On Tuesday, Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced that the team has called up forward Linus Karlsson from the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, under emergency conditions.
The announcement comes just days after centre Filip Chytil missed Sunday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club. The Canucks ended up losing the game 3-1. Chytil and Conor Garland were both absent from the Canucks’ morning skate in the lead-up to Monday night’s clash with the Winnipeg Jets – the best team in the Western Conference.
This is the fourth time Karlsson has been called up to the big club. He last joined the Canucks on Feb. 8, though he didn’t see any action. The 25-year-old’s last appearance in the NHL came in a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 4.
So far this season, he’s played nine games with Vancouver, scoring his first career NHL goal on Jan. 29 in a 3-1 win against the Nashville Predators. The Swedish centre has a plus/minus of +1 this year with the Canucks, averaging just under 10 minutes of ice time per game.
Karlsson played just four games with Vancouver last season, not registering any points.
With Abbotsford, Karlsson continues to be a solid producer. In 30 games, he has notched 21 goals and 13 assists for 34 points, his best points-per-game total of his AHL career.
In 162 games in the young Canucks, Karlsson has registered 143 points, including four points in 12 Calder Cup Playoff games. His 68 career goals are the most in the affiliate’s history since they moved from Utica.
Karlsson was recently signed to a one-year, one-way contract extension with a cap hit of $775,000 for the 2025-26 season. He is in the final year of his current one-year, two-way deal, which also has a league minimum salary.
Vancouver (31-25-11) is fourth in the Pacific Division, hanging on to the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.