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New coach Travis Green pushes the pace at Vancouver Canucks training camp
September 14, 2017, 1:35 PM ET [319 Comments]
Carol Schram
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The Vancouver Canucks are back on the ice at Rogers Arena for Day 2 of training camp on Thursday.

Here are the groups and the schedule. You'll see that they're already moving into scrimmages today.




The two main groups have swapped spots on the schedule, with the Sedins and Team Blue going second today. The groups are also facing off for the first scrimmage of training camp—with video available in the usual places.

Looks like the only change in deployment comes on the fourth line of the Blue Group. Michael Carcone was injured during Wednesday's practice, so Kole Lind moves up from the Green Group to take his spot on right wing.

A few of the other injured players did grab some early ice time this morning.




Broadly speaking, the biggest news from Rogers Arena on Wednesday was the high pace of Travis Green's sessions.




A couple of players who were said to have had trouble keeping up with that high pace were forward Reid Boucher and defenseman Jordan Subban.

Today, Subban's back, undaunted!




Coach Green got specific about the weaknesses that he sees in Subban's game when he spoke to Ben Kuzma of The Province on Wednesday:




“He has got to be able to defend at the NHL level,” said Green. “It’s as simple as that. But there are little things in his game, an NHL pass compared to an AHL pass. When NHL players pass the puck, it hits your stick and it sticks. AHL players pass the puck and the pucks wobbles and that’s a little, tiny thing to a lot of people, but it’s a big thing.

“You have to make sure it (pass) is not rolling.”


Kuzma also talks about Derek Dorsett, who survived his first day of on-ice contact following his serious neck surgery last season.

Meanwhile, Jake Virtanen made a good impression on and off the ice in his return to Vancouver.




“I saw a guy who went through some adversity and it was a good season to learn,” Green told Kuzma about Virtanen's time in Utica last season. “We went through some good times and hard times to figure out how he needs to play to be effective. And not just his game but the details within a game.

“People talk about him just playing on the fourth line. But to play on the fourth line in the NHL when you’re 21 is pretty good because we’ve talked of having a fourth line that can play big minutes. For him, it’s get your foot in the door and play.

“I think he’s capable of doing it, but I’m the coach and he’s the player.”


Brock Boeser is skating with Bo Horvat and Scottie Upshall, who he describes as "great players who make everyone on the ice better. Smart players."




Boeser agrees that Green expects a lot from his players:

That was seriously one of the hardest practices I've ever been a part of. It was up-tempo, competitive and that's what coach wanted - pace, hardwork and for us to compete. He came into the room and told us how he wants practices and what the details were for the day. Everyone was ready and delivered.


Boeser has been blogging for Canucks.com since the beginning of Young Stars and is doing a great job of finding his voice—mixing in tidbits about his NFL fantasy football team with a peek behind the scenes as the boys encountered some adversity getting from Penticton back to Vancouver earlier this week.

One thing he doesn't know yet—whether he'll be heading to L.A. to play the Kings on Saturday, or to China next week.

Kevin Woodley lays out some of the logistical details of the China trip in his NHL.com piece:




The plan is for the China group to leave Vancouver around noon on Sunday—before the Canucks' preseason game at Rogers Arena against the Vegas Golden Knights, which will start at 2 p.m.

I would think the organization will also try to avoid sending the China players to L.A. for Saturday's preseason opener—at least, not the marquee vets like the Sedins, Horvat, Gudbranson and Sutter. They're all quoted in Woodley's article and sound like they're pretty sure they're in the China group.

The China games will be televised here in North America, but make sure you set your alarm! The games on both sides of the Pacific come as a pair of double-headers of sorts.

Here's how next week's schedule will play out:

Wednesday September 20: Canucks at Calgary 6 p.m. PT
Wednesday night/Thursday morning: Canucks vs Kings in Shanghai 4:30 a.m. PT

Friday September 22: Canucks at Edmonton 6 p.m.
Friday night/Saturday morning: Canucks vs. Kings in Beijing 12:30 a.m. PT
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