We are now just two days away from the official start of the NHL season. But today’s list of waivers is what the Vancouver Canucks have been waiting for as the fortunate team with the top waiver priority.

As we’ve covered, the Canucks have first waiver priority – and will hold that position until November 1 – to scoop up any players that interest them on the waiver wire after finishing last in the NHL standings last season. And wouldn’t you know it, the Canucks used their top priority to claim Ottawa Senators goaltender Leevi Meriläinen, who was our top target. Read all about that here!

Apologies for missing yesterday’s waiver list. Here is who the Canucks passed over on yesterday’s waiver wire:

Boston Bruins: Lukas Reichel (F) and Alex Steeves (F)
Columbus Blue Jackets: Miles Wood (F)
Calgary Flames: Alex Nylander (F)
Dallas Stars: Remi Poirier (G)
Florida Panthers: Tobias Bjornfot (D), Angus Crookshank (F), Casey Fitzgerald (D)
Los Angeles Kings: Scott Perunovich (D) and Taylor Ward (F)
Nashville Predators: Justin Barron (D)
New York Islanders: Mitchell Chaffee (F), Pierre Engvall (F), Liam Foudy (F), Daylan Kuefler (F), and Matt Luff (F)
Pittsburgh Penguins: Caleb Jones (D)
Washington Capitals: Justin Holl (D)

The New Jersey Devils claimed goaltender Remi Poirier, and the St. Louis Blues claimed defenceman Justin Barron.

Per PuckPedia, everybody else from yesterday cleared.

Here are the 71 players that have found themselves on waivers today:

Anaheim Ducks: Laurent Brossoit (G) and Travis Mitchell (D)
Boston Bruins: Henri Jokiharju (D)
Carolina Hurricanes: Juuso Valimaki (D)
Chicago Blackhawks: Landon Slaggert (F) and Dominic Toninato (F)
Colorado Avalanche: Wyatt Aamodt (D), Adam Beckman (F), Vinnie Hinostroza (F), Fabian Lysell (F), Keaton Middleton (D), and Tristen Nielsen (F)
Dallas Stars: Colin Blackwell (F)
Edmonton Oilers: Matt Tomkins (G)
Florida Panthers: Nathan Bastian (F), John Beecher (F), Sam Lafferty (F), Alexander Petrovic (D), Cole Reinhardt (F), Cole Schwindt (F), Kai Schwindt (F), and Donovan Sebrango (D)
Montreal Canadiens: Alex Belzile (F), Brett Berard (F), Kaapo Kahkonen (G), Hunter McKown (F), Sasha Pastujov (F), Samuel Poulin (F), Ethan Samson (D), Maksymilian Szuber (D), and Reilly Walsh (D)
Nashville Predators: Ilya Lyubushkin (D) and Nick Perbix (D)
New Jersey Devils: Vladislav Kolyachonok (D), Marc McLaughlin (F), David Rittich (G), Riley Tufte (F), Topias Vilen (D), and Colin White (F)
New York Islanders: Vitek Vanecek (G)
New York Rangers: Dylan Garand (G) and Taylor Raddysh (F)
Ottawa Senators: Sammy Blais (F), Samuel Bolduc (F), Tyler Boucher (F), Xavier Bourgault (F), Philippe Daoust (F), Christian Kyrou (D), Ryan Suzuki (F) and Philip Tomasino (F)
San Jose Sharks: Ilya Samsonov (G)
St. Louis Blues: Georgii Romanov (G) and Calle Rosen (D)
Tampa Bay Lightning: Nicolas Abruzzese (F), Michael Callahan (D), Maxim Groshev (D), Jakob Pelletier (F), Mads Sogaard (G)
Utah Mammoth: Ben McCartney (F)
Vancouver Canucks: Nikita Tolopilo (G)
Vegas Golden Knights: Ville Heinola (D), Alexander Holtz (F), Tanner Laczynski (F), Jonas Rondbjerg (F), and Antti Tuomisto (D)
Washington Capitals: Louie Belpedio (D), Jonny Brodzinski (F), Spencer Smallman (F), and Clay Stevenson (G)
Winnipeg Jets: Henry Thrun (D) and Danny Zhilkin (F)

A lighter list of ex-Canucks on waivers today: Tristen Nielsen, Sam Lafferty, and Sammy Blais. The big Canucks news, however, is that goaltender Nikita Tolopilo found himself on waivers today. This was expected, given that the Canucks claimed Meriläinen a few days ago.

