentum into the preseason where he’s continued looking strong but there are just a few blemishes left in his game that leave him a little raw. In particular, the 23-year-old has had some shaky moments making plays and getting pucks out along the defensive half wall. It’s a subtle detail but it’s one that’s typically meant a ton to Green and the staff.
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Moreover, Lockwood has experience suiting up on the penalty kill at lower levels but he doesn’t appear ready for that challenge at the NHL level. He got shorthanded looks on Tuesday, for example, and made a mistake that led to one of the goals against. On Sunday’s game, his line was scored against twice at evens.
Lockwood’s made a really good impression overall over the last two weeks but it feels like he’ll need to add a little more polish to his game before the coaching staff can trust him over more veteran options.
Jonah Gadjovich
Jonah Gadjovich was probably the standout Canucks player at training camp.
The large winger, whose development has been held back by a lack of foot speed in years past, put in the work this summer. He leaned out and came to camp with an extra step (or two) of pace evident in his game. He put up points in the training camp scrimmages and has managed a point per game in his two preseason appearances.
While Gadjovich has seemingly taken advantage of every opportunity he’s been given throughout camp and preseason, he hasn’t been given much in the way of opportunity. His centres in the games he’s played in have been Highmore and Chase Wouters. He’s barely stepped on the ice with the Canucks’ power play, even though he’s a legitimate savant at the net front. At no point in practice or at camp has he played on a line with two linemates that were both obvious NHL-level contributors.
Gadjovich will require waivers in the seemingly likely event that he’s cut at this point. He’s 22 years old for another 10 days, has the Hockey Canada world juniors pedigree going for him, scored nearly a goal per game in the watered-down AHL last season and has significantly addressed the biggest weakness in his game — that lack of foot speed — through sheer force of will and work.
Considering the moribund Buffalo Sabres claimed a far smaller, less productive and less heralded 23-year-old off waivers this week in winger Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, there’s a real risk that Gadjovich will be claimed if he does indeed hit waivers. It would be a real shame for the club to take that risk without providing Gadjovich with at least one more credible opportunity in the two remaining preseason contests.
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Justin Bailey
It’s hard not to sympathize with Justin Bailey. The large, speedy and gifted 26-year-old winger has had a run of rotten luck over the past 10 months.
Bailey has been knocking on the door of cracking the Canucks’ NHL roster since the winter of 2019, when he absolutely torched the AHL with the Utica Comets. Though organizational concerns with his defensive play held him back, he’d put himself into position to get a long look down the stretch in 2021 when he sustained a season-ending injury that required surgery.
Coming to camp this year with a real opportunity to turn heads and win a bottom-six roster spot, Bailey produced a positive COVID-19 test at the Canadian border and was prevented from joining his teammates until practice on Wednesday. At that practice, he lined up on an extra defence pair with Hughes.
The club will surely give Bailey a look in the remaining preseason contests, but he’s starting from well behind the eight ball and the competition for depth winger spots is fierce this preseason. Even if he turns in a spectacular season and avoids being cut before opening night, we’d expect the club to take some time to permit the experienced scoring winger to ramp up with practices before throwing him into the lineup.
Danila Klimovich
The Canucks’ second-round pick in 2021, Danila Klimovich was enormously impressive in his first NHL training camp.
Before sustaining a minor injury earlier this week, Klimovich flashed a pro-ready game. The hands and puck control are already outrageous and his skating is far closer to being NHL-level than what you commonly see from an 18-year-old player.
Those are important attributes, but there’s still work to be done for Klimovich to seriously threaten for an NHL job. His on-ice awareness can drag at times and he’ll have to make his shot more accurate to live up to his billing as a dynamic offensive force in The Show. Depending on Klimovich’s recovery, he could get an additional preseason game, although one would expect the club to prioritize getting him down to Abbotsford for training camp, where — based on his form at training camp and in preseason action — he could be in the mix for an everyday top-six winger job in the AHL.
