Canucks training-camp battles: The 7 jobs up for grabs and who could win them

Is it too early to get into the weeds on seriously previewing Vancouver Canucks training camp, which won’t get started for another five weeks? Probably.

It’s never too early in this city, however, to think about and discuss possible Canucks lineup combinations. “What exactly could this hockey team look like when they play their next game?” is a question as evergreen as an Arbutus tree jutting out from the rocky shores in this part of the world.

This year, we can engage in this exercise with somewhat more confidence than in previous summers. The Canucks’ roster appears to be set, more or less, with over a month to go before training camp.

Their cap resources are nearly all spoken for — provided they want to avoid utilizing long-term injured reserve (LTIR), which they do — and no glaring holes remain in the lineup. The Canucks even have 49 players under contract — one shy of the 50-contract limit.

You never say never when it comes to anticipating or projecting player movement from a Jim Rutherford-led NHL team, but this Canucks roster seems to have taken its initial shape. What lingering questions remain around the Canucks are based more around the lineup — the who might play with whom question — as opposed to any uncertainty about another shoe dropping over the balance of the offseason.

With that in mind, let’s take a way-too-early look at the most fascinating and competitive roster battles that could emerge at training camp. Of course, we’ve also ranked those battles based on their importance and how fascinating we find the prospect of the Canucks experimenting at training camp in Penticton next month.

1. Second-line right wing

The Favourite: Nils Höglander
Contenders: Daniel Sprong, Kiefer Sherwood
Dark Horse: Jonathan Lekkerimäki

Elias Pettersson and his first-look linemates will be under a bright spotlight in training camp for several reasons.

Individually, Pettersson is on the heels of a disappointing playoff run and has the pressure of a lucrative, new $11.6 million annual average value (AAV) contract extension to live up to. The Canucks had several forwards produce career-best numbers in 2023-24; it’s unlikely all of them will repeat that lofty production. Pettersson is one of the only returning forwards who realistically has more to give, meaning he’s a crucial lever to ensuring the Canucks’ offensive output doesn’t notably regress next season.

However, we can’t dissect Pettersson’s lacklustre results down the stretch without acknowledging how badly his linemates weighed him down. Ilya Mikheyev was a boat anchor on the left wing, and the right wing was a rotating cast of mostly underwhelming performers right from opening night, when Andrei Kuzmenko’s sophomore slump was born. Jake DeBrusk is a major upgrade on the left wing, but the opposite flank remains a question mark.

Nils Höglander projects as the slight favourite for the vacancy. The feisty 23-year-old ranked top-10 among all NHL forwards with 24 five-on-five goals last season and had success on Pettersson’s line from the All-Star break until the end of the regular season. Höglander’s speed, forechecking and down-low offensive attributes are attractive qualities. Coach Rick Tocchet still doesn’t fully trust Höglander defensively, though, despite the considerable progress he’s made in that area. He also was a complete non-factor in the playoffs, which leaves the door wide open for another competitor to snatch this coveted top-six job.

Daniel Sprong doesn’t offer Höglander’s speed or forechecking but would inject a one-shot scoring threat. Sprong has defensive warts, but both Pettersson and DeBrusk are above-average defensive contributors, which could be sufficient to shelter him. He’s never been trusted to hold down a consistent top-six role despite boasting gaudy offensive numbers relative to his ice time, but that won’t be a barrier because none of the candidates here is a proven, full-time top-six winger.

Kiefer Sherwood has an advantage defensively over Höglander and Sprong and scored 2.02 points per hour at five-on-five last season, which is a really impressive, top-six-calibre rate. He may have some untapped offensive upside to lean into.

Jonathan Lekkerimäki turned 20 less than a month ago, so it’s overwhelmingly likely that he’ll start this season in Abbotsford. He took a huge leap last summer, though, so the odds of him making a similar jump and unexpectedly cracking the roster like Höglander in 2021 can’t be ruled out, even if it’s slim.

