{"id":158959,"date":"2025-09-21T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T09:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/158959\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T09:48:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T09:48:14","slug":"health-new-tone-stand-out-at-canucks-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/158959\/","title":{"rendered":"Health, new tone stand out at Canucks’ training camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

PENTICTON, B.C. \u2014 Three days into training camp, it feels like the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> are about three months ahead of where they were last season.<\/p>\n

The biggest win for the Canucks this week was not Team White beating Team Blue 4-1 Saturday in the only full scrimmage of camp, but the positivity the players have built simply by being healthy, prepared, and fully engaged in what head coach Adam Foote and his new staff have been teaching.<\/p>\n

This time last year, the typhoon that would eventually wipe out the season was already forming its vortex at training camp here.<\/p>\n

Think about it: star goalie Thatcher Demko<\/a> was mired in the bleakness of a confounding knee injury that would keep him out until December. J.T. Miller was already hurt, and Elias Pettersson<\/a> had reported in disappointing condition, unable due to a sore knee to train as he would have liked in the summer. Popular winger Dakota Joshua was out indefinitely after undergoing cancer surgery.<\/p>\n

No wonder the team, after a hectic pre-season, faltered at the start of the National Hockey League campaign \u2014 and then got worse.<\/p>\n

The health and tone around the team have been starkly different this training camp.<\/p>\n

Not only are Demko, Pettersson and just about everyone healthy, but the Canucks\u2019 best players have looked excellent while setting a tone.<\/p>\n

The speed and intensity with which Foote wants the team to play \u2014 more attacking support from defenceman, more net drive, more aggressiveness generally \u2014 were as evident in Saturday\u2019s scrimmage as they were in the first two days of practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt it today in the scrimmage,\u201d winger Jake DeBrusk<\/a> said. \u201cI\u2019d forgotten what it was like to be pinched by the D 17 times in a game; (Fil) Hronek was all over me. The whole league wants to be faster, but the way we want to play, we definitely want our D to be more aggressive, and I felt that today. It was a little annoying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hronek jostled with DeBrusk at the blue line before a penalty shot, then antagonized Brock Boeser<\/a> by crunching him on a pinch.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially for being the third day of camp \u2014 I\u2019m sure guys are a little fatigued (from the first two days) \u2014 the pace has been high,\u201d veteran defenceman Tyler Myers said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we wanted coming in, that\u2019s what we want part of our team identity to be this year \u2014 a team that plays with pace. Guys are pushing hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t compared to last year at all. I just know what our group has done the last few days and I\u2019ve really liked our execution. You can tell guys have come in ready, and it\u2019s been a really good first few days of camp. We capped it off with a good scrimmage today. You can tell there\u2019s just a lot of focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canucks\u2019 leadership group has emphasized internally the need to move beyond the disappointment and upheaval of last season. Part of the strategy is to no longer talk about it.<\/p>\n

DeBrusk admitted he was chided by teammates for mentioning too much of last season during an interview.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obvious there is a uniform effort among players to build positivity and cohesiveness for the start of this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of guys back from last year; there wasn\u2019t a lot of change,\u201d winger Kiefer Sherwood<\/a> said. \u201cDefinitely guys are coming together. There\u2019s a breath of fresh air. Guys are really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boeser said players have been successful in putting last year behind them and establishing a new tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve done a good job of that; it\u2019s been an emphasis,\u201d he told reporters after the scrimmage. \u201cLast year is the past and we can\u2019t really sit here and talk about it and make excuses. It\u2019s a new year, we have some new guys and we have to have a new mindset. I think we\u2019ve done a great job so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see Demmer out there … is huge. I just feel our last few days have been great. The drills and the pace up and down the ice, I think it\u2019s been great so far and I\u2019m excited to build on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canucks open their six-game pre-season schedule Sunday in Seattle with a non-televised game against the Kraken.<\/p>\n

After training camp, it already feels like there is momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s probably the biggest difference in this camp, is health,\u201d DeBrusk said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s around. We had five or seven skates together in Vancouver, and now three days here at training camp. More positives as the whole group gets together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 After his breakthrough 40-point season last year, Sherwood continued his strong camp by scoring in the scrimmage and setting up linemate Arshdeep Bains for another goal. Sherwood looks like a candidate to be moved up the lineup, potentially as a second-line option beside Filip Chytil and Evander Kane, as the pre-season roster shrinks.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Six-foot-six prospect Vilmer Alriksson also scored for the Whites and continues to make himself noticeable. Teddy Blueger and Boeser had the other goals on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Canucks captain Quinn Hughes was dominant and looks highly motivated. After one shift of extended offensive-zone pressure ended with a scoring chance and a faceoff, Hughes waved off a line change so he and partner Filip Hronek<\/a> could stay out. More puck possession and zone pressure followed.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Foote, who had assistant coaches Kevin Dean and Brett McLean handle media availabilities Saturday and Friday, cited Hronek at the start of camp as a player who leads by example. With his feisty, physical play, Hronek set the tone for the scrimmage… Dean praised the mobility and passing of top prospect Tom Willander, who has looked comfortable in a blue-line pairing with Derek Forbort.<\/p>\n

\u2022 After minor-league prospect Max Sasson zipped past Forbort with the puck, the veteran defenceman responded later in the shift by stapling the centre against the boards.<\/p>\n

\u2022 First-round pick Braeden Cootes continues to impress with his speed and willingness to compete. He\u2019s probably not making the Canucks as an 18-year-old, but given the team\u2019s needs at centre, Cootes could earn some NHL games with a strong pre-season.<\/p>\n

Scrimmage lineups Saturday<\/p>\n

Jake DeBrusk-Elias Pettersson-Brock Boeser<\/p>\n

Arshdeep Bains-Braeden Cootes-Kiefer Sherwood<\/p>\n

Vitali Kravtsov-Aatu Raty-Linus Karlsson<\/p>\n

Mackenzie MacEachern-Riley Patterson-Vilmer Alriksson<\/p>\n

Marcus Pettersson-Tyler Myers<\/p>\n

Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Kirill Kudryavtsev<\/p>\n

Derek Forbort-Tom Willander<\/p>\n

Evander Kane-Filip Chytil-Jonathan Lekkerimaki<\/p>\n

Nils Hoglander-Teddy Blueger-Conor Garland<\/p>\n

Drew O\u2019Connor-Max Sasson-Danila Klimovich<\/p>\n

Joe LaBate-Nils Aman-Chase Stillman<\/p>\n

Quinn Hughes-Filip Hronek<\/p>\n

Elias Pettersson (Junior)-Victor Mancini<\/p>\n

Sawyer Mynio-Jimmy Schuldt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PENTICTON, B.C. \u2014 Three days into training camp, it feels like the Vancouver Canucks are about three months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-158959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}