Canucks send Nils Aman down to Abbotsford, recall Will Lockwood

The Vancouver Canucks have recalled forward Will Lockwood from the Abbotsford Canucks and have sent down Nils Aman.

The announcement came Friday morning from general manager Patrik Allvin:

After signing as a free agent this past offseason with the Canucks after the Colorado Avalanche chose to give up his draft rights by not signing him, Aman shocked everyone when he showed up and earned a spot on the Canucks’ main roster out of training camp.

Aman has held down the fourth line Centre job all season long, to varying degrees of success. Aman’s wingers have switched plenty throughout the season already, but the 22-year-old Swedish centre appears to have experienced a dip in performance lately.

He has just one goal and four assists at the NHL level this season, and now heads down to Abbotsford, joining the likes of Vasily Podkolzin, Nils Höglander, Jack Rathbone, and Danila Klimovich to further round out his game.

It bodes confidence that the Canucks have chosen to call up Will Lockwood instead of one of the players mentioned above to fill the hole left by Aman’s demotion.

Obviously, it’s a fourth line role that’s going to need to be filled, and the Canucks choosing not to use one of their young forwards who they’re trying to develop into much more than fourth liners is certainly a good thing.

Through 24 games with Abbotsford this season, the 24 year old Lockwood has 12 goals and six assists on the year.

At the NHL level, Lockwood serves as an energy guy in the Canucks’ bottom six who can chip in every once in a while on offence. He’s played one game for Vancouver this season, a game in which he tallied one assist.