Scenes from a Canucks skate: Horvat talks contract, DiPietro arrives and Demko looks ready for the season

We’re back at the Scotia Barn – better known as 8 Rinks – in Burnaby this week for the continuation of the Canucks summer skates as more players arrive and prepare for training camp in Whistler at the end of the month.

Today we saw four well-known top 6 forwards, JT Miller, Brock Boeser, Conor Garland and Bo Horvat, take to the ice for the first time in these summer skates.

The group watched most of their NHL lineup in the presence of Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, who are rumored to be in town on Tuesday. We saw Tanner Pearson, Bo Horvat, JT Miller, Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, Curtis Lazar, Nils Höglander, Vasily Podkolzin, Andrey Kuzmenko, Ilya Mikheyev, Jason Dickinson, Tyler Myers, Tucker Poolman, Travis Dermott and Kyle Burroughs on the ice for the skaters. Thatcher Demko and Mikey DiPietro were the goalies running with the NHL squad.

Not only was there a large group of NHL players, but we also saw a second group that took to the ice after that, which included the majority of the Abbotsford Canucks players. Some important names from the second group were Danila Klimovich, Noah Juulsen, Jett Woo, Arshdeep Bains and Tristen Nielsen.

The stars align

We saw most of the team’s top 9 group out on the ice with Boeser, Miller, Horvat and Garland on Monday. The four forwards must have arrived over the weekend as they were ready to go to work early Monday afternoon and shed some summer rust.

Boeser is back! pic.twitter.com/LVfXoY2yg4

— 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀 Faber 🔥🎙 (@ChrisFaber39) 09/12/2022

With less than two weeks to go until training camp, it’s nice to see the top players taking the ice for summer skates. Boeser shot the puck with authority again and the surface was definitely louder when Miller and Garland were present.

Bruce Boudreau made an appearance where he shook some hands, kissed some babies and hung out on the bench for a few quick chats with passing skaters.

Mikey shows up

After a summer in which his agent was able to help the Canucks find a trade, goaltender Mikey DiPietro was on the ice with the NHL squad Monday.

The agent for G Michael DiPietro
Darren Ferris has permission from the Canucks to speak to teams and help with a trade.

— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) July 17, 2022

DiPietro had a strong season-ending with the Abbotsford Canucks but finds himself in a difficult position with how the organization has handled his development over the past two seasons. We expected DiPietro to be a horse for the AHL team last year, and although he finished the season with nine more games played than any other goaltender, he was jumped by Spencer Martin and now the team seems to be investing in the want younger goalkeeper Arturs Silovs.

There’s clearly a lot of talent left in DiPietro, who turned 23 in June. This is a big year for DiPietro, and the organization will need to commit to him again if an NHL future is in sight for the former Team Canada starting goalie with the World Juniors.

During his hot streak last season, DiPietro compiled a 9-2-2 record as the Abbotsford Canucks made their push to the playoffs. It’s still a valid question whether DiPietro will be a big part of the AHL team — let alone the organization — this season.

By all reports, DiPietro has been working extremely hard this offseason and wants to prove he’s still a valuable goaltender ready to turn the corner and set his sights on the NHL.

Demko is ready for game action

The Canucks’ starting goalie has been on the ice for a few weeks for these summer skates. Demko is spending a lot of time with Ian Clark and looks like he’s ready to get into the action as soon as possible.

We only have a brief clip of Demko rolling around and covering the puck during practice.

Demko things… pic.twitter.com/ydNPkXdmcB

— 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀 Faber 🔥🎙 (@ChrisFaber39) 09/12/2022

The only player made available to speak to the media was the captain Bo Horvat.

Horvat was asked about his summer and how recovering from injury has affected his off-season work. He mentioned that it has adjusted his schedule for returning to the gym a bit, but other than that he’s feeling great for the season and ready to work hard over the next 10 or so days to prepare for Whistler training camp.

“It wasn’t much different,” Horvat said when asked how he could recover from his injury before starting off-season training. “I just knew it had to take time to heal. But for myself, once it healed, I tried to get back to skating and get back on the ice as early as possible. For me, I’m getting better on the ice. As soon as I got the green light from the doctors, I started skating and have been on the ice ever since.”

He was also asked about his contract situation as the Canucks captain enters the 2022-23 season as an upcoming unrestricted free agent.

“It’s a lengthy process,” said Horvat. “I kind of leave that to my agency and Pat Morris and just keep it private. Of course I want to be in Vancouver and I want to stay here and I love our group. My wife and I love the city. If I wanted to play for one team my entire career, it would be the Vancouver Canucks. So obviously it’s a long process and we’ll see where it goes. It’s not my job to deal with it now. I’m back with the boys, looking forward to being back.”

This conversation isn’t going away anytime soon, and Horvat understands that this is a big hockey market in Canada. Any Canadian team that sees their captain in a season where he’s an unrestricted free agent will be history. Horvat said he was leaving with his agent Pat Morris.

“I’m just concentrating on playing,” said Horvat. “I’ll leave that to Pat, Patrik and Jim. For me, I just want to be a great leader. A guy who shows up every day and works hard and sets an example and then does whatever I can to help his team win because right now I’m playing for the Vancouver Canucks and that’s why I want to be.

Contract talk aside, Horvat had a laugh with the media as he discussed welcoming his second child into the family and how much changes when you have multiple children to parents.

“[I’m] busy, very busy, it changes things,” Horvat said, laughing. “I thought one was a lot and two was a whole different animal. Luckily she’s an angel and her brother beats her up but she just keeps smiling. He’s definitely a little jealous now. But no, they were great.”