Rebuilding Vancouver Canucks eye future as training camp opens

VANCOUVER – Ryan Johnson knows there’s always optimism heading into a new NHL season — even if the optimistic team isn’t expecting to hoist the Stanley Cup at the end of the campaign. 

Wins and losses won’t be the benchmark for the rebuilding Vancouver Canucks this year, said the team’s newly minted general manager, but there’s still a sense of excitement as the group builds toward the future. 

“What we’re trying to put in place is something we can fall back on when we get punched in the gut, when we take a punch in the face,” Johnson said on Wednesday.

”We’ve got to put some foundation in first that we can fall back on when things get heavy. I think the players have very much said that they’re willing to commit to that. Excited to see what that looks like.”

The Canucks are coming off a dismal season where they finished at the bottom of the NHL standings with just 58 points. 

Vancouver parted ways with a number of key pieces, including captain and star defenceman Quinn Hughes, who was dealt to the Minnesota Wild for a first-round draft pick and a trio of young players in December.

Wholesale change to the front office followed, with general manager Patrik Allvin getting the boot a day after the season ended with an ugly 6-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford stepped down weeks later. 

In May, Johnson was elevated from assistant GM and GM of the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks the same day hockey legends Daniel and Henrik Sedin were named Vancouver’s new co-presidents of hockey operations. 

The trio then fired head coach Adam Foote after a single season at the helm and installed Manny Malhotra in his place. 

Malhotra spent the last two seasons as head coach in Abbotsford, and previously served as an assistant coach for both the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Now he’s set to run his first NHL training camp, starting when the Canucks hit the ice in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday. It’s a tough task as preseason has been condensed across the league this year. 

“There’s not a whole lot of wiggle room to experiment. It’s trying to find what’s going to work on night one as quick as possible,” Malhotra said. “We have to really prioritize hammering home the details within our structure and how we want to play.”

The plan is to pay close attention to each step of the process and not cut corners as the team builds its new foundation, he added. 

“For me, there’s a very big difference between losing games — which is inevitable; every team’s going to do it — and playing losing hockey,” Malhotra said. 

“And the measure of our group will be on playing the right way, doing the things that we’re talking about, having details to your game, which is going to give us an opportunity to win.” 

At least one prominent player won’t be part of the main group at training camp.

Johnson announced Wednesday that the former Vezina finalist Thatcher Demko won’t be a full participant in Penticton, but he will still get on the ice. 

The development isn’t a setback, the GM added, but part of the recovery process for Demko, who’s still working his way back to full health after undergoing season-ending hip surgery in late January. 

The 30-year-old American netminder was limited to just 20 appearances over the 2025-26 campaign, going 8-10-1 with a 2.90 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage.

It was the latest in a long list of injuries that have plagued him in recent seasons. 

“He’s battled a lot,” Johnson said. “He’s been through a lot physically and emotionally. You can imagine the amount of recoveries and things that he has gone through, and what that mental strain has been on him.”

Demko stayed in Vancouver over the summer and has been working hard, he added. 

“I think he’s a perfect example of somebody who just keeps fighting, keeps wanting to get back,” Johnson said. “He has so much love for the game and love for his teammates … He doesn’t just want to get back and play, he wants to get back and be a part of this solution for this organization moving forward.”

The Canucks are bringing several young players to training camp, though Caleb Malhotra — Manny Malhotra’s son and Vancouver’s top pick in June’s draft — will be absent. The 18-year-old forward is currently at Boston University for his freshman season. 

While Vancouver will have several other young prospects in camp this week, it may be some time before fans see them on the NHL roster, Johnson said. 

As the team builds for the future, it will be important to make sure they’re doing what’s best for each player’s individual development — and that may mean marinating in the minors. 

“If there’s one thing that I’ve really learned in this game over the course of the last 10 years is that it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to go backwards for the player,” Johnson said. “Once you commit to something and realize maybe you’ve done it too soon, it is really, really hard to reimagine, not for the organization, but what the player now sees himself in their own mind. 

“I do not believe in the yo-yo, up-and-down American League-NHL of a young player. … If they’re in the American League, I often see it as there’s one call-up. They show up, they kick the door down, there’s one call-up — and they never go back.”

Evolution isn’t a speedy process for either a player or a team, said Henrik Sedin. 

While some players take a step this season, others will need more time.

“But at least you see that foundation in place. That’s all we can ask for,” said the franchise’s all-time points leader. “We’re not going to talk about wins or losses. It’s a process. We’ll take it day by day.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2026.