The Vancouver Canucks have cut defencemen Victor Mancini and Tom Willander ahead of the NHL’s Monday 2 PM PST roster deadline. General manager Patrik Allvin made the announcement following Sunday’s practice out at UBC.

While Willander showed some promising signs during his first NHL preseason, it quickly became apparent that the best place for him to refine his skills to begin his pro career was down in the AHL under the watchful eye of Manny Malhotra and the rest of the Abbotsford Canucks’ coaching staff. After all, it took just a few months in Abbotsford last season for a very raw looking Elias Pettersson to make it abundantly clear that he was ready for an extended look at the NHL level. Hopefully Willander is able to follow a similar path this season.

As for Mancini, he turned in a relatively strong preseason, and seemed to get better with each game he played. Acquired last season in the JT Miller trade, Mancini dominated at the AHL level for stretches during the Abby Canucks’ playoff run, and he certainly looks to be on the cusp of earning his keep in the NHL. In the end, the Canucks’ coaching staff elected to go with Pettersson as the winner of the much-talked-about preseason battle for one of the final defence spots between Pettersson, Mancini, and Willander.

That leaves the Canucks’ defence corps looking something like this heading into the start of the regular season:

Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson – Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort – Elias Pettersson
PO Joseph

The team is now at a roster size of 23 players, making them compliant for tomorrow. Their roster should look something like this:

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser
Bains – Chytil – Garland
Kane – Cootes – Lekkerimäki
O’Connor – Blueger- Sherwood
Karlsson/Raty
Hughes – Hronek
M.Pettersson – Myers
Forbort – E. Pettersson
Joseph
Demko
Lankinen
IR: Hoglander, Brisebois, Woo

This roster gives the Canucks $1.33 million of cap space to begin the regular season. If anyone else is placed on IR and another player is recalled, the Canucks will be around $0.47 million.