Vancouver Canucks place Lane Pederson on waivers after he skated on the first line at morning skate

The Vancouver Canucks have placed forward Lane Pederson on waivers for the purpose of being reassigned to the Abbotsford Canucks, general manager Patrik Allvin announced Friday morning.

The news broke minutes after Pederson took shifts alongside Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko on the top line, which made the move seem especially strange.

Head coach Rick Tocchet’s answer post-AM skate answer didn’t really make it any clearer, either. Here is Tocchet’s quote on the matter.

“It’s all like a paperwork type of thing,” said Tocchet after morning skate. “Players like him, he’s trying to make it, right? And, you know, we’d like him to — you know, I haven’t really talked to the guys upstairs yet, but to continue this week, developing himself by playing maybe down in Abbotsford. We haven’t decided that yet, but I talked to Pedey, I’d want to play. Like, if you’re trying to make the NHL… and the reason I put them together, I think they had some success a week ago or something. Somebody told me that, so see if that helps.”

Tocchet said “we’ve got to talk” when asked if anyone would be coming up in Pederson’s place. Technically, Pederson can still play tonight — he can’t be sent down until he’s cleared waivers — but it’s very rare to see a player on waivers suit up.

Pederson earned a callup to Vancouver after scoring 17 goals in 18 AHL games with the Abbotsford Canucks. Upon being recalled, Pederson got a nice little run of games alongside Pettersson, where he didn’t look especially out of place. Through 10 games with Vancouver, Pederson tallied one goal and two assists. All of Pederson’s points came while playing alongside Pettersson.

If he clears waivers, Pederson will join an Abbotsford Canucks squad that has cooled off a bit lately after a tough run of games against some very strong AHL opponents.

Patrik Allvin is scheduled to meet with the media post game tonight, but that announcement came yesterday after the club signed Andrei Kuzmenko. Could Allvin have another major move up his sleeve today that he’ll be fielding questions about tonight?

No matter the case, his Canucks team will face off against the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets on home ice at 7 PM tonight. We’ll have a full scenes from morning skate article dropping soon.

More to come…?