Canucks: Training camp schedule, roster, tickets and more

After a long and busy offseason, the Vancouver Canucks are finally ready to hit the ice again.

Starting Thursday, the team will be hosting their annual training camp in preparation for the 2021-22 season. Canucks players, both new and returning, will be participating in on-ice drills, fitness tests and scrimmages.

Across the league, all 32 teams kicked off the start of the new NHL year just one day prior with media availability, player medicals and some off-ice testing. This took place less than a week after the organization hosted their rookie camp on September 17th.

These players will be looking to lock down one of the 23 coveted roster spots come puck drop on opening.

The Canucks will be travelling to Edmonton on October 13th to face off against Connor McDavid and the Oilers to kick off their new hockey campaign. This will be the start of a six-game road trip before coming back home to play the Minnesota Wild on October 26th.

With just under three weeks left until the season-opener, there will definitely be lots of critical decisions made in preparation.

Here’s what you need to know for this year’s training camp:

Schedule

The Canucks will be hosting their training camp for three straight days, with players participating in on-ice training sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning.

The first session will run from 9:00am to 1:15pm on Thursday, followed by 9:00am to 12:30pm on Friday. The players will get to sleep in a bit on Saturday, only needing to come to the rink from 10:00am to 1:30pm.

As seen in previous years, the players will likely be split into different groups based on positioning and skill, with a handful of the veteran players mixed in with some of the younger, less-experienced rookies and sophomores. No matter what the groups end up being, players know that they’ll be put through numerous skating, fitness and overall health tests by head coach Travis Green and his crew.

And you better believe that he’ll include a bag skate or two.

Ticket Availability

This year, training camp will be held at the Abbotsford Centre, which will be home to the Abbotsford Canucks. Tickets can be purchased for all three days, but fans will be required to wear a mask throughout the entire session. Fans aged 12 years and up will also need to provide proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to enter the building. By October 27th, all fans will have need to have been double vaccinated in order to attend games and events at both the Abbotsford Centre and at Rogers Arena.

Currently, the Abbotsford Centre can host just over 7,000 people, but will only be able to accommodate 50% capacity for training camp. This may change to 100% in the next month or so, but it all depends on the province’s health orders and finalized Stage 4 re-opening plans.

Tickets for each training session day can be purchased here.

Roster

Right before the media availability, the team took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to announce their finalized training camp roster. In total, 31 forwards, 18 defencemen and five goaltenders were invited to participate this year.

This list includes all rookie camp participants, including more notable names like netminder Arturs Silovs, blueliner Jett Woo and forwards Danila Klimovich and Vasily Podkolzin. The first three names are expected to start the season in the AHL, but don’t be surprised if Podkolzin can land a top-nine roster spot after training camp and preseason contests, especially given how he has impressed so far.

Podkolzin would be following in the footsteps of previous rookie Nils Höglander who suited up for the team on opening night after his first training camp stint.

Also on this list is defensive forward Tyler Motte, even though he is expected to miss the entirety of training camp, as well as the first few weeks of the season, due to an injury recovery.

As a result, the Canucks had to find another option to fill out the fourth-line winger role, signing forward Alex Chiasson to a professional tryout. The former Oiler spent his last three seasons in Edmonton, but has been on the offensive decline since his career-best year in 2018-19. Despite the low point production, Chiasson could be a valued addition to the team if signed to a new contract, and would be able to replicate Motte’s hard back-check, toughness against the boards and effectiveness on the penalty kill.

Of course, the biggest names on that list are the two RFA superstars in Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes. At the time of this article being published, neither player has agreed to a new contract extension for the upcoming season. As a result, neither player will be allowed to attend training camp or preseason games, and are currently skating in Michigan.

This isn’t the first time that Benning has gone down to the wire to re-sign his younger, key pieces.

In 2017, captain Bo Horvat inked his current six-year, $33 million contract just four days before the start of training camp. Two years later, winger Brock Boeser actually missed the first few days of training camp due to his dragged-on contract negotiations. Both parties eventually agreed on a three-year, $17.625 million bridge deal, which is set to expire at the end of this season.

According to Benning, he is confident that the Canucks’ organization and the CAA will figure something out very soon for Pettersson and Hughes.

As of right now, Pettersson, Hughes and Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk are the only RFAs that have been unable to finalize new contracts for the upcoming year.

Other notes:

• Pettersson, Hughes and Motte were not the only absent players on Wednesday, as both Brandon Sutter and Travis Hamonic were not present for media availability as well.
  • According to Benning, Sutter is currently undergoing tests due to some fatigue issues; fortunately, he recently tested negative for COVID-19.
  • Hamonic, on the other hand, is rumoured to have missed Wednesday because of the team’s COVID-related protocols, but the management group isn’t worried about him missing any regular season games.
• Horvat also missed Wednesday as a result of the flu. Like Sutter, he also tested negative and sat out media day as a precautionary measure.

Following the team’s three-day training camp, they will kick off their preseason exhibition in Spokane, where they will take on the Seattle Kraken on September 26th. The game currently isn’t being televised, but the organization is inquiring into a livestream to appease the fans.

What are your thoughts on this year’s training camp roster/schedule? Make sure to drop a comment below!