<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With a compressed schedule down the stretch, practice time is hard to come by for National Hockey League teams. The <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Vancouver Canucks</a> took Thursday as a full team day off after back to back games against Montreal and Calgary. And with another set of back-to-backs this weekend against Chicago and Utah, Rick Tocchet was careful about how hard he pushed his hockey club on Friday.</span></p>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2111" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="329"></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Canucks skated for about 35 minutes at the University of British Columbia. </span></p>
<h1><span style="font-weight: 400;">What we saw</span></h1>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">video of Demko doing early drills <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> <a href="https://t.co/cycR0poJde">pic.twitter.com/cycR0poJde</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) <a href="https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1900616621204664662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/watch-vancouver-canucks-goaltender-thatcher-demko-returns-practice">Thatcher Demko</a>’s first skate with the group in five weeks was the big news of the day. The plan all along was for Demko to take part in a handful of drills before leaving the ice earlier than his teammates. He’s not an option to play this weekend, but it was promising at the very least to see him involved in drills and not look like he was limited in any way.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Demko was out early along with Arturs Silovs and goaltender coach Marko Torenius. Kevin Lankinen hopped on the ice when the rest of the skaters joined the group. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-elias-petterson-full-go-return-chicago-blackhawks-tyler-myers-upgraded-probable">Tyler Myers was a full participant</a> at practice after missing Wednesday’s game against the Flames due to injury. And defenceman <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-d-elias-pettersson-exits-calgary-flames-after-headshot-connor-zary">Elias Pettersson</a> was fully involved in practice, too. That’s encouraging, given the treatment he received from Calgary’s Connor Zary that resulted in Zary being suspended for a pair of games. Head injuries are no joke, and so it was great to see that D-Petey did not suffer a concussion that would have forced him to miss key games at crunch time.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Canucks patch-worked their lines and defensive pairings on Friday with both Filip Hronek and Conor Garland taking maintenance days. Hronek logged more than 28 minutes on consecutive nights earlier in the week, while Garland, who was seen around the rink, is dealing with the usual wear and tear that comes with the territory at this time of year. Both Hronek and Garland are expected to be available for the games this weekend. Captain Quinn Hughes also took part in Friday&#8217;s session – his first full practice with the team in a couple of weeks.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With UBC playing host to both the men’s and women’s U Sports basketball championships this weekend, the Doug Mitchell Winter Sports Centre has the hardwood down. That left the Canucks to not only skate on one of the secondary sheets of ice on campus, but they also had to use the attached minor hockey locker rooms rather than the varsity facilities they normally use to change in.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Canucks are expected to have an optional morning skate on Saturday ahead of their game against the Blackhawks. Rick Tocchet wouldn’t reveal his goaltending plans for the weekend, but he did mention he didn’t think it was fair to ask Kevin Lankinen to play three games in four nights with Winnipeg here on Tuesday. So look for Arturs Silovs to get the call on Saturday, saving Lankinen for Sunday. Silovs’ lone NHL victory this season came against the Blackhawks on November 16th.</span></p>
<h1>What we heard</h1>
<p>Rick Tocchet on trying to protect Quinn Hughes from punishment down the stretch: &#8220;Do I want him to take the hits? No. You can be team tough by a pack of wolves I call it. Be hard on their best players is another thing. We&#8217;re more of a pack mentality. I told our players don&#8217;t go after their best players, but play their best players hard that&#8217;s the way you&#8217;ve got to do it. We don&#8217;t want Quinn taking hits or getting taking advantage of. Absolutely not. That&#8217;s something we&#8217;ll have to address down the road.&#8221;</p>
<p>Quinn Hughes feeling better by the day: &#8220;I feel healthier now. I feel back to where I want to feel. Now it&#8217;s just about performing which I&#8217;m going to try to do.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tyler Myers on missing the game in Calgary with a lower body injury suffered late in Tuesday&#8217;s game against Montreal: &#8220;I feel pretty good. It was one of those things if it wasn&#8217;t a back to back, I probably could have gone. I wasn&#8217;t quite ready, but feeling good now. There was a possibility I could have played, but it wasn&#8217;t quite ready by the time we got close to the game.&#8221;</p>
<p>Watch the raw footage of Demko back at Canucks practice here:</p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Raw Footage: Thatcher Demko participates in Canucks practice (March 14, 2025)" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B0npvRbBksQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong></p>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="329" data-promotion-id="19111" data-context="web-content-promocard"></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


