The Vancouver Canucks won’t be qualifying Danila Klimovich’s contract, allowing the pending restricted free to hit free agency on July 1st.

The news broke via Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali — The Team on a busy Saturday morning ahead of day two of the NHL Draft.

“Agent Dan Milstein tells me that client Danila Klimovich will test free agency on July 1st,” Dhaliwal wrote in a post to X/Twitter. “He is an RFA, but the Canucks were kind enough to accommodate the player’s request for a change of scenery.”

Klimovich, 23, tallied 18 goals and 16 assists through 63 games with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks last season. Klimovich has spent the entirety of his pro career with Ryan Johnson as his GM in Abbotsford, and the past two seasons with Manny Malhotra as his coach.

The Canucks originally drafted Klimovich with the 41st overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Klimovich has played 281 regular-season games with the Abbotsford Canucks, but never got the chance to make his NHL debut with Vancouver.

Last month, there was a report that Klimovich planned to head to the KHL. More specifically, that Klimovich was close to signing a two-year deal with CSKA. But as CanucksArmy reported at the time, Klimovich’s agent Dan Milstein poured cold water on that notion almost immediately.

“False. KHL is not being considered at this time at all,” Milstein told CanucksArmy.

Klimovich will now try his luck on July 1st and hope that a change of scenery will allow him to break through and eventually make his long-awaited NHL debut.

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