Travis Green, hired by the Canucks on April 26 as the replacement for Willie Desjardins, makes his NHL coaching debut.

Players to watch

Oilers goalie Cam Talbot will try for his second straight shutout to start the season. Talbot, who made 27 saves in the win against Calgary, had seven shutouts last season. 

Canucks forward Thomas Vanek will skate with Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin on the top line and power-play unit. It's a prime opportunity for Vanek, who had 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) with the Detroit Red Wings and Florida Panthers last season.

They said it

"It's important we keep some of the veterans alive right now. I'm not prepared to lose them or belief in them this early in the season." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan on scratching rookie forward KailerYamamoto for Iiro Pakarinen, who hasn't played in 10 days

"We've set our lineup to play against a really good Edmonton team that obviously has a strong No. 1 line and a really good No. 2 line and we've set our lineup accordingly, partially to who we are playing against. It's not like he's going to sit here for a month and not play." -- Green on scratching rookie forward Brock Boeser, who had five points (four goals, one assist) in the preseason

Oilers projected lineup

Patrick Maroon -- Connor McDavid -- Leon Draisaitl

Milan Lucic -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Zack Kassian

Drake Caggiula -- Ryan Strome -- Jussi Jokinen

Jujhar Khaira -- Mark Letestu -- Iiro Pakarinen

Oscar Klefbom -- Adam Larsson

Kris Russell -- Matt Benning

Darnell Nurse -- Eric Gryba

Cam Talbot

Laurent Brossoit

Scratched: Yohann Auvitu, Kailer Yamamoto

Injured: None

Canucks projected lineup

Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Thomas Vanek

Sven Baertschi -- Bo Horvat -- Loui Eriksson

Sam Gagner -- Alexander Burmistrov -- Jake Virtanen

Markus Granlund -- Brandon Sutter -- Derek Dorsett

Alexander Edler -- Christopher Tanev

Michael Del Zotto -- Erik Gudbranson

Ben Hutton -- Troy Stecher

Jacob Markstrom

Anders Nilsson

Scratched: Brock Boeser, Alex Biega, Derrick Pouliot

Injured: None

Status report

Kassian moves up from the fourth line into Yamamoto's spot on the second. … Horvat will play after missing the final two preseason games with a shoulder injury.

Stat pack

McDavid did not take a face-off Wednesday for the first time in his NHL career. … Vancouver has won its past three season openers.