2. Top-pair right defenseman

The Heavy Favourite: Filip Hronek
Dark Horses: Vincent Desharnais, Cole McWard

In combination, Hronek and Quinn Hughes were one of the most effective and dominant defence pairs in the NHL.

And that’s partly why we never really saw Vancouver stick with any other configuration on the back end for any prolonged time last season. You could set your watch to the Hughes and Hronek pair last year, and we expect we’ll be treated to a heavy dose of the dynamic styling of Vancouver’s imposing top pair next season, as well.

We shouldn’t ignore, however, the internal organizational thinking that Hronek can shade to being too deferential when he’s utilized as Hughes’ running mate. There’s a belief internally that Vancouver might be able to get more out of Hronek as a contributor if he were tasked with driving his own pair. That belief takes on some additional urgency when you consider how difficult Vancouver found it to generate shots and scoring chances in the Stanley Cup playoffs when the Hughes-Hronek pair took a breather.

Our sense is still that the notion of splitting up Hughes and Hronek remains a more aspirational line item than an immediate consideration. That said, there does seem to be some internal curiosity in experimenting and, perhaps, taking a look at other internal options.

Given that, we wonder if incoming free agent defender Vincent Desharnais and last season’s college free agent prize Cole McWard, who impressed thoroughly on a pair with Hughes at training camp in Victoria last fall, could get a look on Hughes’ right side, if Vancouver wants to spend some time during camp, preseason and early on in the year taking a look at other options while challenging Hronek to drive his own pair.

3. First-line left wing

The Favourite: Danton Heinen
Contenders: Kiefer Sherwood, Pius Suter, Nils Höglander
Dark Horse: Phil Di Giuseppe

The Canucks don’t need a ton from the third forward who will round out the first line. J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser will do the heavy lifting offensively and drove excellent results last season with Pius Suter, a solid but unsexy complementary forward often riding shotgun.

With Suter likely shifting to centre, the club should cycle through some new options. To identify the ideal winger for Miller and Boeser, you have to start by understanding how they operate and excel as a line. This isn’t a fast line that generates off the rush; the duo dumps and chases, wins pucks back on the forecheck and does its offensive damage cycling down low in the offensive zone. The ideal winger for this line will be a disruptive forechecker, offer a simple north-south playing style, be above-average defensively because of how difficult this line’s matchups are and be able to wreak havoc around the net as a secondary option.

Heinen stands out as the lead contender to elevate to the top line because of his reliable, low-maintenance playing style and part-time top-six experience with the Bruins (he played 251 five-on-five minutes alongside David Pastrnak in 2023-24).

Sherwood and Höglander check some of those boxes, with the former lacking a strong NHL scoring resume and the latter’s defensive trust being a question mark. Di Giuseppe doesn’t have the offensive pop to stick on that line, but if nothing else works, he may get an opportunity as a fallback given the decent run he had with the top line down the stretch in 2022-23 and for the first few weeks of last season.

4. Third-line centre

The 1A Favourite: Pius Suter
The 1B Favourite: Teddy Blueger

Vancouver’s third-line centre job profiles as a relatively clear two-horse race.

Suter is a natural centre with extensive NHL experience there despite mostly playing the wing last season. He’s smart, defensively responsible and has scored 14-15 goals in all four of his NHL seasons, whereas his challenger, Teddy Blueger, has never cracked double-digit goals in a single NHL season. Suter also flashed chemistry with Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua last season albeit in a small sample — the trio outshot opponents 40 to 18, controlled 70 percent of expected goals and had a 3-0 edge in goals across 77 five-on-five minutes together.

Blueger’s defensive intelligence and ability to keep plays alive in the offensive zone gave the Canucks’ third line a considerable spark last season. He’s at a slight disadvantage in this race because of his inferior offensive track record, but he has longer, more established chemistry with Garland and Joshua. There’s a very good chance we’ll see this trio get a shot together again at some point, even if it may not be the first-look combination in camp.

5. Backup goaltender

The Favourite: Artūrs Šilovs
The Contender: Jiří Patera

How the Canucks decide to handle their goaltending platoon will be closely watched and hotly debated in the Vancouver hockey market over the next nine months.

