This is fantastic news for journeyman Biega after 4 full years in the AHL, the dream of being an NHL regular is on the horizon. Biega was recalled on December 1st after Luca Sbisa was forced out of the lineup and has filled in quite nicely in a depth role. Appearing in 21 NHL games this season, Biega has 4 assists and 10 PIM.

Biega’s possession numbers are decent at the moment. His 43.99 CF% is low, but not significantly worse than his teammates in games that he plays. He has benefited from strong goaltending while he’s on the ice; Miller and Markstrom have a 0.944 combined save percentage while Biega is on.

There had been rumblings that while the Canucks are starting to get healthier, that the Canucks were worried that Biega would not clear waivers on his way back to the AHL. This news obviously re-affirms their concern, as they want to ensure they protect their depth on the blue line.

While it’s great news for Alex Biega, the same cannot be said for Yannick Weber. As Biega has officially passed Weber on the depth chart and forced him to the press box. With Sbisa returning to the lineup, it was clear that Weber had become the Canucks 7th defenceman but the news of Biega staying with the team and the Canucks wanting to re-sign Biega just affirms that Weber likely won’t be a Canuck for much longer. With the trading deadline less than 6 weeks away, hopefully, the Canucks can parlay the pending unrestricted agent Weber into an asset, instead of letting him walk for nothing.

But, back to Biega, as mentioned above this is fantastic news for Alex personally, as he now knows that he will have an NHL salary for the remainder of the season. I always love this type of stories and it’s great to see someone who has worked extremely hard to achieve their goal, get there.

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