Vancouver Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk.

Photo credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote has made a veteran forward a healthy scratch ahead of their game on Monday night in Seattle against the Kraken.

Thanks to multi-point efforts from a trio of players, including North Vancouver’s Macklin Celebrini, the San Jose Sharks walked away with a 6-3 win over the Canucks, with Adam Foote and the coaching staff knowing they’ll need to make some changes to their lineup as we close out 2025.

With just two games to go before the New Year and a back-to-back scenario for the Canucks, Head Coach Adam Foote has decided to make some drastic moves to his forward group ahead of tonight’s game against their Pacific Northwest rivals, the Seattle Kraken.

Vancouver Canucks make veteran forward healthy scratch for tonight’s game

Less than 24 hours after their loss to San Jose, the Canucks were back on the ice for practice at Rogers Arena before departing for Seattle and Adam Foote took the opportunity to shake up the team’s forward lines.

While things could certainly change before tonight’s game, Brock Boeser has been bumped up to the top line alongside Elias Pettersson and Evander Kane, while Aaty Raty and Nils Hoglander were back in the rotation, skating on the third and fourth lines, respectively, after sitting out Saturday’s game versus the Sharks.

With Raty and Hoglander expected to return to the lineup, Adam Foote and his coaching staff have made the tough decision to make Jake DeBrusk a healthy scratch for the first time as a Vancouver Canuck and nearly 18 months after he put pen-to-paper on a massive seven-year deal to join the club.

“#Canucks at practice Sunday

Kane-EP40-Boeser
Öhgren-Rossi-Garland
O’Connor-Raty-Sherwood
Hoglander-Sasson-Karlsson
*DeBrusk-Kampf-(Chytil) extras

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DPetey-Willander” Jeff Paterson of Rink Wide: Vancouver said on X.

“It’s embarrassing. I mean, anytime you miss a game, it’s, yeah, it’s embarrassing. I’d be wrong if I wasn’t saying I’d be pissed off right now, but I understand. And I need a jolt too, I obviously haven’t been good enough. Anytime that you’re in this position, it’s lots of things. So, you know, I gotta control what I can do from this point forward and just worry about me. I think there’s a lot of different things. The good thing about this situation, in my previous times being scratched, you have a clean slate. So I care less about what has happened.” DeBrusk said.

After a slow start to the season in October, DeBrusk picked up the pace in November with six goals in 14 games, but unfortunately for the Canucks, their third-highest paid forward hasn’t had a great December, leading to his healthy scratch on Monday.

In 11 games this month, the Edmonton, Alberta native has just one goal and five points and while the Canucks may have already written off this season amid their “hybrid retool” plans, they still need more out of DeBrusk and we’ll have to wait and see if he’s back in the lineup for their final game of 2025 on Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily

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Vancouver Canucks make eye-opening decision to healthy scratch veteran forward against the Seattle Kraken

Do you agree with Adam Foote’s decision to make Jake DeBrusk a healthy scratch?