Canucks notebook: Back to basics in first training camp of rebuild

VANCOUVER — For the first time in recent memory, there is absolutely no ambiguity about where this Vancouver Canucks team is headed.

Before the 2026-27 season even begins, we have a pretty good idea of where it will end — deep in the standings basement and, with a little stroke of luck, a top-two draft pick.

The Canucks begin their first training camp since a last-place finish last season triggered a major teardown in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, and the new Canucks leadership group — led by co-presidents of hockey operations Daniel and Henrik Sedin with their general manager Ryan Johnson — emphasized how important it will be to set the tone for how the next several years of this rebuild will play out.

Building a foundation, first and foremost, is a top priority.

“The ground-level stuff, the foundational pieces that we need to put in place are going to be prioritized in camp,” rookie head coach Manny Malhotra said Wednesday at Rogers Arena just before he departs for his first camp at the helm. "We're not cutting corners, we're not skipping the line.

We have to have these foundational pieces in place before we can start talking about improving and getting the wins and advancing.

This September, it's back to the basics for the Canucks.

And for the best, too, as the team finished last in virtually every metric last season, including a staggering -100 goal differential, significantly worse than the -62 Chicago Blackhawks, who finished in 31st place. Even with the comfort of a clear direction, the Canucks aren't expected to make any standings gains this season.

"There’s a very big difference between losing games, which is inevitable — every team is going to do it — and playing losing hockey. The measure of our group will be on playing the right way," said Malhotra.

"Those are the measures that, when you look back on a game, did we check those boxes? That’s where the pride or the joy will come from, knowing that we’re learning, we’re doing the things we’re asked, and it’s getting better."

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The emphasis heading into training camp is to trust the process. In other words: Wins and losses this season aren't as important as how the team got there.

"If (wins and losses are) what our focus is on, then we’ve failed everybody in what we've discussed since we came on board," said Johnson."We want to win, but if we win and we fluctuate and we have volatility through our game, that means we don’t have something to fall back on.

"But now, what we’re trying to put in place is something we could fall back on when we get punched in the gut, when we take a punch in the face — what are these guys going to fall back on when that happens?"

Simply put, the rebuild is full-steam ahead. The ownership has bought in, as has the management.

The players have too, and — led by Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko — decided to return to the city and begin skating together long before camp was set to begin.

Returning players and newly signed veterans are committing to being part of the solution and building something sustainable — in the process, shedding the toxic-locker-room stigma. Remember when Vancouver used to be a top-notch destination to play?

"Players talk. Their wives talk.

They are often the best communicators of what you have and what you’re building," said Johnson. "I feel if we stay the course with how we want to do this, the conversation will be, ‘hey, Vancouver is somewhere I want to go, and a Canuck is someone I want to be.’”

So, given where we are in the process to get there, what does a successful 2026-27 look like for the Canucks?

"We want to see a team that plays for each other," said Henrik, Canucks captain of eight years and one of the most well-respected leaders in the game."The fans walk into the building, and they see a group that fights for each other.

"You see a plan in everything they do."

The quest for that begins on Thursday in Penticton.

What's next for Braeden Cootes?

This time last year, all the talk was on the Canucks' 2025 11th-overall pick. The then-18-year-old impressed everyone at the 2025-26 training camp, and as a result, played three games with the NHL club before he was returned to his WHL team in mid-October.

This year, the approach is different for Braeden Cootes, who may specifically benefit from a new CHL-NHL rule that allows one 19-year-old prospect per season to be assigned to the AHL instead of being sent back to their junior team.

"The player's play will dictate where they belong, but at the same time, we have to balance to make sure we're not just starstruck by short-term goals and the short-term success of the player," said Malhotra."It's about the long view."

"It's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to go backwards," added Johnson, who is in no rush to call up players from the AHL if doing so would do a disservice to their development. "I do not believe in a yo-yo, up and down, American League to NHL (approach).

How I see it, there's one call-up.

"There are elite players that never play in the American League, but it is a rarity. And it’s our job to protect those young players and doing right by them.”

Gone are the days when we see multiple AHL call-ups per season, sometimes per month. When a player earns their call to the NHL, it won't be temporary.

O'Captain, (who is) my captain

The Canucks have traded their captain mid-season twice in just under three years. Not since Henrik Sedin have we seen a captain serve in the position more than three full seasons, and the most recent lasted just a season and a quarter.

This time around, the Canucks are choosing carefully. And there is no urgency to do so.

"We're in no rush to hand out letters just for the sake of handing out letters," said Malhotra when asked about the possibility of naming a captain this season. "The leaders of this group will emerge when the time is right.

That’s going to play out over the next few weeks to see who takes hold of that type of role, and we see who the guys want to follow. But we’re not in a rush to put A’s and C’s on guys.

When it happens, it happens.

The Canucks are one of seven teams without a serving captain after the Los Angeles Kings named Drew Doughty captain on Wednesday night.

The Canucks announced Wednesday that Demko, the oft-injured starting netminder and 2024 Vezina Trophy finalist, will indeed not be a full participant in training camp.

The 30-year-old goalie underwent season-ending surgeries on both hips in February, but Johnson insists this development is"not by any means a setback."

"It's a part of our process," the GM added. "We never had a timeline on his recovery.

We just wanted to make sure that it was a one-time thing, and that when he got back, he felt 100 per cent ready to go, that he'd done everything possible to get to that point without rushing it or feeling like we're trying to expedite it.

"The players will dictate where they play," said Malhotra on more than one occasion Wednesday, giving up absolutely no hints as to how his lineup may shake out in training camp.