With injuries and NHL call-ups depleting their blue line, general manager Ryan Johnson has announced that the Abbotsford Canucks have signed defenceman Robby Drazner to a professional try-out agreement.

Drazner represents a familiar face, having attended Abbotsford’s 2025 training camp and most recently skating with the Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL) to begin the season and professional career. Through three games with the Wings, the Buffalo Grove, Illinois native has recorded one assist and holds a minus-one rating.

The 6-foot-1, 194-pound defender is coming off a standout year with Western Michigan University, where he helped capture the 2024–25 NCAA National Championship.

The right-shot defender set career highs in games played (42), goals (five), assists (nine), and points (14) in his lone season with the Broncos. Prior to that, he spent four years at Miami University (Ohio), bringing his NCAA career total to 155 games played, 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists), and 59 penalty minutes.

Despite spending the majority of his career in the United States, Drazner may be familiar to British Columbia hockey fans. From 2018 to 2020, he played two full seasons with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers, registering 54 points (nine goals, 45 assists) and 63 penalty minutes across 115 games.

The signing comes amid a significant early-season roster shuffle. Abbotsford has recently lost Tom Willander, Kirill Kudryavtsev, and Victor Mancini to NHL recalls, while veteran blueliners Jett Woo (upper body) and Guillaume Brisebois (lower body) continue to recover from long-term injuries.

As a result, the organization has been left with limited options on the back end and may look to Drazner for some relief heading into a busy stretch of games at the Abbotsford Centre.

Abbotsford returns to action on Tuesday and Wednesday with back-to-back matchups at home against the Calgary Wranglers. The Canucks are 2-4-0 on the season, suffering four straight losses after winning the team’s opening two games of the season.