Manny Malhotra joined the Vancouver Canucks for a physically intense bag skate at the start of the 2026 training camp in Penticton as the team’s preseason stretch begins next week.
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Vancouver opened its 2026 training camp in Penticton, B.C., with a physical bag skate that included new head coach Manny Malhotra skating at the same pace as the players.
The session was the first on-ice work before Vancouver’s preseason games begin next week. The camp is held in Penticton for four days, giving early conditioning and messaging a larger role than it would in a longer schedule.
Veteran defenceman Luke Schenn, who rejoined the Canucks in free agency this summer, said Malhotra’s decision to take part in the bag skate surprised him. Schenn described it as “a first” to be “toasted” in a bag skate by the coach, and said he had been told beforehand that Malhotra had done similar challenges in Abbotsford and had “arrived as advertised.”
For Zeev Buium, the bag skate reinforced the idea that the staff are not asking players to do more than they are prepared to do themselves. The 20-year-old said Malhotra, along with general manager Ryan Johnson and assistant coach Jason Krog, are “probably in better shape than half of us,” and that the message “pushes us” by setting expectations and showing coaches and management are “in this” with the group.
Malhotra said the coaching staff’s approach is rooted in shared responsibility, adding that they will not ask others to do what they are not willing to do themselves, describing it as “we are part of doing the work and building something.” After the four-day camp in Penticton, Vancouver plays four preseason games, starting with a road stop against the Seattle Kraken on Sept. 19. The regular-season opener is later that month on Sept. 29, when the Canucks host the Edmonton Oilers.
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