The 2026-27 regular season begins Tuesday night, and the Vancouver Canucks open with a matchup in Edmonton against the Oilers.
Tuesday will be the first of four meetings between the two Pacific Division foes this season. And remember, we will play 84 games in the NHL regular season, as we did in 1992-93 and 1993-94.
After closing out the preseason with a comeback win on Saturday night, the Canucks brought some good vibes into Monday’s final practice before the season began. Head Coach Manny Malhotra said he liked his group’s play on Saturday night, but they must stay focused on execution.
“We’ve talked about how we felt over the course of the last week and a bit, just in terms of the way camp has been laid out and the progression that we’ve made as a group, and then the exclamation point being the win the other night. We felt like it’s starting to come together,” said Malhotra.
“Now that it’s for real, obviously it’s going to jack up the intensity once again. So, it’s going to magnify the importance of just execution and being crisp in what we’re talking about systematically.”
Quick Hits on the Competition
- The Oilers finished last season with a 41-30-11 record and were second in the Pacific Division.
- They moved on from head coach Kris Knoblauch and hired Mike Babcock to be their new coach.
- Between the pipes, the Oilers are running with a duo of Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi. Jarry is the projected starter for Tuesday’s game.
- Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have played together on the Oilers’ top line throughout the preseason and skated with Vasily Podkolzin at Monday’s practice.
- McDavid is entering his 12th NHL season and turns 30 this year. He has had nine seasons with over 100 points and put up 138 last year, the second-most he has ever had in a season.
- Burnaby’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is playing centre on the second line. Zach Hyman and Kasperi Kapanen round out the Oilers’ top-six.
- Notable new additions to this year’s Oilers roster include defencemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Ryan Shea, and forward Mathieu Joseph.
The Story: New Guy Leevi
The Canucks added goaltender Leevi Meriläinen to the group over the weekend, and the Finnish netminder will join fellow countryman Kevin Lankinen as the netminder duo to begin the season.
Meriläinen was selected in the third round, 71st overall, in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and has made 32 starts in his young NHL career. The 24-year-old had a strong 2024-25 season with the Ottawa Senators, posting an 8-3-1 record in 12 games with a .925% save percentage and three shutouts.
General Manager Ryan Johnson said Meriläinen was a goaltender they targeted and that if he hit waivers, the club would take a serious look at him. They ultimately saw enough that they liked and scooped him up off waivers on Friday.
“We just felt it was something with where we were at, with his pedigree, and where he’s at in his process, that it fit with where we were as an organization,” said Johnson in a media availability on Friday.
Monday was Meriläinen’s first practice with the Canucks, and he spoke about the opportunity following practice.
“It’s been a long few days packing everything up in Ottawa and getting here,” said Meriläinen. “It’s exciting for sure; it’s an opportunity for me to take, and I’m going to try to do that. I’m just going to be ready to play whenever.”
When and Where to Watch
Tuesday’s game is at 7:00 p.m. PT, and you can watch the game on Sportsnet or listen to Brendan Batchelor’s radio call on KISS West Coast.
