Coaches continue to drill down on systems with first preseason game on Sunday
For a second straight day, school was in session at Vancouver Canucks training camp in Victoria, BC.
Head coach Rick Tocchet continues to emphasize the systems he wants his players to utilize this season as the Canucks look to take strides in the competitive Pacific Division and Western Conference.
On Friday, the Canucks devoted much of their on ice sessions to clean breakouts and applying pressure in the neutral zone.
"We have a lot of bodies (in camp) and it can take just one guy to go to the wrong spot so you have to be careful that you don't overcriticize people," Tocchet said. "Some guys are not used to the system. We'll probably dive into it even more when we have less bodies. That's the hard part. We have 50 or 60 guys and not everybody knows the system or where to go sometimes and that can screw the drill up."
Tocchet admitted after Friday's sessions that he saw a number of things that still required attention. He has just one more day to work on things before the Canucks open the preseason on Sunday in Calgary against the Flames.
"Some good things, some bad," Tocchet said about his overall views of Friday's performance. "I thought the second group in the second session kept the same pace, so that was good. Right from camp, we have to do the right things. There are some things that aren't natural for certain guys and we have to get that out of them. It's September 24th (sic) and that's why we have to be on them."
Tocchet confirmed that all of his star power will be on display for Saturday's scrimmage at Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. That will represent the first game action of training camp after two full days of drills.
Other notes from Day 2 in Victoria:
*For the second day in a row, Nils Höglander and Vasily Podkolzin retained their spots on the wing on the Canucks top two lines. Höglander once again skated with Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko while Podkolzin was back with JT Miller and Brock Boeser.
*After skating on a wing on Thursday, Aatu Raty lined up at centre on Friday between Tristen Nielsen and Josh Bloom. Left-hand defenseman Matt Irwin spent Thursday on the right side on a pairing with Jack Rathbone. On Friday, the Victoria native was back on the left side playing alongside Filip Johansson.
*And one day after stating that he wasn't in favour of a pair of left-handed defenders playing together, Rick Tocchet had newcomer Carson Soucy on the right-side on a pairing with Quinn Hughes.
"I'm not a huge lefty-lefty guy, but I just wanted to switch it around and have a look," the coach explained. "We'll see how that plays out. They all want to (play with Hughes). If you want to try things, do it now. I'm not going to be experimenting for three weeks. We have to get someone there. But it might be two guys. We want Hughsey to play 23-24 minutes, so the guy in that spot will probably have to share responsibility."
For a video recap of Day 2, click here.