A Tough Grind – Canucks Final Day of Informal Scrimmages

The Canucks NHL’ers took to the ice in Burnaby for an hour on Tuesday morning, the prospects and AHL’ers an hour later. In between, the two groups came together for a fast-pace, feisty scrimmage with goalies Collin Delia at one end and Michael DiPietro at the other.

One could sense a bit of nervous anticipation after the hard skate, knowing the official off-ice start to training camp begins Wednesday at Rogers Arena. It’s the beginning of a quest.

Canucks equipment truck loaded in Burnaby

Two right shot defencemen, Luke Schenn and Kyle Burroughs, were seen doing extra wind sprints after the scrimmage. Every last bit of preparation and conditioning to be ready for the real deal.

“I know we’ve been talking about it as a group,” Burroughs said post-skate, “just to get to work, pretty much.”

The Vancouver native who grew up in Langley playing hockey with his brother Colin, gets another opportunity to play out his professional hockey dreams with his hometown Canucks. He slots in as the third defenceman on the right side or as an extra, depending on the health of cohort Tucker Poolman and whether or not Quinn Hughes, a lefty, switches side. Burroughs doesn’t take offence to the conversations about upgrading the ‘D’.

“I think that’s the name of the game, to build a championship team,” Burroughs said. “You look at the Colorado Avalanche, they’re always willing to acquire new guys, they got Josh Manson. I think that’s just the business. I just focus on what I can control, put my best self out there, bring to the team what I can, be hard, be simple, be a good kind of contributor to my defence partner, and be a good teammate.”

Burroughs played his first five NHL games with the Avalanche two seasons ago before playing his next 42 with the Canucks last season.

As for Hughes moving over to the right?

“He’s a very talented buy, he doesn’t need any introduction from me (to the right side),” Burroughs said with a big smile. “I might be looking for pointers from him if it comes down to it. He’s a generational talent, smart kid, really gets the game well and I know if that came down to it that he’s ready and willing to do it.”

Notes:

– Elias Pettersson scored twice on his final two shifts of the scrimmage, falling hard to the ice after the first goal. (see attached video)

– Bo Horvat, Conor Garland, and Vasily Podkolzin impressed together with ‘team white’.

– Brock Boeser will not be made available to the media on Wednesday, J.T. Miller will be.