6 positive takeaways from Canucks’ win over Kraken

The Vancouver Canucks made their preseason debut in Rogers Arena on Friday evening against the Seattle Kraken.

It was the first time we saw a big dress rehearsal of the majority of what many anticipate to be their opening night lineup. Canucks fans got to see Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Filip Hronek, Evander Kane and Kevin Lankinen make their preseason debuts. While the Kraken may not have sent their best lineup, there were still some aspects of the game that we can take away.

Lekkerimäki’s best game yet

Friday night was the best we’ve seen Jonathan Lekkerimäki play since last year’s regular season. During training camp, he skated alongside Evander Kane and Filip Chytil, but didn’t really stand out. Even in the first preseason game, he didn’t show many flashes and finished with a minus-2 rating and three shots on goal.

But last night, Lekkerimäki was quick on his feet and confident with the puck in all three zones. He carried the puck into the neutral zone and performed a give-and-go with Kirill Kudryavtsev before ripping a shot on net that hit the leg of Braeden Cootes for the first Canucks goal of the game.

Something he carried over from training camp that we noticed was his continued ability to use his body effectively. He leveraged his body to protect the puck from defenders and even got into some physicality as he finished the game with a team-high six hits.

Many pegged Lekkerimäki as starting the year in Abbotsford. But with more performances like this, Lekkerimäki should shoot up the depth chart, and he could find himself as the beneficiary after Nils Höglander’s injury.

Cootes continues to impress

It might be getting annoying because of how much we’re discussing this kid, but he continues to not look out of place among NHLers. It wasn’t necessarily his most flashy outing, but Cootes got his first goal as a Canuck in front of the home fans.

What we liked about his game was the fact that he didn’t stand out. He didn’t have those flashy plays that you typically see from youngsters. Cootes was making the smart plays. In the defensive zone, he showed poise with the puck, waiting for a breakout lane rather than trying to force the puck out of the zone and potentially putting it in harm’s way. On multiple occasions, he was patient and took the puck behind his net to avoid danger, then made the breakout pass.

His scrimmage linemate, Kiefer Sherwood, had some positive words regarding the 18-year-old.

“The kids going to be a stud,” Sherwood expressed. “Already composed and plays the right way and he’s got some grit to his game. It’s going to be exciting to see him continue put in the work. He’s just a good kid who continues to go about his business.”

New head coach Adam Foote shared his plans moving forward with the young centreman:

“We’re going to take it day-by-day with him. That’s how we’ve always been so far in this camp. He had another great day, so he’ll probably earn another [game].”

And according to today’s line rushes, he will get another game ahead of Sunday night’s game against the Oilers.

Kane’s debut

Evander Kane made his Canucks debut, and even though it was preseason, we thought he looked great.

We didn’t see much physicality from him, finishing with just one hit, but once the regular season rolls around, that will surely ramp up. But what we really took away from Kane’s game was his playmaking ability.

Kane started the game on the left side of the kid line with Cootes and Lekkerimäki, but got an opportunity to play up with Pettersson and Boeser. When up on the top line, Kane was dynamic in the offensive zone, but mostly for his playmaking ability. To give just one example, Kane had the puck below the hashmarks and threaded his pass through traffic and found Pettersson for a tap-in opportunity in front of the net.

The power forward would add an empty net goal from the centre line to ice the victory for Vancouver. But it was his playmaking ability that really stood out, especially for a natural sniper.

Tolopilo remains solid in net

While he hasn’t been getting into full game action, Nikita Tolopilo has confirmed to this organization that he is comfortably third on the depth chart.

The Belarusian netminder got the start in the preseason opener against a fully stacked Kraken team. He stopped 13 of 14 shots against before Ty Young replaced him. Over the next two preseason games, Tolopilo came in relief for Thatcher Demko against the Calgary Flames and for Kevin Lankinen against the Kraken and did not allow a puck behind him.

Many were upset when the Canucks traded last year’s Calder Cup MVP Arturs Silovs, but fear not, Abbotsford fans, they will be just fine with Tolopilo in the crease.

Hughes primed for another great year

As if most didn’t already know this, but Quinn Hughes is a special player. He demonstrated that in his preseason debut on Friday night.

Hughes was just as dominant as ever, weaving his way through the offensive zone, finding his teammates in scoring positions all night. What should be different about Hughes this year is that Foote wants to see his defenceman jump up in the rush more often. That includes the offensive zone and on the power play, where we saw Hughes down low, on the halfwall and even at the goal line at some points. He was already one of the most threatening offensive defencemen from distance, but imagine what he can do this season if he’s going to be playing closer to the net.

The Canucks captain hated missing the playoffs last season, and he’s going to do everything in his power to carry the team back to the postseason in 2025-26.

Special teams takeaways

With most of their starting lineup playing tonight, we got to see a taste of what their special teams may look like.

The top power play unit consisted of Hughes at the point, Pettersson and Kane on the half walls, Boeser in the bumper spot and Jake DeBrusk at the net front. And the power play looked dangerous. Their first opportunity saw the top unit maintain offensive zone possession for nearly the entire two minutes. By the end of it, Hughes was down at the goal line, Pettersson was at the point, Boeser was on the half wall, DeBrusk was in the bumper, and Kane was net front. This was something we rarely saw the team do in 2024-25, as most players stayed stagnant in their spots with the man advantage.

DeBrusk would score the eventual game-winning goal on the power play from his patented netfront spot. If the power play looks as dangerous as it did last night in the regular season, the Canucks should be more successful than they were last season.

On the penalty kill, it was Sherwood who hopped over the boards with Teddy Blueger as the presumed PK1 line. While Sherwood was a frontrunner to play on the team’s top unit, Drew O’Connor is another candidate, and he was not in the lineup. We’ll see how it shakes out when all three of those players are in the lineup.

What do you think, Canucks fans? What are your takeaways from Friday nights 4-2 win over the Seattle Kraken?