In today’s crop of waived players, there isn’t much value up front. There are a couple of depth players like Hinostroza, Blackwell, and Raddysh, but none of them would really help the Canucks. However, one player that has always interested this author is Philip Tomasino.

Tomasino, 25, is a former 2019 first-round pick of the Nashville Predators. The 6′ right-shot forward had a decent rookie year (11 goals and 32 points in 76 games) and followed it up with decent numbers the following year (five goals and 18 points in 31 games). However, he has struggled to find his footing in the NHL. He’s bounced between the NHL and AHL for the last four seasons, so he’s far from a sure thing, but he’s still an exciting player when the puck is on his stick.

On the back end is where the Canucks are set up to extract some value, particularly if they are searching for a seventh defenceman.

Jokiharju, Middleton, Petrovic, Sebrango, Lyubushkin, Perbix, Kyrou, Heinola, Thrun

If the Canucks want to add some size on their backend to complement 6’7″ Jamie Oleksiak, 6’6″ Keaton Middleton could do just that. He played just three NHL games through his first six professional seasons, but the defensive defenceman has seen more NHL action over the past two years. Alex Petrovic also brings size at 6’5″ and is coming off his first season since 2018-19 in which he only played in the NHL. However, at 34, he may not be exactly what the Canucks are looking for.

Some potential younger options for the Canucks include Donovan Sebrango (24), Christian Kyrou (23), Ville Heinola (25), and Henry Thrun (25).

Sebrango is a 6’2″ left-shot defenceman who has played just four NHL games over the last two seasons, but has a decent pedigree as a former third-round pick. Christian Kyrou, brother of Washington Capitals forward Jordan, put together his best professional season last year with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, scoring 10 goals and 34 points in 55 games. Heinola has the best draft pedigree of the bunch as a 2019 first-round pick (20th overall by the Winnipeg Jets), but was never able to develop in Winnipeg. Thrun has gotten the most runway in the NHL, playing 123 games already. He’s likely the best bet for real NHL production among the younger group.

However, the three best options to fill a potential seventh defenceman role would be Henri Jokiharju, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Nick Perbix.

Jokiharju has exclusively played in the NHL since the 2019-20 season. However, he’s often served as an extra defenceman, as he’s never logged a full season, playing a high of 74 games with the Buffalo Sabres in 2020-21 and a low of 41 games last season with the Boston Bruins.

Lyubushkin has played nearly 500 NHL games throughout his eight-year NHL career. The Russian defensive defenceman has shown the ability to play difficult minutes; however, the $3.25 million price tag may be too rich for the Canucks’ blood as a spare defenceman.

Perbix is probably the most interesting name here for the Canucks. Since earning his first NHL shot as a 24-year-old in 2022-23, the 6’4″ right-shot defenceman has actually been serviceable. In his three seasons with the Lightning, he has posted at least 19 points. He saw a career-low point total last year with the Predators, scoring just 13 points, but played a lot more, averaging 19:07 minutes per game – two minutes per night higher than his previous career high. Perbix has one year remaining at $2.75 million. Still, with $16.83 million in cap space, his salary is something they could certainly stomach and potentially flip as a top right-shot defenceman option at the upcoming NHL Trade Deadline.

For our money, Perbix looks like the best defensive option on today’s waivers.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Is there anybody who hit waivers on September 27 that you want to see the Canucks claim on the NHL waiver wire? Let us know in the comments below!