Canucks camp notebook: New pieces integrating well as team finds its form

PENTICTON, B.C. – When you’re coming off a 50-win season, pumped up the roster over the summer with more speed and offensive talent, and have elevated expectations, a training camp going to form is actually a pretty good thing.

Other than opening with some disappointing injury news on goalie Thatcher Demko and winger Dakota Joshua, the Vancouver Canucks couldn’t have expected their four days in the South Okanagan to go much better.

• There was a smooth start to the integration of six National Hockey League players new to the team, including four wingers who looked as fast and skilled as advertised. Even off the record, a couple of Canuck veterans mentioned how likeable and eager to blend in the new guys are.

• After spending the summer game-planning with staff on how to generate more shots and scoring chances, head coach Rick Tocchet got the camp he envisioned with an emphasis on transition, quicker puck movement and attacking speed.

• The Canucks’ core players all looked good. Elias Pettersson displayed no signs of a sore knee, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser set the tone and pace daily in practices, Quinn Hughes was Quinn Hughes, and Filip Hronek appears poised to take his game up another notch after re-signing in Vancouver for eight years and $58 million.

• Top minor-leaguers pushing for NHL jobs, like Arshdeep Bains, Aatu Raty and Linus Karlsson, all showed well. And No. 1 prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki looks legit and capable of becoming an impact player in the NHL, possibly but not probably soon. And younger prospects like defencemen Elias Pettersson (EP2), Sawyer Mynio and Kirill Kudryavtsev, and goalie Ty Young enhanced their organizational standing.

• With Demko still out indefinitely, but emphatic that his injured knee is improving and that he will fully recover, the least impressive area for the Canucks was in net. But with the tactical emphasis on transition and attacking, even Tocchet conceded it was a difficult camp on goalies. And Saturday’s signing of veteran NHL backup Kevin Lankinen quells a lot of the unease as Vancouver enters the pre-season with 23-year-old rookie Arturs Silovs as their No. 1 goalie on paper.

• One day after the Lankinen trade, Silovs had his best day at camp on Sunday, stopping all 16 shots he faced in the first half of the Canucks’ only scrimmage in Penticton. Silovs’ saves included point-blank stops on newcomers Daniel Sprong and Danton Heinen.

About to start a spell of five pre-season games in seven nights, beginning Tuesday at Rogers Arena against the Seattle Kraken, the Canucks returned to Vancouver on Sunday with a lot of positivity.

“Overall, you're happy,” Tocchet said. “But, you know, we've got to get the next step.”

SCRIMMAGE NOTES

The Blues beat the Whites 2-1 in the two-period scrimmage at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Mark Friedman and Conor Garland scored for the winners, while Heinen scored for the Whites, which was actually the better team.

Silovs would have been the first star, keeping the Blues ahead 1-0 through 20 minutes despite being outshot 16-9. The most dangerous forward line was probably Nils Hoglander, Raty and Garland for the Blues, although Bains and Sprong looked good on a line with Pius Suter.

“This camp, obviously we went to Game 7 of the second round (of the playoffs), so our expectations are higher,” Garland told reporters after the scrimmage. “We understand how hard it is. We’re all pushing, trying to get in the best shape we can, trying to get the system as fast as we can. We have kind of an advantage this year of knowing our system from the year before ... so these practices are a little easier for us. It’s important to have a good camp and starting off from Game 1.”

Tocchet said he expects junior players and a few others to be re-assigned on Monday, as the Canucks reduce camp numbers in order to open the pre-season with two playing groups instead of three.

POWER PLAY PRACTICE

The scrimmage was preceded by the first special-teams session of camp, but Tocchet did not blend players from different groups so there are no signs yet of a full NHL power play. The coach did say Saturday that Jake DeBrusk is the natural first choice to fill the bumper position between power-play incumbents Miller, Boeser, Pettersson and Hughes.

“I’m not really looking for plays, I’ll be honest with you,” Tocchet explained. “To me, it’s a mindset. I don’t want to see frustration. I want to see guys chasing pucks down, I want to see guys work, I want to see guys attack. I don’t want to see frustration. We have to have the mindset of a working power play and an attack style. We’ll worry about plays down the road.”

LEKKERIMAKI ROLL

Prospects tournament? Check. Training camp? Check. Nobody got more out of two weekends in Penticton than top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki, whose next test will be pre-season NHL games.

The 20-year-old goal-scorer spent training camp on the right wing alongside DeBrusk and Pettersson.

Lekkerimaki looked dangerous each day and did nothing to diminish his bright outlook with the Canucks, even if the 15^th pick of the 2022 entry draft didn’t feel that he played his best.

Asked what he liked about his camp, Lekkerimaki said, “Uh…..” and then paused for eight seconds.

Did he like anything?

“I don't think so,” the soft-spoken Swede said. “I think I can do better. I think I need to get stronger on the puck maybe, and hopefully score some goals.”

The winger who scored 19 times in 46 games last season for Orebro and was the Swedish Hockey League’s rookie of the year admitted he was “a bit shocked” when he saw his training camp assignment with Pettersson and DeBrusk.

It was indicative of how highly the Canucks regard Lekkerimaki, who feels capable of making the NHL roster this fall.

“This is a great opportunity,” he said. “I have everything to win. Just go out and have fun and play my game.”

Partly for the chance to play with Pettersson, DeBrusk signed a seven-year, $38.5-million contract in July to join the Canucks. But he sounded impressed with what he saw from Lekkerimaki.

“Everyone talks about his shot,” DeBrusk said Saturday. “I think that's one thing that pops off the page. His release is so quick, it's lethal. But his hockey IQ, he thinks the game. He knows when to make plays. I think offensively, he's got really good IQ. Sometimes it's tough with young guys; you usually want to dish the puck to guys like Pettersson all the time. You want to force feeds. But he actually makes the right play. I think Canucks fans should be excited.”

“I think there's a lot of good things,” Tocchet said of Lekkerimaki. “He checks the box on a lot of things. Now, it's real action with stiffer competition.”

BLAIS TRAIL

While the camp demotion of experienced minor-league goalie Dylan Ferguson seemed irrelevant in the context of Lankinen’s acquisition, the other player on a PTO with the Canucks, veteran NHL winger Sammy Blais, was impressive.

Tocchet praised Blais a couple of times during camp, but the 29-year-old who has averaged more than three hits per game in his career must stand out in the pre-season with his robust game.

“It’s my first time being on a PTO,” Blais said Saturday. “It’s been a little nerve-wracking. But I’ve been around a long time in the NHL so I kind of know what to do to be successful. If I just play my game, I think I’ll be fine.

“I’m a physical guy out there. I play the game hard, nose to nose. I kind of know what makes me successful.”

The Canucks extended a tryout offer to Blais partly on the recommendation of Craig Berube, who is friends with Tocchet and with whom Blais won a Stanley Cup as a rookie with the St. Louis Blues in 2019.