The Vancouver Canucks announced a trio of roster moves early Sunday morning.

General Manager Patrik Allvin announced that defenceman Elias Pettersson has been assigned to AHL Abbotsford. In the same move, the club recalled defenceman Victor Mancini and goaltender Nikita Tolopilo.

Pettersson, 21, has appeared in 38 games this season, scoring one goal and five assists for six points. After a strong 28-game stint last season, Pettersson has not replicated the same level of defensive structure and physical game from last season. He has a minus-four rating, 12 penalty minutes and 64 hits in 13:40 minutes of average ice time.

The news comes after the Canucks’ 5-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada, when cameras panned to assistant coach Kevin Dean, who was going over a play with Pettersson on the bench. The young defenceman made a puck-watching mistake that led to the Leafs’ second goal (Max Domi’s) of the first period. He had 10 shifts through the first two periods, and nearly matched that once the game was out of reach for the third period, with eight shifts.

Mancini, 23, started the year in the NHL but, after a six-game stint in October and an injury, was sent down to Abbotsford. He has appeared in 20 AHL games, where he has one goal and five assists for six points with a minus-four rating. Last night in Abbotsford, Mancini nabbed a secondary assist on an early second period Cooper Walker goal, finishing with a plus-one rating, two penalty minutes and one shot on goal. He will compete with Pierre-Olivier Joseph for the sixth and final roster spot on the blueline.

Tolopilo, 25, has played well in the NHL already this season. He started games against the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild, finishing with a 2-1 record, a 2.74 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. Since that stint, Tolopilo has appeared in four games for Abbotsford, where he has a 2-1-2 record, a 3.15 goals against average, and an .872 save percentage. These numbers are heavily inflated after his last performance against the Bakersfield Condors, where he allowed five goals on 18 shots.

After Thatcher Demko left Saturday night’s contest against the Maple Leafs, Tolopilo will back up Kevin Lankinen for the time being. There is still no further update on the Demko injury. Tolopilo will assume backup duties until then.