The Canucks’ star starting goaltender, Thatcher Demko, has sustained injuries in three consecutive seasons now, and while a fair bit of that likely comes down to rotten luck, until Demko sustains his customary incredible form as a workhorse over an entire season, the durability question that surrounds him will remain unanswered. And much discussed.

With veteran goaltender Casey DeSmith departing in free agency despite a last-second push from Vancouver to retain him, the Canucks are poised to enter next season with a younger, less experienced backup netminder. 23-year-old playoff hero Artūrs Šilovs is actually the more experienced of the two contenders for the position, but incoming free agent goaltender Jiří Patera, 25, has comparable numbers at both the NHL and AHL levels, albeit in fewer starts at the NHL level.

Goaltending battles in training camp are interesting, in part because there’s very little opportunity for the players to actually compete. There are only two nets at any practice session, and preseason starts are carefully choreographed weeks ahead of time, as opposed to responding to individual performance. There’s very little runway for a goaltender like Patera to make his case in an NHL training camp.

And in any event, Šilovs is a star pupil for Canucks director of goaltending Ian Clark. He also earned an extended look this upcoming season based on his playoff accomplishments, even if the seams of his inexperience eventually showed against the Edmonton Oilers.

Between Demko’s workload, ensuring that Šilovs gets sufficient game reps given his ceiling, winning games and maintaining depth between the pipes, there will be a lot for Vancouver to consider in net this upcoming season. And at training camp as well.

6. Fourth-line wingers

The Favourites: Kiefer Sherwood, Daniel Sprong
The Contenders: Vasili Podkolzin, Phil Di Giuseppe, Nils Åman, Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson
Dark Horse: Aatu Räty

The Canucks will be forced to make tough decisions because of their depth winger logjam. There are two spots on the fourth line available for the opening night lineup and an additional spot or two for a 13th/14th forward.

Sherwood and Sprong have the inside track on the fourth-line positions. Sherwood’s edgy, thorn-in-the-side playing style will give the fourth line much-needed identity, whereas Sprong has proven he can deliver gaudy offensive numbers in a sheltered bottom-six role. If these two win top-six jobs further up the lineup, it’d leave established players like Höglander and Heinen in the hunt for these bottom-six winger spots.

It’s going to be an uphill climb for the likes of Vasili Podkolzin, Di Giuseppe, Nils Åman, Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson to steal away a fourth-line job. At the very least, Podkolzin needs to claim a 13th or 14th forward spot. Otherwise, he’ll require waivers to be sent down.

7. Seventh defender

The Favourite: Noah Juulsen
The Contenders: Mark Friedman, Cole McWard, Christian Wolanin, Guilaume Brisebois
Dark Horse: Jett Woo

The Canucks will use a lot of defenders next season.

Even last year, when the Canucks’ back end was relatively settled and four of their most important blueliners appeared in at least 75 games, they still dressed 10 defenders over the course of the full season. And Vancouver can’t necessarily bank on being as healthy this upcoming season as it was last year.

In truth, given how teams typically manage their 23-man roster, the battle for the seventh defender spot may actually be a battle for two depth defender spots on the NHL roster. And this competition looks to be especially fierce, given the volume of credible challengers for the role.

Juulsen was the team’s first-choice depth defender last season, appearing in 54 games in a third-pairing role. While he struggled somewhat in a pair of postseason appearances, Juulsen’s steady performance and emergence as a solid penalty-kill option should put him in pole position in this battle going into training camp.

Friedman spent all of last season on Vancouver’s NHL roster after being acquired early in the year from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The versatile, undersized defender consistently gets stellar results and can play either side or up front in a pinch. Friedman also practices hard and is dialed in at all moments, giving him an inside track on the 23-man roster in some capacity.

There are a handful of other potential contenders for the job, but Woo stands out as a dark-horse name to monitor. His physical game, in particular, has endeared itself to the organization at the American League level over the past couple of seasons, and he’d seem to be a stylistic match for what Tocchet and his staff value on the back end.

(Photo of Nils Höglander: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)