Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced on Wednesday at noon that the club has sent forwards Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Max Sasson and defenceman Guillaume Brisebois to their AHL affiliate, Abbotsford Canucks.
The move comes one day after an uninspiring 6-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets to wrap up the Canucks five-game road trip. Vancouver returns home, winning just one of their games on the trip, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 after having to spend an extra night in Carolina after their 2-0 loss to the Hurricanes due to a snowstorm. The Canucks managed to snag two points in the form of overtime losses to the Montreal Canadiens and the Washington Capitals.
These roster moves leaves the Canucks with just 11 healthy forwards on the roster, as Dakota Joshua remains on the injured reserve list with a leg injury sustained on January 3rd against the Nashville Predators. This indicates another attempt at saving cap space from upper management, as the club will save more money for trade deadline space.
According to PuckPedia, the Canucks are projected to have $5,371,382 of available cap space at this year’s trade deadline.
Lekkerimäki played five games during this call-up. He scored one goal and one assist, had three shots on goal, and had a plus-two rating against the Canadiens. However, he was held pointless throughout the following four games and finished with a minus-three rating.
Brisebois suited up in three games this season, being held pointless, with an even rating, two shots on goal, two hits and four blocked shots while averaging 15:48 minutes of average ice time.
Sasson, on the other hand, has spent most of the season in Vancouver, scoring two goals and four assists for six points in 19 games.
Abbotsford plays the second half of a back-to-back against the Ontario Reign tonight and will have all three players available for this game if head coach Manny Malholtra sees fit.
With just 11 healthy forwards now on the Canucks roster, we would expect Sasson to earn the call-up for tomorrow night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.