Rick Tocchet addresses the upcoming training camp: He's expecting someone will cause a surprise

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Cooper Godin
September 17, 2024 (5:22 PM)

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Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is hoping to see someone seize the opportunity for a roster spot during camp.

The Vancouver Canucks will open up training camp on Thursday and it's an exciting time for the organization, coming off a season where they exceeded everyone's expectations. Because of that, expectations will be sky high this season as they look to go even further in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Heading into training camp, there aren't many roster spots up for grabs, but the bottom-six forward group and potentially the Canucks' third defensive pairing will be two areas to keep an eye on.

In an interview with Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre, Rick Tocchet said that he wants to see someone take an opportunity away from another player during training camp and for his guys to be competitive as they look to construct the perfect roster to start the season with.

"When you smell there's opportunity, I want to see somebody take that opportunity," Tocchet said. "You might have four guys that are doing really well, so that makes my job even harder. Sh--, who do I pick? What I like is the depth, for sure."

For the Canucks' bottom-six, there are plenty of names in the mix including Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood, Daniel Sprong and Sammy Blais, the latter of whom is signed to an AHL contract with Abbotsford and a PTO with Vancouver. A couple of those names mentioned could also find their way into the top-six, potentially to play alongside Elias Pettersson, the most likely being Daniel Sprong, who brings plenty of speed and offensive upside that's needed.

The Canucks' third defensive pairing will be an interesting camp battle as well. Derek Forbort, Vincent Desharnais, Noah Juulsen are the front-runners for those two spots, with potentially Mark Friedman and Guillaume Brisebois being in the mix as well.

Vancouver will have their first on-ice session of training camp in Penticton at 9:30 am PT on Thursday. Following three days of on-ice skates, the Canucks will hold a blue-white scrimmage at Noon PT on Sunday before opening their preseason slate two days later in Seattle against the Kraken.