<span style="font-weight: 400;">With a compressed schedule down the stretch, practice time is hard to come by for National Hockey League teams. The <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Vancouver Canucks</a> took Thursday as a full team day off after back to back games against Montreal and Calgary. And with another set of back-to-backs this weekend against Chicago and Utah, Rick Tocchet was careful about how hard he pushed his hockey club on Friday.</span>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2111" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="329"></div>
&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Canucks skated for about 35 minutes at the University of British Columbia. </span>
<h1><span style="font-weight: 400;">What we saw</span></h1>
https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1900616621204664662

<span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/watch-vancouver-canucks-goaltender-thatcher-demko-returns-practice">Thatcher Demko</a>’s first skate with the group in five weeks was the big news of the day. The plan all along was for Demko to take part in a handful of drills before leaving the ice earlier than his teammates. He’s not an option to play this weekend, but it was promising at the very least to see him involved in drills and not look like he was limited in any way.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Demko was out early along with Arturs Silovs and goaltender coach Marko Torenius. Kevin Lankinen hopped on the ice when the rest of the skaters joined the group. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-elias-petterson-full-go-return-chicago-blackhawks-tyler-myers-upgraded-probable">Tyler Myers was a full participant</a> at practice after missing Wednesday’s game against the Flames due to injury. And defenceman <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-d-elias-pettersson-exits-calgary-flames-after-headshot-connor-zary">Elias Pettersson</a> was fully involved in practice, too. That’s encouraging, given the treatment he received from Calgary’s Connor Zary that resulted in Zary being suspended for a pair of games. Head injuries are no joke, and so it was great to see that D-Petey did not suffer a concussion that would have forced him to miss key games at crunch time.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Canucks patch-worked their lines and defensive pairings on Friday with both Filip Hronek and Conor Garland taking maintenance days. Hronek logged more than 28 minutes on consecutive nights earlier in the week, while Garland, who was seen around the rink, is dealing with the usual wear and tear that comes with the territory at this time of year. Both Hronek and Garland are expected to be available for the games this weekend. Captain Quinn Hughes also took part in Friday's session – his first full practice with the team in a couple of weeks.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With UBC playing host to both the men’s and women’s U Sports basketball championships this weekend, the Doug Mitchell Winter Sports Centre has the hardwood down. That left the Canucks to not only skate on one of the secondary sheets of ice on campus, but they also had to use the attached minor hockey locker rooms rather than the varsity facilities they normally use to change in.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Canucks are expected to have an optional morning skate on Saturday ahead of their game against the Blackhawks. Rick Tocchet wouldn’t reveal his goaltending plans for the weekend, but he did mention he didn’t think it was fair to ask Kevin Lankinen to play three games in four nights with Winnipeg here on Tuesday. So look for Arturs Silovs to get the call on Saturday, saving Lankinen for Sunday. Silovs’ lone NHL victory this season came against the Blackhawks on November 16th.</span>
<h1>What we heard</h1>
Rick Tocchet on trying to protect Quinn Hughes from punishment down the stretch: "Do I want him to take the hits? No. You can be team tough by a pack of wolves I call it. Be hard on their best players is another thing. We're more of a pack mentality. I told our players don't go after their best players, but play their best players hard that's the way you've got to do it. We don't want Quinn taking hits or getting taking advantage of. Absolutely not. That's something we'll have to address down the road."

Quinn Hughes feeling better by the day: "I feel healthier now. I feel back to where I want to feel. Now it's just about performing which I'm going to try to do."

Tyler Myers on missing the game in Calgary with a lower body injury suffered late in Tuesday's game against Montreal: "I feel pretty good. It was one of those things if it wasn't a back to back, I probably could have gone. I wasn't quite ready, but feeling good now. There was a possibility I could have played, but it wasn't quite ready by the time we got close to the game."

Watch the raw footage of Demko back at Canucks practice here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B0npvRbBksQ&amp;pp=ygUSY2FudWNrcyBhcm15IGRlbWtv

<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="329" data-promotion-id="19111" data-context="web-content-promocard"></div>
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Scenes from Canucks practice: Demko joins group for first time in five weeks; Hronek and Garland take maintenance days

NHL betting preview for tonight's Game 2, all-Canadian matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers

Recent articles from Jeff Paterson

Breaking News