The Vancouver Canucks have been relatively quiet since their frenzy of signings on July 1. They have added Daniel Sprong and re-signed presumed backup Arturs Silovs, but that’s about it. Looking at their roster and remaining cap space, they don’t have a lot of wiggle room to make any more additions. Barring a trade, it appears they will be going into the 2024-25 season with the lineup they have right now. So, why not look at some potential line combinations for opening night?
Danton Heinen – J.T. Miller – Brock Boeser
J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser will once again be a duo on the top line, as it’s unlikely head coach Rick Tocchet will break them up. They played 946:43 together at even strength and 289:46 on the power play last season, the most of any duo on the roster. They were effective too, generating 470 scoring chances, 191 high-danger chances and 34 high-danger goals. The other spot on their line was a revolving door of wingers from Pius Suter, Elias Pettersson, Ilya Mikheyev, Phil Di Giuseppe, Dakota Joshua, Nils Hoglander, and even Arshdeep Bains.
Tocchet loves his duos, so unless he feels comfortable with a trio like he eventually did with Joshua, Teddy Blueger and Conor Garland, the revolving door will continue this season. Having said that, I believe Danton Heinen will win this spot for opening night and hopefully contribute enough to keep it for a while. He has a playstyle that could fit with Miller and Boeser as the puck retriever and energy infuser like Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen were for Henrik and Daniel Sedin. He also has experience playing with elite goalscorers having spent time with David Pastrnak last season – most recently in Game 6 of the second round of the playoffs.
Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson – Daniel Sprong
The Canucks wanted to get a winger for Pettersson in the offseason, and they did that with the signing of Jake DeBrusk. They may have also added another when they inked Sprong earlier in July. As Sprong noted in his media availability, he is friends with Pettersson and has kept in touch with DeBrusk since the 2015 Draft, so they could be a natural fit to start the season.
DeBrusk has a history of playing with elite forwards, namely Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci. When he scored his career-high of 27 goals in 2018-19 and 2022-23, he was being set up by Krejci and Bergeron respectively. Those are both legitimate top-six two-way centers in the ilk of Pettersson. In fact, I would argue Pettersson is a better playmaker and would be able to set up DeBrusk for more scoring chances than he got in Boston.
As for Sprong, in the last two seasons, he has been primarily used in the Seattle Kraken and Detroit Red Wings’ bottom-six. Unlike DeBrusk, he has not played with a top-line pivot like Pettersson, but his shot and offensive awareness should mesh well with the Swedish superstar. If DeBrusk and Sprong fit well with him this season, Pettersson will finally have two wingers who seem to know how to find the back of the net, which is a far cry from Mikheyev, who often missed the plethora of chances he got.
Dakota Joshua – Teddy Blueger – Conor Garland
With the re-signings of Joshua and Blueger, Allvin made it possible for Tocchet to reunite his effective third line from last season. Before the trade of Mikheyev, there was a distinct possibility that Joshua would have gone elsewhere in free agency. He had a monster season in 2023-24 with a career-high 18 goals and 32 points and was rumoured to be a target of teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, and plenty of others. But they never got the chance to field an offer because the Canucks were able to move Mikheyev’s cap hit out the door and sign Joshua to a four-year contract worth $3.25 million AAV.
Blueger was a bit easier to re-sign, but there wasn’t a guarantee he would return either. But Allvin got both done and now the Canucks will have this third line (or 2B line) for the next two seasons. Before Joshua was injured in February, they were the Canucks’ best and most consistent line, not only driving the play but generating a surprising amount of offence. And speaking of dynamic duos, Tocchet also had one in Garland and Joshua, who played 560:58 at even strength together and looked like the Sedins at times with their no-look passes and telepathic chemistry. Whether it’s Blueger or Suter as their center, I would expect to see Garland and Joshua partnered up again to start the season.
Nils Hoglander – Pius Suter – Kiefer Sherwood
The fourth line will have a different look on opening night and could be considered a third line with the talent that’s available for it. For this projection, I am aligning Hoglander, Suter, and Kiefer Sherwood, creating a solid forechecking unit along with physicality and the potential for offence. Last season, they combined for 48 goals with Hoglander leading the way with 24 even-strength tallies. This trio should lower the boom too, as Sherwood (234) and Hoglander (100) also combined for 334 hits.
Extras: Phil Di Giuseppe, Vasily Podkolzin
This is where it’s going to get interesting as Di Giuseppe, Vasily Podkolzin, and Nils Aman need to clear waivers to be sent to the American Hockey League (AHL). They are all NHL forwards and could be seen as valuable to several teams at the beginning of the season. However, what’s good about the waiver wire during the preseason is that most teams are dealing with logjams themselves and the Canucks could sneak one of Aman or DiGiuseppe down to Abbotsford amongst the chaos.
The one guy the Canucks can’t afford to lose to waivers is Podkolzin. He’s still relatively young at 23 years old, and his potential has not been reached yet. If anything, Allvin will try and trade him ahead of Oct. 9 if he doesn’t stand out in training camp and the preseason. If he comes to play and wins his spot on the roster, then he will force Allvin to move another player like Hoglander, DiGiuseppe or Aman.
DiGiuseppe has always had great training camps in the past, so I expect him to take one of the spots. Tocchet also seems to like the energy and versatility he brings to the roster, and don’t forget, he was one of the Canucks’ best forwards in the playoffs – especially in Game 5 against the Oilers.
Canucks Have a Crowded Forward Group Going Into 2024-25
As of this writing, the Canucks have 15 forwards that legitimately could find their names on the opening night roster – and they are all waiver-eligible. They will likely have two forwards and a seventh defenceman as the extra bodies, so that means one of Aman, DiGiuseppe or Podkolzin will be on the outside looking in. I expect Allvin will let training camp and the preseason play out before he makes any decisions on trades, but I could see Hoglander or Podkolzin being the bait in a potential deal if he wants to bolster his blue line with another puck-moving defenceman. That storyline will loom large throughout September, but unfortunately, we still have August to drudge through as the dog days of summer continue.
Advanced stats were taken from Natural Stat Trick
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