The 6 biggest dark horses to claim a roster spot at Canucks Training Camp 2025

Anytime the countdown gets to ten or fewer, you know you’re getting close. And as you read these words, we are approximately T-minus ten days until the opening of Vancouver Canucks Training Camp in Penticton, BC, and thus the launch sequence of the 2025-26 NHL season.

As we’ve spent the last month or so covering, this year’s edition is set to be a particularly competitive camp with lots on the line. If there is anything defining the Canucks this season, it’s the litany of question marks and ‘what ifs’ surrounding the team. Training Camp is where some of those questions will start to be answered.

But for a franchise that has 47 different players under contract, and will be inviting the majority of them to camp, there are inevitably some names that we’ve missed mentioning much this summer.

Every Training Camp has its dark horses, and given the uncertainty around the Canucks at this point in time, it stands to reason that they’ve got a larger stable than the average franchise.

Below, we’re going to take a look at some players that haven’t been penciled into many rosters this offseason, but who still stand a chance of at least making some noise in Penticton.

And maybe, just maybe, beating the odds to actually steal a roster spot for themselves.

Nils Åman

C, 25, 6’2”, 179lb

If there was an annual award for Most Forgotten Canuck, it would be Åman’s to lose. Once thought to have a potential long-term future as a bottom-six NHL centre, Åman has been leapfrogged on the centre depth chart by both Aatu Räty and Max Sasson in quick succession, and that’s left him on the outside of most roster projections looking in. It says a lot when someone is still technically on the NHL roster from last season and is still not penciled into anyone’s mock-ups of next year’s roster.

That’s all exacerbated by a weird end to the season for Åman. He was recalled in mid-February and then not papered back down to Abbotsford at the Trade Deadline, which meant he was ineligible for the AHL playoffs. Then, he got injured through a scary board collision at practice and missed the end of the NHL season, too. Where a lot of players in the organization were making their name with late-season NHL cameos or a deep Calder Cup run, Åman was on the sidelines, being forgotten about.

Still, if there’s one thing the Canucks aren’t deep on, it’s centres, and you never know what a player might accomplish in any given offseason. Åman has always had the size, the skating, and a medium amount of skill. Last year, he started to show some inklings of physicality. If he’s also added some faceoff ability, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he steals that 4C job away in camp, or at least comes out of it as the 13^th utility forward.

Chase Stillman

RW, 22, 6’1”, 185lb

You will probably remember Stillman as the mostly-disappointing ‘centrepiece’ of the Arturs Silovs return. Unfortunately, disappointment has been a theme for a player once selected at 29^th overall who has since topped out at 24 points in a single AHL campaign.

But what Stillman has going for him is rambunctiousness. He’s been described as ‘hard to play against,’ and is starting to develop a reputation as an agitator – or a rat, in less-polite terms. And given the success of the Florida Panthers, we might just be entering a few consecutive Years of the Rat around the NHL.

If Stillman can get into some preseason games and then get under the skin of the opposition, that might be exactly the kind of positive attention that can get him onto the Canucks’ radar for 2025-26. Even if he doesn’t crack the roster right out of camp – and he’s battling uphill against several PPG players at the AHL level who just won a championship together – he could at least land his name higher on the recall list, particularly for games against rival teams.

Jett Woo

RD, 25, 6’0”, 205lb

Plenty of folks are rooting for Abbotsford’s all-time games played leader amongst blueliners, especially after he was a leading contributor to the Calder Cup win. Despite him still waiting for his first NHL game, Woo enters Training Camp with a better chance of cracking the NHL roster than most will give him credit for.

It all comes down to handedness. Woo is just one of five right-shot defenders in the entire organization. Two of them, Filip Hronek and Tyler Myers, are locked into roster spots. Two more of them, Tom Willander and Victor Mancini, are expected to battle it out for the final 3RD spot.

But if both Willander and Mancini look as though they need some extra seasoning in the AHL, that would significantly up Woo’s chances. Sure, most projections have P-O Joseph ranked ahead of him on the depth chart, but Joseph is another LD, and if Willander and Mancini are in Abbotsford, it’s tough to imagine the Canucks rolling with a roster of six LD and just two RD. Even if it’s as a pressbox extra 8D, Woo has a real shot at this.

As we’ve mentioned recently, Woo still probably qualifies as the hardest hitting player in the organization. One has to imagine that’s something that incoming coach Adam Foote especially values. 

Braeden Cootes

C, 18, 6’0”, 183lb

We’re not the first to bring up the possibility of Cootes playing at least a nine-game cameo for the Canucks this season. He might not have NHL size or strength yet, but his skating and smarts are a plus, and everyone knows there’s not an abundance of competition at centre.

