Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote Forced to Make Difficult Roster Decision
Photo credit: Global News/Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote will need to make quite a few difficult decisions when it comes to the team's roster towards the end of training camp.
There is plenty of optimism in Vancouver after a long summer that featured some notable additions to the team's roster including the signing of Vitali Kravtsov after two years in Russia, as well as a trade that saw the club acquire Evander Kane from the Edmonton Oilers.
Aside from those two moves, the Canucks were able to re-sign Brock Boeser to a long-term deal and after a difficult 2024-25 campaign, Elias Pettersson is "out for revenge" and ready to bounce back in a big way for his club.
Heading into training camp in a couple of weeks, the roster is pretty much know, especially the top-six, as well as the defensive group and the goaltenders, but fans should certainly keep their eye on the bottom-six as Adam Foote is going to have some difficult decisions to make before announcing the team opens the 2025-26 campaign.
Adam Foote will need to make several difficult decisions before end of training camp
According to Stephan Roget of Canucks Army, the Vancouver Canucks could have upwards of eight players competing for just two, maybe three spots in the team's top-nine forward group (lines 2, 3 & 4).
Among the eight mentioned by Roget are Nils Hoglander, Kiefer Sherwood and Drew O'Connor, all of whom are undoubtedly going to be on the opening night roster, it's just a matter of where they'll slot in.
As for the other five - Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson, Vitali Kravtsov, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Max Sasson - they're going to need to have a big camp in order to show Adam Foote and the team's coaching staff that they deserve a shot on the team's opening night roster.
"What we're left with is maybe three - but probably two - wing jobs available in the Canucks' top-nine, and a full eight candidates for those spots: Höglander, Sherwood, O'Connor, Lekkerimaki, Kravtsov, Karlsson, Bains, and Sasson.
That strikes us as a good, healthy amount of competition for a Training Camp. It's the kind of situation that ensures that a player needs to really earn a spot in order to win it, and there's nothing wrong with that." Roget said.
That strikes us as a good, healthy amount of competition for a Training Camp. It's the kind of situation that ensures that a player needs to really earn a spot in order to win it, and there's nothing wrong with that." Roget said.
Throwing a wrench in the team's plans however is the change to waiver eligibility for several Vancouver Canucks players this season including Linus Karlsson, Aatu Raty and Arshdeep Bains, while Victor Mancini and Max Sasson will be eligible for the wire later in the year if they suit up in 31 and 29 games, respectively.
Adam Foote's first training camp as Head Coach of the Vancouver Canucks is going to be an interesting one and hopefully, the team will be well prepared by the time October 9th's season opener rolls around.
Source: Canucks Army/Stephan Roget
Canucks Training Camp Battles: How many jobs are open in the top nine?
Canucks Training Camp Battles: How many jobs are open in the top nine?
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