With their recent transactions, the Canucks will have three open roster spots heading into the All-Star break

Patrik Allvin surprised the fanbase on Friday at 9:38 pm when he dropped the news that Ilya Mikheyev will be shut down for the season with an ACL injury.

This will send Mikheyev to long-term injury reserve as he hopes for a successful surgery and rehab with an eye on training camp next year as a return date.

Shutting down Mikheyev was the big story on the night of the final Canucks game before the All-Star break but there were two other moves that will impact the Canucks’ upcoming nine days off.

The team papered down Lane Pederson on Friday morning, and though he played in the evening, he is no longer on the Vancouver Canucks’ active roster. The Canucks also waived Phil Di Giuseppe on Friday night, and with those ternate moves, they now have three open roster spots.

The open roster spots on the NHL team give the Canucks flexibility on the trade market and if they are in fact looking for roster players in a Bo Horvat trade, they now have the space to accompany the new players.

We asked General Manager Patrik Allvin if this Canucks team required major surgery or if he was comfortable running it back with his trusted coach Rick Toicchet now in place with the team.

“We’re sitting here today and we’re not happy,” said Allvin. “I’m not happy. The players are not happy. Obviously, there needs to be a change. And it’s on us and the coaching staff here now to find solutions and how to play and who would fit into the way we want to play.”

I think that’s him saying they are leaning toward making big changes but I don’t truly know. New solutions could come from internally, I guess. And though the management group has talked about this roster needing major surgery, hearing Allvin talk about their good offer in place for Horvat is giving us big ‘run it back with a new coach‘ vibes.

The good news is that with the open roster spots, the Canucks have flexibility. On top of that, Mikheyev is going to go to LTIR and that should open up some space for the Canucks if they are looking to take back some bad money that expires after this season. The All-Star break is typically not a busy time for teams to be making trades but it does give a breather away from the day-to-day grind and allows management groups to have some time to have internal discussions about changes to their roster. The Canucks need to capitalize on acquiring assets from the Bo Horvat trade and they have set themselves up for maximum flexibility on their roster with the three roster moves on Friday night.

Sending Di Giuseppe and Pederson down to the AHL also gives them a chance to continue playing games. The Abbotsford Canucks are in action on Saturday and Sunday in Tucson against the Roadrunners before three games in four nights through California on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. After that, the AHL takes their all-star break and the (Abby) Canucks don’t play until Friday, February 10th, when they host the Roadrunners in Abbotsford.

The window is open for the Canucks to make whatever moves they want over the coming nine days. As much as we want to see the Canucks target players in the 18-21 age range, they seem to be consistent when talking about retooling and adding players in the 26 and under group. These type of players would likely be jumping right onto the NHL roster and as we’ve talked about, the Canucks do have space on their current roster for those players.

Do you see the Canucks making a big trade over the next nine days? And will it be for one or multiple roster players?

Let us know in the comments.