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Sheldon Dries
Vancouver’s had no shortage of competition for the fourth-line wing spots. Among that group, Sheldon Dries struggled to leave a meaningful impact in the three-day camp leading into the preseason. The fact that he hasn’t been offered the kind of prominent looks that the likes of Petan, Chiasson, Dowling and Highmore have gotten on various special teams or down the middle suggests that he’s not a serious consideration to win a job at this juncture.
Carson Focht
Injured during training camp itself, Carson Focht joined the main group this week and got into a couple of preseason games. He didn’t look out of place, although the Canucks were outscored by three goals in his two appearances.
Focht still has a fair bit of road to run if he’s going to challenge for an NHL job in the years to come. Holding down and playing well in a top-nine role in a true AHL environment would be a good start.
Olli Juolevi
Olli Juolevi’s training camp got off to a poor start, with a tough performance in the 40s skate that — in contrast with Ekman-Larsson’s over-hyped struggles in Travis Green’s signature skating test — actually mattered in shaping the team’s evaluation of his ability to play a meaningful role at the NHL level this season.
He’s since rebounded, looking sturdy and quiet in preseason action. Unfortunately for Juolevi, Jack Rathbone and Brad Hunt have both performed well too, with Rathbone’s overall dynamism and Hunt’s veteran polish proving more noticeable in their appearances than Juolevi’s defensive solidity has been.
One would expect the Canucks to bring eight defenders with them to the East Coast on their first road trip of the season, so there’s still a chance that Juolevi avoids being cut, even if one would expect the club to prefer to keep a right-handed defender for their fourth pair. Hunt’s ability to play the right side, however, might ultimately permit the club to favour Juolevi as a depth option ahead of Kyle Burroughs and Madison Bowey.
We’ll see how this one plays out, but teams are historically loath to waive players selected top-five picks as Juolevi was in 2016.
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Either way, whether Juolevi is on the 23-man roster or not, it’s tough to see him dressing in the season opener ahead of Hunt or Rathbone, particularly now that Hughes is back in the fold.
Kyle Burroughs
Kyle Burroughs has looked like credible NHL-level depth throughout camp and would seem to have given himself a shot to make the opening night roster, even if he’s unlikely to dress in the season opener.
The 26-year-old is a bit of a tweener — a defensive-minded defender with the dimensions of a more offensively inclined defenseman — but he’s looked the part of a player capable of being a dominant two-way force at the AHL level while being capable of playing 12-14 minutes a night on a third pair without hurting their NHL team.
Madison Bowey
The fact that Madison Bowey didn’t get a single game when he was acquired at the deadline last season was telling. It was telling that the club probably wasn’t very high on his NHL potential, with the number of depth right-handed defenders they added this summer lending further credence to that theory. Bowey’s been fine through camp and preseason, he’s been simple and quiet with his game, but that’s unlikely to be enough for him to push the envelope and beat out a veteran like Schenn.
Mike DiPietro
Vancouver’s top goaltending prospect looked phenomenal at camp and has been solid in the four periods of preseason action he’s had. If Halak didn’t have an NMC, there might be an earnest discussion of whether DiPietro did enough on merit to actually push Halak for the backup job. Instead, the NMC status makes it a certainty that DiPietro will stop pucks in Abbotsford instead, which honestly isn’t a bad idea given the amount of playing time he’ll get there.
On the Bubble
The way we see it, there are three forward spots and one blue line spot still up for grabs. Barring a waiver claim or trade in advance of the season, these are the players that are still in the mix to win an opening night job.
Vasili Podkolzin
Vancouver’s best prospect has been mostly quiet through camp and preseason. Vasili Podkolzin wasn’t quite able to capitalize on his early opportunity with Miller and Garland and then seemed to struggle a little bit during Friday and Sunday’s contests. That’s when questions started emerging about whether Podkolzin might be better off in a fourth line role where he can learn the ropes and adapt to the NHL pace.
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It was perfect timing on Tuesday for Podkolzin to deliver his best game. The young Russian was assertive, confident, played with a much higher pace and nearly scored a highlight-reel goal after driving to the net. Green’s said Podkolzin’s spot won’t just be handed on a silver platter and on merit, he’ll need to build on Tuesday’s performance to earn a top-nine spot.
