The Vancouver Canucks have travelled to Prince George. Day 1 of training camp is underway.
Click here for a look at the complete roster, featuring 20 defensemen, 33 forwards and five goaltenders.
I'll break down the roster.
Defense
Carryovers From Young Stars - all eight defensemen
• Guillaume Brisebois
• Anton Cederholm
• Ben Hutton
• Evan McEneny
• Carl Neill
• Tate Olson
• Ashton Sautner
• Jordan Subban
Utica Comets players
• Alex Biega
• Frank Corrado
• Travis Ehrhardt
• John Negrin
• Andrey Pedan
New additions
• Matt Bartkwoski
• Taylor Fedun
Returning Canucks
• Alex Edler
• Dan Hamhuis
• Luca Sbisa
• Chris Tanev
• Yannick Weber
Forwards
Carryovers from Young Stars
• Cole Cassels
• Dane Fox
• Brendan Gaunce
• Joe Labate
• Jared McCann
• Kyle Pettit
• Hunter Shinkaruk
• Mackenze Stewart
• Jake Virtanen
• Mike Zalewski
• Dmitry Zhukenov
Young Stars not at Training Camp
• Rodrigo Abols
• Reid Gardiner
• Jonathon Martin
Utica Comets players
• Sven Baertschi
• Carter Bancks
• Ludwig Blomstrand
• Alex Friesen
• Alex Grenier
• Wacey Hamilton
• Nicklas Jensen
New additions
• Adam Cracknell
• Blair Jones
• John Kurtz
Returning Canucks
• Alex Burrows
• Derek Dorsett
• Jannik Hansen
• Chris Higgins
• Bo Horvat
• Ronalds Kenins
• Brandon Prust
• Daniel Sedin
• Henrik Sedin
• Brandon Sutter
• Linden Vey
• Radim Vrbata
Goaltenders
Utica Comets players
• Jacob Markstrom
• Joe Cannata
New additions
• Richard Bachman
• Clay Witt
Returning Canuck
• Ryan Miller
The roster is divided into two groups. Group A hit the ice at 9 a.m. this morning for a two-hour session and Group B will follow at 11:20.
More lists! From
Canucks.com, here are the line combinations and defense pairings:
Team Blue
Baertschi/Sutter/Vrbata
Higgins/Horvat/Hansen
Gaunce/Cracknell/Grenier
Kurtz/Jones/Jensen
Bancks/Hamilton/Zhukenov
Stewart
Edler/Tanev
Bartkowski/Sbisa
Pedan/Biega
Negrin/Neill
Sautner/McEneny
Miller, Bachman & Witt
Team White
Sedin/Sedin/Kenins
Prust/Vey/Dorsett
Burrows/Cassels/Virtanen
Shinkaruk/McCann/Zalewski
LaBate/Friesen/Fox
Pettit
Hamhuis/Weber
Hutton/Corrado
Cederholm/Fedun
Brisebois/Subban
Olson/Ehrhardt
Markstrom & Cannata
A lot of these combos look like about what we've expected.
One interesting item—Ronalds Kenins with the Sedins. Who had him in the pool as the mystery winger that management wanted to look at with the twins?
The primary defense pairings play out pretty much as Luca Sbisa explained them yesterday, with his own situation the only one that's really in doubt. Interesting to see that they're starting him on the right side of his pairing with Matt Bartkowski.
As excited as I am to see things start to get going, it looks like there won't be a whole lot of intrigue or surprises over the next couple of days. On Thursday, Willie Desjardins and Jim Benning talked about how a good part of the time in training camp will be spent teaching systems, so we're not going to get much insight into how players will ultimately be deployed.
Saturday's schedule is the same as today, then on Sunday we'll see a power play practice in the morning featuring mostly veterans, then a two-period intrasquad game at 11:20 a.m. which will feature mostly rookies. That'll be the first chance for the kids to really show their stuff.
We only have three days to wait until the first preseason game—the Kraft Hockeyville game between the Canucks and San Jose Sharks on Monday night at the Q Centre in Greater Victoria.
North Saanich was officially awarded the Kraft Hockeyville event. That community will play host to the Community Celebration Event on Sunday from 11-4 at Panorama Recreation Centre, with the Stanley Cup on hand between noon and 3 p.m.
On Monday, the action shifts to the Q Centre in Colwood. The Canucks players will walk a public red carpet before their practice on Monday morning at about 10:15 a.m.
Since the Canucks also play the Sharks on Tuesday at Rogers Arena, I expect they'll just bring one group to Victoria.
I am going to be in Victoria to cover Monday night's game for STATS—and, rather ironically, I have to miss the game in Vancouver on Tuesday. Based on the training camp rosters, I'm crossing my fingers for Team White on Monday night. I'd like to get a first look at Cassels, Virtanen, McCann and Hutton, in particular—but I'm sure there will be plenty to see no matter who hits the ice.
I always enjoy preseason, when hope springs eternal. This year holds even more promise than usual thanks to such an intriguing crop of prospects.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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