The Vancouver Canucks prospects hit the ice in Penticton on Thursday for their first practice ahead of this year's Young Stars Tournament.

Game action for the Canucks kicks off against the Edmonton Oilers tonight at 7:30 p.m. I haven't seen it explicitly stated that the game will be livestreaming on Canucks.com, but I certainly expect that will be the case, as it has been in past years.

It is definitely being broadcast on TSN1040, and if you need a backup video source, you can use EdmontonOilers.com.

The team made its first injury announcement during Thursday's practice. Centre Dmitry Zhukenov, the Canucks' fourth-round pick in 2015, is out of the tournament.

Zhukenov will not participate in the #YoungStars classic due to a foot injury. He is in Vancouver for further evaluation. 2/2

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) September 15, 2016

After tonight's game, the Canucks are off on Saturday, then will play their back-to-back games on Sunday and Monday. I would expect that means we'll get a healthy dose of the "A" prospects in tonight's lineup.

Here's a bare-bones look at who's expected to play:

#Canucks Young Stars will face Edmonton tonight on @TSN1040
Expect Cassels to centre top line
Juolevi-Stecher as a pair
Demko to start

— Jon Abbott (@HockeyAbbs) September 16, 2016

Once again, you can click here for the full roster.

At Thursday's skate, we got this interview with assistant general manager John Weisbrod—which also includes some good footage of the practice going on in the background as he speaks.

Assistant GM John Weisbrod shares his thoughts on this year's group of prospects at the Young Stars Classic. pic.twitter.com/Kd1mKzcn3N

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) September 16, 2016

As I mentioned yesterday, Troy Stecher is a particularly interesting character this time around—a new free-agent signing, NCAA champion and North Dakota teammate of Brock Boeser's, who's also a B.C. native and spent three years playing hockey in Penticton, earning a national championship with the Penticton Vees in 2012.

Stecher has drawn the blogging assignment for the tournament. You can read his first installment here, where he talks about his time in the Okanagan and what it means to be back in these very different circumstances.

As Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Sun points out in his "Players to Watch" article, Stecher's even smaller than we realized. He's listed as 5'10" and 190 pounds on Hockey DB, but the Canucks' roster sheet has him at 5'8" and 190.

Nevertheless, Trevor Linden is speaking highly of Stecher:

Linden on Troy Stetcher, "He's got more pedigree that some having played at the college level...expect him to show well [in Penticton]."

— TSN Radio Vancouver (@TSN1040) September 16, 2016

Another interesting tie to the organization: Travis Green's Portland Winterhawks selected Stecher in the WHL bantam draft way back when. "His personality is infectious," Green told Botchford. "I’ve known him since he was 14. You can tell he has a passion for the game and that’s so important."

I'm very curious to see if he can separate himself from his peers on the ice tonight. Botchford says Stecher will skate on the top defensive pairing with Olli Juolevi.

As far as the team's other promising-but-undersized D prospect, Botchford says of Jordan Subban:

Believe it or not, his size — 5-foot-9 — isn’t the reason the Canucks passed on calling him up last season even though he led all Utica blue-liners in scoring.

The Canucks see that he’s got a stout build and is impressively strong. They are in love with his shot, too.

But if they aren’t soon convinced he’s better defensively, and more responsible in his own end, he’ll be passed over yet again this season when Vancouver is looking for injury replacements.

Linden echoed that sentiment on the radio this morning:

Linden on Jordan Subban, "He had a really good year last year offensively & understands where he needs to be more consistent on the D side."

— TSN Radio Vancouver (@TSN1040) September 16, 2016

As for Cole Cassels, Ben Kuzma of The Province reported earlier this week that he was hampered in his first AHL season after undergoing abdominal surgery following his 2015 Memorial Cup win with the Oshawa Generals.

Cassels says he's now fully healthy and ready to make a bigger impact.

Cassels: I'm significantly stronger. I feel more powerful on ice,I can get to places quicker now. With the injury, it was tough to get there

— TSN Radio Vancouver (@TSN1040) September 15, 2016

Tonight's game will likely be Cassels' best opportunity to back up his words.

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