Things to Know For Canucks Training Camp

The season is almost here, and Vancouver Canucks training camp is about to kick-off in Penticton at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Training camp helps set the tone for the season, and we wanted to highlight some exciting aspects of Canucks hockey that we’ll get a glimpse of during camp.

Quinn Hughes’ Mindset

Hughes enters his second year as Canucks’ captain, but he’s the same old Huggy, striving to bring his best day in, day out.

The Canucks’ playoff run was great experience for the team, Hughes pouring in 10 assists through 13 games. The Norris Trophy winner took stock of his last season and wanted to be better when the competition got fierce in the playoffs.

“I have the format of what I need to be successful, how you need to sleep and eat and train. I have the blueprint and now I just have to continue to do it and try to build on my game and what I can do better,” said Hughes at the Milford Golf Tournament. “Like I said in the playoffs, it would have been nice to – I didn’t hate my game, I liked my game, - but it would have been nice to score a goal or change direction of a game when I needed to and that’s something that I focused on this summer and we’ll see if I can do it this year.”

The 24-year-old is excited about the pieces the Canucks have added in the offseason and he’s ready to get out on the ice with them at camp.

Rick Tocchet’s New Tag Line – Embrace the Hard

If you recall last season’s tag line – Meet Pressure with Pressure – the thought behind it that preparation is key and sticking to their staples helped them meet tough opponents head-on.

This season’s tag line harkens to the team conditioning themselves that every day – every practice, game, workout session, road trip, etc. - is going to be hard. Repeating a regular season finish atop the Pacific Division is hard, playoff runs are hard.

Tocchet wants his team to embrace it and know that the only way to their goal is through it.

At the coaches’ summit this year, Tocchet said there was more creativity after having gone through the 2023-24 season and they saw what worked and they want to build on what they accomplished last season and raise the bar.

Let’s go, embrace hard.

The PTOs

Sammy Blais was signed to an AHL contract and given a professional try-out with the Vancouver Canucks. Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin spoke highly of what Blais can bring to the camp and potentially the Canucks’ lineup.

“We brought in Sammy Blais, an experienced guy played games on a contending team in St. Louis a couple of years ago,” said Allvin. “It's a great opportunity for him. I think what he contributes on the ice is the way we want to play. We want to be hard to play against and he is a checker. So, there is, there's an opportunity for him.”

Dylan Ferguson is a BC-born goaltender who the Canucks are giving a PTO to at this camp. Allvin gave him some praise as the top PTO goalie available.