Canucks Training Camp Preview: Amid good times, reasons to be nervous

PENTICTON, B.C. — For the first time in many years, the Vancouver Canucks open training camp on Thursday with something more solid than hope to stand on.

The team is coming off a 50-win, 109-point season that ended with a playoff loss against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the second round of the Stanley Cup tournament. It was the Canucks’ most successful season since 2011 and, from a fans’ standpoint, one of the most joyous in franchise history, arriving after a dismal eight-season stretch that saw Vancouver make the playoffs just once.

But even in good times, hope in Canucks Nation is always counterbalanced by the dread of impending doom. And for the skittish, there are certainly some reasons to be nervous ahead of this season.

Star goalie Thatcher Demko has spent the entire summer recovering from injury — or injuries — and is not expected to be fully fit for the start of camp. Leading goal-scorer Brock Boeser is healthy after blood clots forced him to miss Game 7 last May, and the winger said last week he will need to be “careful.”

There were the free-agent losses of playoff warriors Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm, although general manager Patrik Allvin offset those with an impressive haul of his own, signing two defencemen and four wingers, including Jake DeBrusk to skate alongside $92.8-million centre Elias Pettersson.

The biggest immediate threat to the Canucks, however, is complacency (or naivety) in dealing with success — a first in Vancouver for the team’s formidable core players.

This is where the influx of a half-dozen experienced, proven National Hockey League players should help. The newcomers will give training camp a freshness, and be part of a fierce competition for roles and playing time up and down a lineup that, up front, may be as deep and talented as it has even been.

“When you smell there's opportunity, I want to see somebody take that opportunity,” head coach Rick Tocchet said of the competition for assignments. “You might have four guys that are doing really well, so that makes my job even harder. Sh--, who do I pick? What I like is the depth, for sure.”

The Canucks also have a handful of players they feel are ready to graduate from the American Hockey League and push for spots in Vancouver, even if there appears to be almost no vacancies on the NHL roster.

“If you're good enough, you're going to be on the roster,” forward prospect Aatu Raty said. “It's a winning business. They want to win games, so if they think you’re better than someone else, you’re definitely going to be there.”

The Canucks need to make sure business keeps flourishing.

Salary cap space: $191k (no LTIR)
GM: Patrik Allvin
Head coach: Rick Tocchet
Assistant coaches: Adam Foote, Yogi Svejkovsky, Sergei Gonchar, Marko Torenius
Unsigned players: None
Key additions: Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood, Daniel Sprong, Derek Forbort, Vincent Desharnais
Key subtractions: Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, Ian Cole, Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, Vasily Podkolzin, Casey DeSmith

PTOs: Sammy Blais, Dylan Ferguson

CAMP BATTLES

WING DINGERS

OK, so let’s understand the arithmetic on this: with four forward lines in an NHL lineup, there are a maximum of eight wingers playing on any night. And the Canucks signed free-agent wingers DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood and Daniel Sprong, and retained incumbents Conor Garland, Dakota Joshua, Nils Hoglander and Boeser. That makes eight. So if the Canucks are healthy through training camp and the pre-season, there are about zero jobs up for grabs among wingers.

But there are roles at stake. Tocchet needs to find a first-line winger to accompany J.T. Miller and Boeser. He also needs a partner for DeBrusk and Pettersson on the new second line. And which reasonably offensively accomplished wingers (Hoglander had 24 goals last season, Sprong scored 18 and Heinen 17) will be pushed to the fourth line?

The battles for forward roles and ice time will be the most watched at camp.

LUCKY 13

Jostling among the top 12 forwards may be nothing compared to the battle royale cage match to be the 13th man. Third-year centre Nils Aman and veteran Phil DiGiuseppe appear to be front-runners to be first in line if there’s an injury. But Canucks president Jim Rutherford said elite prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki will be given the opportunity to make the team, young minor-leaguers Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson already have NHL games on their resumes, and Allvin has said other AHL players Max Sasson and Raty are ready to challenge for a place on the Canucks. No wonder the GM traded 23-year-old depth forward Vasily Podkolzin, a former first-round pick who has played 137 NHL games, to the Edmonton Oilers in August. The organization had to offer some hope to the many players straining to make the NHL roster.

WHO IS JIRI PATERA?

The free-agent signing of minor-league goalie Jiri Patera drew attention in Vancouver mostly for what it signalled: the Canucks’ belief that they can go with a Thatcher Demko-Arturs Silovs tandem in net this season. But not only has Demko’s uncertain status (there may be clarity after physicals on Wednesday) been a pre-camp drama, but Silovs missed Latvia’s Olympic qualifying games in August due to sore ligaments in his knee. So, who is Jiri Patera?

The six-foot-three, 24-year-old Czech is on a two-way contract and spent the last four seasons in the Vegas Golden Knights’ system. Patera has appeared in eight NHL games. Let the scrutiny begin.

ONE PRESSING QUESTION

When will Demko be healthy and will he stay that way?

The summer’s biggest news item for the Canucks after free agency was confirmation that Demko is not fully fit and may not be for the start of the regular season. There is a tonne of mystery surrounding the Vezina Trophy runner-up's injury — whether it is the same one he sustained in Game 1 of the playoffs, and whether he underwent summer surgery. But whatever the answers, the situation is unsettling. Even if he’s healthy for the start of the season (or even training camp), can he stay that way?

The last time Demko underwent off-season knee surgery that was supposed to be “routine,” in the summer of 2022, his form went over a cliff that autumn before the goalie tore a groin muscle that kept him out for two months in the middle of the season. Demko was spectacular upon his return, but it was too late to save the Canucks.

In four years as an NHL starter, including the pandemic season when COVID decimated the Canucks, Demko has yet to physically survive an entire campaign. So any deficit in his health is disconcerting. Even with the emergence in the playoffs last spring of Silovs, Demko is essential to the Canucks if they are to repeat or eclipse last season’s success.

ONE MORE THING

Operating in a salary-cap straight jacket since he took over as manager 2 1/2 years ago, Allvin has worked relentlessly to restructure the lineup and rescue the Canucks from long-term injured reserve. Allvin may finally have some cap flexibility this season and be able to accumulate spending space ahead of the trade deadline. Sending winger Ilya Mikheyev and his $4.75-million cap hit to the Chicago Blackhawks, among other moves, allows the Canucks to remove long-injured defenceman Tucker Poolman and his $2.5-million cap charge from LTIR. For now. But that space may be awfully tempting to spend if another offensive forward or established depth defenceman becomes available before the regular season. Or the Canucks need another goalie. Stay tuned.

PROJECTED LINEUP

Forward lines

Danton Heinen-J.T. Miller-Brock Boeser

Nils Hoglander-Elias Pettersson-Jake DeBrusk

Dakota Joshua-Pius Suter-Conor Garland

Kiefer Sherwood-Teddy Blueger-Daniel Sprong

Phil Di Giuseppe

Defence pairings

Quinn Hughes-Filip Hronek

Carson Soucy-Tyler Myers

Derek Forbort-Vincent Desharnais

Noah Juulsen

Goalies

Thatcher Demko

Arturs Silovs