It’s been a quick turnaround for the Vancouver Canucks organization. The Young Stars Classic wrapped up on Monday, as the Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 for a perfect 3-0 tournament record. Now, training camp begins in just two days, and there are a lot of questions regarding some of the Canucks players. Where do some players project to slot into the lineup, or will these players make the lineup at all?
Here are seven players we’re watching closely at this week’s Canucks training camp:
Jonathan Lekkerimäki
The most polarizing player in a Canucks uniform at this past week’s Young Stars Classic, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, will take part in his first NHL training camp. Although he failed to light the lamp, it wasn’t for a lack of effort. Lekkiermäki looked as advertised. He used his shifty skill to help the Canucks create multiple scoring chances and utilized his wicked shot that rang just off the post.
Now, it’s still a pipe dream that Lekkiermäki does make the team out of camp with all the winger additions made this offseason. However, it will be interesting to see if we see a stint where Lekkerimäki is slotted alongside Pettersson’s line. But after his performance in the Young Stars Classic, his NHL debut might not be as far away as we thought.
Elias Pettersson
There usually shouldn’t be any reason to need to watch a player you just extended to a near $100 million contract; however, the way Elias Pettersson ended last season has definitely left some question marks in the minds of Canucks fans. After exploding offensively through the first 14 games – scoring seven goals and 25 points – Pettersson fizzled out down the stretch, registering just 10 points in the final 15 regular season games.
His end-of-season struggles trickled into the playoffs, scoring just one goal and six points in 13 games. After denying any injury throughout his slump, once the Canucks were eliminated from the playoffs, Pettersson disclosed he had been suffering from a knee injury since January.
To how much this knee injury really plagued him throughout his drought, we’ll never know. However, it was evident that Pettersson didn’t have enough help on his wings. But now, Canucks management group made it their priority to garner speedy wingers, and they did just that by signing Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Daniel Sprong and Kiefer Sherwood.
We’ll see which four get to play with Pettersson and if they’ll learn to mesh well with each other. Training camp has usually been an indicator of how well the Swede’s season will play out. Two seasons ago, Pettersson had a very strong camp and followed that up with a career-high 39-goal, 102-point campaign.
One thing is for certain: Pettersson and whoever plays alongside him will be a hot commodity in the Canucks universe.
Dylan Ferguson
With the looming timetable for Thatcher Demko and Arturs Silovs’ injuries, free agent goaltender Dylan Ferguson was brought in on a professional tryout contract (PTO). Now, Ferguson certainly isn’t the sufficient veteran goaltender this management group has reportedly sought after – a veteran netminder.
The Lantzville, B.C., native has just two games of NHL experience under his belt. Ferguson played two games with the Ottawa Senators in the 2022-23 season, finishing with a 1-1 record for a 2.52 goals against average and a .940 save percentage.
While we don’t anticipate this to be much more than just a PTO to fill bodies in training camp, it doesn’t mean that Ferguson can’t still earn a contract with a solid, competitive outing.
Who plays with Quinn Hughes? Filip Hronek? Vincent Desharnais?
Now, this should be the most exciting sight to see at camp this week. In his first season as Canucks captain, Hughes led the league in points by a defenceman (92) and brought the franchise’s first Pacific division title and their first second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance in front of fans since 2015.
So, if Hughes managed all of that last season, why not just pair him with last year’s partner? Sounds smart, right?
Well, the Canucks lost their bottom pairing – Nikita Zadorov and Ian Cole – in free agency and may have lost their depth to be able to stack Hughes with Hronek. While they managed to replace their size lost, it came at the cost of an overall play and puck-moving decrease.
If the club decides to split up Hughes and Hronek – as has been hinted by Tocchet and Allvin throughout the offseason – then who would play with Hughes? With Hughes being a left-shot defenceman, you’re left with two right-shot options: 34-year-old Tyler Myers and 28-year-old Vincent Desharnais.
Myers revived his career last season with strong defensive play, especially in the playoffs. But, this elevated play can be correlated to seeing his minutes decrease. Playing him alongside Hughes would only increase his minutes.
So, this leaves Desharnais? The very raw defensive defenceman with 114 NHL games experience, who has a career average of 15:02 minutes per game? Trusted alongside the reigning Norris Trophy winner?
There are so many questions that remain for the Canucks defence corps next season. Hopefully, with a competitive training camp battle, we can find pairings that mesh together and finally get our answers on the blue line.
Sammy Blais
Blais joins Ferguson as the only two players who enter camp on a PTO. However, luckily for Blais, even if he doesn’t make the team out of camp, he signed an AHL contract to play with the Abbotsford Canucks this season. Blais is coming off a career-high 53-game campaign last season with the St. Louis Blues.
While it’s nice he has the AHL contract security, Blais will undoubtedly be one of the hardest-working guys at camp, trying to fight for an NHL contract. Not all hope is lost for Blais to make the lineup, as he is just one season removed from a career year with nine goals and 20 points in 30 games.
Blais will be contending for a roster spot with fringe players like Kiefer Sherwood, Phil Di Giuseppe and Nils Åman and young guns like Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Aatu Räty, Arshdeep Bains and Max Sasson.
Daniel Sprong
Sprong is the one player we wouldn’t be shocked to see him start the season on the top line with Pettersson and DeBrusk, on the second line with JT Miller and Brock Boeser, or buried on the fourth line with Kiefer Sherwood. We’ve already seen him skate alongside Miller and Boeser earlier this offseason — granted, players like Pettersson and DeBrusk weren’t taking part.
The 27-year-old hasn’t struggled to produce points at the NHL level, scoring 20+ goals and 40+ points in back-to-back seasons, but he’s struggled in the defensive area of his game.
If he can show head coach Rick Tocchet that he can be trusted in his own end, given his offensive prowess, it wouldn’t shock us to see him playing in the Canucks top six come opening night with an impressive training camp performance.
Nils Höglander
If last season taught us anything about Höglander, it’s that he certainly benefitted from a year in the AHL. After playing 25 games with the big club in the 2022-2023 season, Höglander was sent down to the minors, where he would play a more vital role on a team. This helped Höglander score 17 5-on-5 goals in the bottom six before earning a promotion to the top six, where he would pot seven more 5-on-5 goals during the 2023-2024 season.
Höglander’s spot alongside Pettersson looked like a lock for years to come. That was until his poor play in the playoffs earned him a seat in the press box for two games. The Swedish winger scored just two points during 11 playoff games and now projects to be on the outside looking in when it comes to playing on Pettersson’s wing.
Höglander will need to have an impressive camp if he’s going to earn the elevated position he saw last season.
Given the preseason is just one week away, we should have a few of these questions answered before then.
What do you think, Canucks fans? Who are you interested in watching this training camp? And who do you think wins some of these position group battles?