Podkolzin’s a near-lock to make the team but these last two games will be high stakes in determining if he’ll be one of the 12 forwards in the opening lineup and whether it’ll be in a more prominent third line role or a lesser fourth line one.
Matthew Highmore
Matthew Highmore hasn’t had a great camp but his versatility, penalty-killing value and high tempo playing style might be too much for the coaching staff to overlook. The club has leaned on him a lot in shorthanded situations through preseason, often as a first-choice option, which is an interesting tell given how short the team will be on options in that role heading into the regular season. That’s ultimately what we think separates him from non-penalty killers like MacEwen — we think it’s a decisive factor that leaves him in a position where he’s more likely to make the team than not.
Justin Dowling
The versatile depth forward, Justin Dowling has spent time this preseason on both the wing and at centre, killing penalties and playing the flank on the power play.
He’s acquitted himself well throughout camp, flashing bits of bona fide NHL-level skill and doing better than the club might’ve expected in the faceoff circle. He’s certainly made a strong case to be among the club’s extra bodies on the opening day 23-man roster.
Nic Petan
No player has been put in a better position to succeed through main camp and preseason than Nic Petan. He opened camp in Abbotsford on a line with Brock Boeser and Nils Höglander, has had prime chances through preseason with the likes of Miller and has seen plenty of top power play opportunities. Now some of that obviously has to do with Pettersson missing the start of camp but the fact that he got a look on Miller’s wing would suggest the rosy deployment is about more than just Pettersson’s temporary absence.
Petan’s had his moments and buried a goal on Sunday but he’s honestly largely been a passenger. He hasn’t really created chances on his own and seems to lack the pace to create dynamic offence at an NHL level. Despite all that, there may be a top-nine opportunity available if the club prefers to take a slower approach with Vasili Podkolzin and start him on the fourth line. If that’s the case, Petan’s offensively oriented toolkit sets him apart from the other depth forwards and could make him a genuine challenger for a lineup spot.
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Alex Chiasson
If Alex Chiasson is going to be in the lineup against his former team in Edmonton next Wednesday, the club will first have to sign him. He’s currently in camp on a professional tryout, but appears to be in the club’s plans based on his deployment — particularly on the power play.
Chiasson hasn’t been fantastic in his preseason appearances, but he’s a clear NHL-level player based on his details. He’s particularly smart at making sure the zone gets cleared, an attribute that NHL coaches prize and that younger, less experienced players can struggle with.
Working in Chiasson’s favour is also his right-handed shot and his absolute mastery of the net front position on the power play. When he’s been in the lineup, Chiasson has had a ton of looks with Vancouver’s top power play unit, a strong indication that the club has factored Chiasson’s abilities into its overall thinking.
Brad Hunt
Any synonym for “solid” or “dependable” would suffice in describing Brad Hunt’s camp and preseason performance. He obviously hasn’t displayed the same level of offensive flair that Rathbone can offer, but he’s made up for it with polish and sound, consistent defensive play. That matters because for as good as Rathbone has looked, the latter has still been a bit up and down in terms of risk management.
Hunt wasn’t as good on Sunday where his pair was scored on twice but he’s been good on the balance. He’ll almost certainly make the 23-man roster, it’s just a matter of whether he can beat out Rathbone for the everyday job.
Jack Rathbone
Jack Rathbone has looked dynamic through training camp and the preseason. He looks ready to make the team out of camp, in fact, even if there are going to be some growing pains for the young blueliner defensively if he’s thrust into an everyday role out of the gate.
The Canucks’ top defensive prospects has appeared in all five of the club’s preseason games to this juncture, playing almost exclusively on a pair with Luke Schenn. That would look like a prospective third pair for Vancouver, although there isn’t much daylight between him and Hunt at this point. It’s obvious that the final left defence spot is still up for grabs with just two preseason contests remaining.
(Photo: Devin Manky / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)