Canucks place Jack Studnicka on IR, call up red-hot Will Lockwood from Abbotsford

The Vancouver Canucks have made a roster move ahead of tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.

Jack Studnicka has been placed on injured reserve, and Will Lockwood has been called up from the Abbotsford Canucks.

Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali — The Team is reporting that Studnicka’s injury is of the lower-body variety.

Lockwood has been playing great hockey in the AHL over the past few weeks and is already out east as the Abbotsford Canucks travelled to Laval on Monday morning.

Over the past six games, Lockwood has five goals and one assist for Abbotsford and looks to be utilizing his speed and aggressiveness to create good situations on the ice for himself.

The 24-year-old recently joined us on the Canucks Conversation show on YouTube and spoke about how important speed is to his game and how he needs to be skating to be able to unlock his best strengths. Lockwood joins the show at 15:40.

Some would have asked for Linus Karlsson as a call-up, as he has been a point-per-game player in the AHL so far this season and has arguably been the Abbotsford Canucks’ top forward. Karlsson is going to be a call-up option if a top-nine position presents itself. With Studnicka going down, there’s an opening on the fourth line and that is the type of role that Lockwood needs to be able to fill if he is going to be able to move his NHL career forward.

Karlsson is still developing in the North American game and though he is looking much better at five-on-five than we thought he would, letting him cook in the AHL is a good move at this point in his career.

As for Lockwood, he is going to need to use his speed and aggressiveness to create havoc in a fourth-line role and on top of that, he is going to need to begin to have some sort of bottom line. He has played in 15 NHL games and is still without a point. He’s recorded 55 hits (3.7 per game), but been on the ice for only three goals for and eight goals against.

The Canucks are in action at 4 PM Pacific against the Sabres and Lockwood has likely already joined the team and could be right into the lineup tonight — depending on Vasily Podkolzin’s status after leaving Sunday’s game following his fight.