The Vancouver Canucks held their final dress rehearsal ahead of Wednesday’s season opener against the Calgary Flames. The team skated for an hour at Rogers Arena on Tuesday morning and likely provided a glimpse of the line-up we’ll see when the puck drops in Game One.

What we saw

Conor Garland returned to the ice with his teammates for the first time since Friday’s morning skate. He missed weekend practices with an undisclosed nagging injury but was a full participant on Tuesday. Garland skated on the right side with Pius Suter in the middle and Nils Höglander on left wing. With Suter back in the middle on that line, it appears that Aatu Raty will be the odd man out on Wednesday night.
The Canucks had just seven defencemen on the ice today after Mark Friedman was placed on waivers for the purpose of sending him to Abbotsford. The team will need to wait until Wednesday morning to see if he clears. Rick Tocchet suggested Friedman was a victim of the numbers game despite a solid training camp. It also indicates the Canucks may elect to carry two extra forwards instead of two extra defencemen to start the season. Or they may go one skater under the 23-man roster for the first few days of the season to help them accrue cap space.
Tocchet mentioned Arshdeep Bains after practice and said while Bains wouldn’t play on Wednesday, the team may recall him, and it was possible he could be inserted as early as Friday against Philadelphia.
The Canucks spent the final 15 minutes of practice on special teams. Once again, Jake DeBrusk took his spot in the bumper on the first unit. Danton Heinen took face-offs on a second unit comprised of four wingers – Heinen, Conor Garland, Nils Höglander and Daniel Sprong, along with the lone defenceman Filip Hronek.
As per the coach over the weekend, Arturs Silovs is expected to get the start in goal on Wednesday. Kevin Lankinen’s new Canucks coloured pads have arrived, although not in time for today’s practice. He was seen breaking them in when the locker room opened to the media after the on-ice session.

What we heard

Rick Tocchet is ready to get the new seasons started: “Well, opening night, I think sometimes it’s over glorified whether you win 5-0 or lose 5-0. I know the way it works. Everybody’s like ‘this team’s going to win the Stanley Cup’ if they have a great game. If they lose, it’s ‘oh my god, what’s going to happen?’ I just think about day by day. I was worried about today. I told the players let’s just have a good practice and worry about Calgary tomorrow.”
Conor Garland declares himself ready to go for tomorrow night: “I just had something happen during the morning skate. It was nothing. I wanted to play. Our trainers were like it’s a preseason game. Regular season game, any game of the year, I’m playing. It was just a preseason game – the last one – was no need. It was probably the right decision. I’m just glad I’m playing tomorrow.
Jake DeBrusk on whether he can be a 30-goal guy in his first season in Vancouver: “Yeah, I think I was pretty close two years ago. That was the year I missed some time. It’s obviously something that I haven’t hit in my career yet. I want to get there. There are a lot of weapons here and a lot of different types of opportunities I see. But I’m not putting numbers on the season. I haven’t even put the jersey on for real yet.”
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