Canucks Begin 2026 Pre-Season With A 4–2 Loss To The Seattle Kraken

The Vancouver Canucks have begun their 2026 pre-season campaign with a 4–2 loss to the Seattle Kraken. Braeden Cootes and Arshdeep Bains were the two Canucks that scored in tonight’s game, with their linemate, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, also recording two assists in the effort. Goaltender Nikita Tolopilo got the start for Vancouver, stopping 25 of 29 shots faced. 

Vancouver brought a young roster to their first pre-season game of the year, featuring 2025 first-round pick Cootes, 2026 first-round pick Adam Novotný, and scoring winger Lekkerimäki. Because of the surplus of youth in Vancouver’s lineup, the team’s A’s were given to some of the roster’s more-experienced players. Bains, Max Sasson, and Guillaume Brisebois wore letters for the Canucks tonight. 

Today’s game was very evidently an early pre-season game for the Canucks, as it took a fair bit of time for Vancouver to find their footing. The first period was scrambly for both teams, though the Kraken were better-able to take advantage of their opposition’s slow start compared to the Canucks. 

Seattle struck first in tonight’s game, with Jani Nyman getting the first Kraken goal of the pre-season while on his team’s second power-play of the game. A turnover from Victor Mancini resulted in the Kraken re-taking possession while on the power play and finding the back of the net off the rush. 

The Kraken doubled their lead with only four seconds remaining in the first period, with Seattle taking advantage of a defensive gaff from Vancouver’s unit. 

The second period saw both teams attempt to move the puck up-ice, though neither could really muster up quality levels of offence. Despite a power-play opportunity for the Canucks — during which their second unit of Sasson, Novotný, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Matthew Stienburg, and Sawyer Mynio created some intriguing looks — Vancouver remained without a goal through the first two periods of the game. Seattle was also unable to score on their two man-advantages through the second period. 

Seattle bumped their lead up to 3–0 less than a minute into the third period, doing-so on the power play after defenceman Elias Pettersson was called for high-sticking at the end of the second period. 

It took over 50 minutes, but finally, the Canucks managed to find the back of the net thanks to Cootes, who accepted a smooth feed from Bains and fired the puck past Nikke Kokko’s shoulder.  

The Canucks had a prime chance to try to even things up as they pulled Tolopilo at the same time that the Kraken took a delay-of-game penalty, putting them on a 5-on-3 man-advantage for a little less than a minute. Finding Bains near the back-door, Cootes slid the puck over to notch his second point of the night. 

Just when it looked like Vancouver might try to make a comeback, Jake O’Brien scored for the Kraken off a strong forechecking effort from Seattle. In the final minute of the game, the Canucks were unable to break the puck out of their zone and attempt to score once more. 

One player who was noticeable for the Canucks throughout the game was Abbotsford Canucks captain Chase Wouters. The forward centred Vancouver’s fourth-line made up of himself, Stienburg, and Vilmer Alriksson, with the trio bringing energy and a high-forechecking presence in the limited minutes that they played in. 

Also making a good impression in tonight’s game was Aatu Räty. The forward hada couple of strong spurts that saw him battle along the boards for the puck, being able to re-take possession and turn plays into offensive opportunities for his team. Adding to this is the penalty he drew in the second period, which ultimately led to one of Vancouver’s stronger sequences throughout the game, as well as his consistently stellar faceoff winning rate which clocked in at 66.7% tonight. 

While the Canucks weren’t quite able to activate their offence in tonight’s game, a fair number of players injected a dose of physicality into the match. Six players had three or more hits in tonight’s game, with those being Pettersson (4), Novotný (4), Alriksson (4), Wouters (4), Ilya Safonov (4), and Riley Patterson (3). Pettersson’s physical presence had a particularly big impact on the game, as his move to throw the body on Nyman allowed Vancouver to collect the puck and break it out of their zone, leading to Cootes’ goal. 

1st Period: 

8:29 - SEA: Jani Nyman (1) from Jake O’Brien and Cale Fleury (PPG) 

19:55 - SEA: Ty Nelson (1) from Jacob Melanson and Ryan Lindgren 

2nd Period: 

No Scoring. 

3rd Period: 

0:42 - SEA: Logan Morrison (1) from Freddy Gaudreau and Oscar Fisker Molgaard (PPG) 

11:08 - VAN: Braeden Cootes (1) from Arshdeep Bains and Jonathan Lekkerimäki 

15:51 - VAN: Arshdeep Bains (1) from Braeden Cootes and Jonathan Lekkerimäki (PPG) 

17:25 - SEA: Jake O’Brien (1) from Jacob Melanson 

Up Next: 

After returning to Penticton for one more day of training camp on Sunday, the Canucks will head to Calgary on Tuesday, September 22 to face the Flames in their second game of the pre-season. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 pm PT. 

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