By: Brayden Fengler / August 6, 2024 We’ve just flipped our calendars over to August and although the weather seems like it’s never going to be cool again, at some point, it will be hockey season again.
Even before the first puck drop of the regular season there will still be plenty of Canucks action to look forward to (especially if you live in Penticton).
This is a complete list of all the ways that you can mark your Canucks calendar in advance of the season’s start in October.
Development Camp
One Canucks event that has come and gone by this point in the summer is the Canucks Development Camp. This took place in early July between Rogers Arena and Thunderbird Sports Centre at UBC. The camp featured multiple days of prospects working with the Canucks coaching team, sharpening up their skills ahead of the dog days of summer training.
This camp put the Canucks’ first pick of the 2024 entry draft, 93rd overall Melvin Fernström, on the ice for the team for the first time. Fernström was also joined by the other four members of his draft class that the Canucks picked up. Riley Patterson, Anthony Romani, Parker Alcos, and Basile Sansonnens.
This was also our first real glimpse at Manny Malhotra in bench-boss mode since he was hired as the Abborsfords Canucks new head coach at the end of May.
Young Stars
The next big thing on the calendar is the Canucks Young Stars event, once again taking place in Penticton, BC this year. This event spans September 13th – 16th and will feature a Canucks team made up of their top prospects battling against Calgary, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
This event will feature six games played across four days, and will not only have the Canucks play the three visiting teams, but fans will also get a chance to watch Calgary vs Winnipeg, Calgary vs Edmonton, & Winnipeg vs Edmonton.
This is a fantastic event that has found a yearly home in Penction for quite some time now. It’s a great way for the Canucks to reach BC fans further east of Abbotsford.
Training Camp
Also in Penticton, and kicking off just days after the Young Stars event, the Canucks Training Camp will begin on September 19th and continue through until the 22nd. If you’re a Canucks fan in Penticton, do not plan a trip out of town between Sept 13th – 22nd.
The start of training camp is always when it starts to feel like hockey season is about to really start. This is where fans will get to see more familiar faces, such as Captain Quinn, and a recovered Thatcher Demko. In addition to the traditional mainline Canucks joining the fold, training camp will also showcase how some of the new transactions may fold into the line-up.
Free agency acquisitions like Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood, and more will skate in a Canucks jersey for the first time. Camp will be the first chance to see how Rick Tocchet begins to play around with and structure the deployment of the new Cancucks.
Linking back to the Young Stars event and the development camp, in trainng camp Canucks fans will get a sense of which prospects are close to making the main club this year. Based on who gets an invite to camp in the first place, and who can keep up with the established players.
NHL Pre-Season
Just before hockey season is in full effect, the NHL pre-season starts with an at-home battle against the Seattle Kraken on Sept 24th for the Canucks. Like Young Stars, the pre-season will consist of six games total, with two match-ups each against Seattle, Calgary, and Edmonton.
Two of the three home games will naturally take place at Rogers Arena, whereas the September 25th game against the Calgary Flames will be hosted in the Abbotsford Centre.
The Canucks will start their pre-season by playing four of their games in the span of five days. At this stage, we will likely see two variations of prospect-heavy teams before we get a more refined version of the Canucks for September 30th’s battle against Edmonton on the road.
Then to finish off the pre-season after three days of rest, a regular season-ready Canucks team will no doubt present itself at home for the final game of the pre-season against the Oilers on October 4th.
Here We Go
Although the proper start of the NHL season is in October, which can feel like a million years away as we sit here in August with 30+ degree heat, it’s really not that far off. As this article lays out, there is still plenty of Canucks hockey to get excited about before we reach October.
Attribution for part of header graphic: Schedule Icon Vectors by Vecteezy