With just one preseason remaining, it was about time for the Vancouver Canucks to make some major cuts to their training camp roster.
They did exactly that on Tuesday, going from an unwieldy 40 players to a much more manageable 27 after cutting 13 players.
That brings them very close to the roster of 23 or fewer players that they’ll need to submit by October 7. It’s not quite there yet, even after including players on the injured reserve (IR), so there will be one final round of cuts, perhaps after Friday’s final preseason game.
The biggest news of this round of cuts is that Aatu Räty isn’t among them. The prospect forward has played in almost all of the Canucks’ preseason games to this point and impressed with his hard-nosed work along the boards, ability to win faceoffs, and well-rounded two-way game. Most of all, he’s shown that his skating — the biggest weakness of his game — has improved immensely.
It seems unlikely that Räty will be cut now, even though at least one more player will need to be sent down. It’s not just that Räty wasn’t among the cuts but who was: fellow prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki, fellow hopeful call-ups Linus Karlsson and Max Sasson, and, most importantly, veteran forward Phil Di Giuseppe.
It feels like if the Canucks were still considering sending down Räty, they wouldn’t have put Di Giuseppe on waivers. That seems like the biggest indication that Räty has made the Canucks’ opening night roster.
Still, nothing is certain in life except death, taxes, and Pass it to Bulis breaking down every cut the Canucks make to their training camp roster.
Lekkerimäki starts the season in the AHL
It’s not overly surprising to see Jonathan Lekkerimäki get sent down. The plan was always to bring along the Canucks’ top prospect slowly rather than rushing him to the NHL.
Starting off the season by playing big minutes with the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL will allow Lekkerimäki to get acclimatized to the smaller ice surface in North America and the quicker pace of play compared to the SHL in Sweden. If all goes well, he’ll go on a tear with Abbotsford and force his way into the NHL lineup sometime this season.
But it did seem like the Canucks gave him a legitimate shot at making the team out of camp. He was given the plum position of playing alongside Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk to start off camp and played in four of the team’s five preseason games.
Lekkerimäki never looked out of place in those games and made some smart plays away from the puck, whether on the forecheck or in the defensive zone. The one thing missing, however, was production.
Don’t get me wrong, Lekkerimäki put up points. In fact, he had 3 points — a goal and 2 assists — in 4 games to tie with Daniel Sprong for the team lead in preseason scoring.
But he had the opportunity to score even more and the points he did tally weren’t particularly compelling. His goal came on a lucky deflection, while one assist was a secondary assist that had little to do with the goal, and the other was on an empty-net goal.
Lekkerimäki’s play away from the puck is an encouraging sign that once he gets to the NHL, he’ll be able to earn the trust of his coach and stay in the NHL. But what will get him to the NHL in the first place is his offence. With no need to rush him with the team’s winger depth, the Canucks made the right call for him to hone his offensive game in the AHL.
Di Giuseppe hits the waiver wire
When a Rick Tocchet favourite like Phil Di Giuseppe gets put on waivers, you know things just got serious.
Di Giuseppe has been a plug-and-play winger for Tocchet, playing everywhere from the first line to the fourth line, along with a regular role on the penalty kill. With younger forwards knocking on the door at this year’s camp, however, the 30-year-old’s spot on the team was in jeopardy.
Unfortunately, Di Giuseppe struggled in the preseason. In the two preseason games in NHL arenas for which we have full play-by-play data, shot attempts were 21-to-10 for the opposition when Di Giuseppe was on the ice at 5-on-5, and in the neutral site game in Abbotsford, he was a minus-2.
Simply put, he was outperformed by Räty and some of the other players battling for spots, including arguably Nils Åman, who is also still on the roster.
This is familiar territory for Di Giuseppe, who has spent his entire career bouncing between the NHL and AHL. It was only last season that he stuck in the NHL for the entire year. He has the ability to put up a lot of points in the AHL, so he could be a major leader in Abbotsford if he gets through waivers and a strong candidate to get called up when injuries strike.
Kudryavtsev and Pettersson report to Abbotsford
The Canucks gave rookie defencemen Kirill Kudryavtsev and Elias Pettersson a long look in the preseason, perhaps because they know they’ll need them.
The left side of the Canucks’ defence is set, with Quinn Hughes, Carson Soucy, and Derek Forbort. The trouble is that two of those three defencemen have seen some significant injuries in recent seasons.
Soucy played just 40 games last season while battling multiple injuries, while Forbort played just 35. That’s not even a full 82-game season between the two of them. Obviously, both are hoping for healthy 2024-25 campaigns but that’s not necessarily something the Canucks can bank on happening.
It makes sense, then, that the Canucks gave Kudryavtsev and Pettersson a chance to prove themselves in the preseason and get used to the pace and competition of the NHL. It also makes sense that they’ll start the season in the AHL, where they can play more minutes in their rookie seasons.
Kudryavtsev, in particular, impressed the Canucks’ coaching staff in the preseason, with Tocchet frequently bringing him up unprompted. His poise with the puck was notable, as he didn’t panic under pressure and made plays to break the puck out cleanly.
In addition, Kudryavtsev’s focus on refining his defensive game this past season paid off, as he gave up little at the defensive end even against tough competition. At the very least, Kudryavtsev showed that he’s a lot further along in his development than anticipated and could be very close to NHL-ready.
As for Pettersson, Tocchet had praise for him too, but he was a little shakier than Kudryavtsev. Particularly early in the preseason, Pettersson was prone to panic plays under pressure. There was even one instance where he wasn’t under pressure at all, but spun and fired the puck off the glass and out instead of making a simple pass.
Still, Pettersson settled in as the preseason progressed, even as the competition grew stiffer. Overall, it was a solid showing for the 20-year-old. He looks like he’s on the right path to become an NHL defenceman but that path will have to lead through the AHL for now.