Actually, speaking of that, the Canucks’ inability to land a long-term 2C this summer increases the odds that they’re looking at Cootes as the eventual medium-term solution there. If they’d like to start him toward that role as soon as next season, then a little audition to start this season isn’t the worst idea in the world.

One thing working in Cootes’ favour: he is quite literally the only right-handed centre in the entire organization. The smart money is on him returning to the WHL for one last season before the rule changes allow him to join the AHL as a 19-year-old next year. But stranger things have happened in Vancouver!

Danila Klimovich

RW, 22, 6’2”, 202lb

This was a quiet breakout campaign for Klimovich with new career highs across the board. At the same time, his still-occasional healthy scratches got just as much press, and maybe that’s fair. Klimovich really started gaining some positive attention in the AHL playoffs, where he was still an occasional healthy scratch, but made the most of his time in the lineup with some clutch overtime winners.

He remains one of the best shooters in the organization, and has that intriguing blend of attitude and snarl not typically seen in a player with his profile. There are still an abundance of holes in his game, but we’ve talked already about the power of a single productive offseason, and maybe Klimovich has sealed up some of those deficiencies this summer.

The fact that he is still exempt from waivers seriously hurts his chances of beating out some of his Abbotsford teammates for a spot this year. But a good showing could at least put him more on the big team’s radar than he was before, and that could lead to his first NHL call-up down the line.

Mackenzie MacEachern

LW, 31, 6’2”, 193lb

Meet your new Phil di Giuseppe!

If any veteran is going to come out of nowhere and challenge for a spot in camp, as Di Giuseppe made a habit of doing the past several seasons, it’s probably MacEachern. He’s a 31-year-old veteran of 123 NHL games and several hundred in the minors. He played on the 2018-19 Cup-winning St. Louis Blues roster as a rookie (though not in the playoffs) and has bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL ever since.

Like Di Giuseppe, MacEachern is someone who came up as a skilled draftee and then had to develop his game into that of a hardworking grinder. He’s earned plenty of accolades for his work ethic and for being a highly coachable player. Sounds like the exact sort of player who might win the hearts of Foote and Co. in camp, and someone who might give the established crew in Abbotsford more of a run for their money than most are expecting.

Yankees Must Pursue 261-Home Run Japanese Slugger to Solve First Base Problem

As the New York Yankees close in on another playoff berth, Aaron Boone and management once again face a first base-sized problem in their lineup.

Age and nagging injuries have slowed former NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, who is batting .245 with two home runs, seven RBIs, and a .649 OPS over 117 second-half plate appearances. Although budding star Ben Rice has played more first base in recent weeks, his future might be behind the plate, especially given Austin Wells’ prolonged inconsistency.

And as for that whole Aaron Judge playing first base idea? Any position change involving the AL MVP frontrunner would almost certainly wait until next spring at the earliest.

We feel safe assuming that Goldschmidt, who turns 38 on Sept. 10, won’t be wearing the Yankees pinstripes next year. Goldschmidt’s likely departure, coupled with Rice possibly becoming the Yankees’ full-time catcher, could open the door for a new first baseman — and veteran Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami makes perfect sense, assuming that the Yakult Swallows enter him in the posting system.

If you’re unfamiliar with Murakami, we suggest getting caught up ahead of his potential U.S. arrival. A 25-year-old corner infielder who previously played for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic, Murakami owns 261 home runs across eight Japanese seasons.

Murakami is one of the most revered home run hitters in Japanese history, mashing a single-season record 56 homers in 2022. Interestingly, that was the same season Judge set a new American League record with 62 home runs.

Munetaka Murakami would be a perfect fit for the Yankees

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last week that the Mets and San Diego Padres have each scouted Murakami in person, with Padres executive A.J. Preller even seeing Murakami’s three-home run game in late August.

Passan projected that Murakami could command a significant free agent deal despite being a strikeout-prone corner infielder. Not only do the Yankees have a reputation for handing out lofty contracts, but they’ve frequently acquired Japanese players — both as international free agents and established major leaguers, such as Ichiro and Hiroki Kuroda — for nearly 30 years.

Theoretically speaking, the Yankees could also put Murakami at third base and give first base to Rice. However, the recently acquired Ryan McMahon still has two years of team control left, and there’s no indication that the Yankees would give up on him playing third just yet.

We’ve seen how a left-handed, power-hitting first baseman fares with Yankee Stadium’s right field short porch. Jason Giambi and Anthony Rizzo took full advantage, as did switch-hitting All-Star and aspiring Congressman Mark Teixeira. Murakami will play all of next season at 26, and he’d immediately join a loaded lineup with Judge, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and a resurgent Giancarlo Stanton.

All of that sounds good to us, though we doubt the rest of the AL East feels the same way. But if the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays want to avoid seeing Murakami in pinstripes, we suggest they pony up and break out the big bucks themselves.

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