After an intense few days on the ice, the Vancouver Canucks have wrapped up their 2026 training camp. The four days in Penticton featured plenty of battle drills and a first-hand look into how Manny Malhotra and his coaching staff plan on running the team. Overall, there were a number of intriguing moments, including when Malhotra and his staff joined the players for conditioning skates after practice was complete.
This year’s camp was Malhotra’s first as an NHL head coach. The 46-year-old was vocal throughout the four days and kept everyone on the same page. After the final on-ice session, Malhotra met with the media to share his thoughts on training camp in Penticton.
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“I was really happy with the progress of camp from having gone through all the preparation work and watching videos and analyzing everything and wanting to structure practices a certain way,” said Malhotra. “I feel like we executed the days the way we wanted it to. The guys were very adaptable. They picked up on all the concepts really quickly, and just even that game group. Skating, traveling, playing, traveling, skating again. They did an outstanding job of just not feeding into any excuse, and they just got the work done.”
The organization has a very different vibe than in previous years. One example is the players’ commitment level, as almost the entire team was in Vancouver for informal skates at the beginning of September. As Malhotra explained, the early preparation paid off as players were ready to go once training camp began.
“I think even just coming into it, they had a much better sense of urgency, knowing that they didn’t have three or four exhibition games to get up and going. Just talking to them prior to camp, they had made the decision to come in early September to get those skates in and get those touches in, and it was noticeable. There was no delay out there. When I asked them to push and step on the gas, they did so. They responded well to the way practice is supposed to look.”
Another big difference this year is the messaging from Malhotra, as well as the Sedins and Ryan Johnson. There is a real emphasis on ensuring that the team is hard to play against, regardless of the final score. When asked about the group’s buy-in, Malhotra was happy to report that everyone appears to be on the same page.
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“Very much so. Just in terms of the effort level, each guy pushing the next to do better and want to get better. Even in those corrective situations, when we’re talking to guys, they’re very receptive to the teaching and the corrections, and they want to get better. So from that standpoint, it’s been really good as well.”
Training camp also served as a learning opportunity for Malhotra. While he has attended plenty in during his career, this was the first time he was in charge of an NHL camp. As Malhotra explained, he is proud of the way training camp was run this year.
“When you look back on it, after each day, after each session, you kind of analyze how the drills went, how you could tweak them a little bit, timing-wise. Overall, yeah, it was a good experience. Having put everything together, realizing how much detail goes into every step, and obviously managing the number of bodies that we had, putting together game groups and practice groups, and trying to get every topic touched on was a pretty tall task, but our staff did a really good job of preparing for that in all aspects.”
With training camp now complete, the Canucks head back to Rogers Arena as they prepare for the 2026-27 season. The next nine days will be busy as Vancouver plays three pre-season games and makes more roster cuts leading up to September 29. If training camp was any indication, Malhotra will have his players ready to go when they open the campaign against the Edmonton Oilers.
Manny Malhotra at Vancouver Canucks Training Camp (Photo Credit: Adam Kierszenblat/The Hockey News)
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