Karlsson and Sasson lost battles to Räty, Bains, Åman
There were jobs to be won at this year’s Canucks training camp and Linus Karlsson and Max Sasson were considered major candidates to win those jobs.
Karlsson had a fantastic season in the AHL last year, putting up 60 points in 60 games. That earned him a call-up to the NHL and he even got into the lineup in a top-six role alongside Pettersson in two playoff games.
Meanwhile, Sasson put up 42 points in 56 games in the AHL last season and earned praise for his speed and two-way game, with a style of play that seems designed for a coach like Tocchet. He came into camp on a high after he was one of the Canucks’ best players at the Young Stars Classic.
Unfortunately, neither Karlsson nor Sasson really stood out in the preseason. They weren’t bad, by any means, but they never set themselves apart as being clearly better than their peers. With both still exempt from waivers, it was easy for the Canucks to send them down to start the season in the AHL.
Meanwhile, Räty remains on the Canucks roster along with Arshdeep Bains and Nils Åman, who did stand out for various reasons. I already talked about Räty but Bains has been the Canucks’ best two-way forward in the preseason, while Åman has quietly played his usual shutdown defensive game.
One or more of Räty, Bains, and Åman may still get sent down before the start of the regular season but, for now, they’ve shown they’re higher on the hierarchy than Karlsson and Sasson.
Abbotsford gets the rest of their team back
The other seven players cut on Tuesday were no surprise, as all seven were expected to be sent down to the AHL: forwards Nate Smith and Ty Mueller, defencemen Christian Wolanin, Christian Felton, and Cole McWard, and goaltenders Nikita Tolopilo and Jiri Patera.
Of this group, McWard might have had the best chance at making the Canucks out of camp but he was recovering for an offseason surgery and missed all of training camp and the preseason. In any case, he would have had a tough time making the team given all of the right-shot defencemen ahead of him on the NHL roster.
There was also a chance that Tolopilo outperformed Arturs Silovs at camp and in the preseason, but that would have required a significant collapse from Silovs after he played such a major role in the Canucks’ playoff run. As it is, Tolopilo didn’t get a long look in the preseason, playing in just one period, though it should be noted he stopped all eight shots he faced in that period.
Nate Smith and Ty Mueller looked the part of depth forwards in the preseason. They had flashes of positive play, including a goal for Smith and a couple of decent scoring chances for Mueller, but they otherwise looked a step behind the pace of play.
The 25-year-old Smith has earned call-ups to the NHL before and he’s one of the few right-shot centres in the Canucks’ system, so don’t count him out.
The 21-year-old Mueller, on the other hand, is just starting his professional career and will look to establish himself as a high-energy, two-way forward in Abbotsford and work his way up the depth chart.
Wolanin will join Guillaume Brisebois in Abbotsford as the Canucks’ only veteran options on defence in the AHL. If the Canucks’ prospect defencemen don’t prove worthy of a call-up this season, Wolanin would be an option on the left side. He looked capable of playing NHL minutes in the preseason, as he has in the past.
The 24-year-old Felton, meanwhile, will be playing his rookie professional season after four years in the NCAA. He’s behind McWard and Jett Woo on the right side but he looked quite good in camp and in the preseason, with some surprising instincts in the offensive zone for a player billed as a defensive defenceman.
Finally, there’s goaltender Jiri Patera, who could end up in an awkward spot.
When Patera signed with the Canucks, it seemed clear that he would be battling Tolopilo for third on the goaltending depth chart. With Thatcher Demko’s injury rehab and the Canucks adding veteran backup Kevin Lankinen, Patera is suddenly battling for fourth on the depth chart and could wind up as a third-string AHL goaltender if Silovs gets sent down to Abbotsford after Demko’s return.
That’s less than ideal for Patera, even if it represents good goaltending depth from the Canucks’ perspective. But barely playing in the AHL or getting starts in the ECHL was likely not what Patera was anticipating after he got into six NHL games last season.
That said, Patera didn’t help his cause with his one preseason start, giving up 3 goals on just 19 shots, including a weak one from distance. If he was trying to make the argument that he should be above Tolopilo in the depth chart, he didn’t make it particularly well.
Vancouver Canucks current roster
After the 13 cuts, the Canucks have 27 players remaining at camp: 15 forwards, 9 defencemen, and 3 goaltenders. That includes a few players who are on injured reserve, which could make things complicated in terms of the salary cap.
The Canucks want to avoid going into LTIR to start the season but it may be unavoidable if Dakota Joshua and Thatcher Demko aren’t ready to return by opening night.
Teddy Blueger missed training camp while recovering from a minor surgery but returned to practice on Tuesday, so is presumably ready to go.
Akito Hirose left Monday’s game after he was hit hard into the boards by Adam Klapka, so could be on the IR to start the season or could be sent down to the AHL.
If Joshua, Demko, and Hirose remain on the IR, that leaves 24 players on the active roster, requiring at least one more cut by the October 7 deadline. That cut could come to a forward like Bains, Räty or Åman or defenceman Mark Friedman. Most likely, the final cut will come down to Bains and Åman.
Here’s the current Canucks roster:
FORWARDS
Danton Heinen - J.T. Miller - Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk - Elias Pettersson - Daniel Sprong
Nils Höglander - Teddy Blueger - Conor Garland
Arshdeep Bains - Pius Suter - Kiefer Sherwood
Aatu Räty - Nils Åman
IR
Dakota Joshua
DEFENCEMEN
Quinn Hughes - Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy - Vincent Desharnais
Derek Forbort - Tyler Myers
Mark Friedman - Noah Juulsen
IR
Akito Hirose
GOALTENDERS
Arturs Silovs
Nikita Tolopilo
IR
Thatcher Demko
