The day after the Vancouver Canucks played their penultimate preseason game against the Edmonton Oilers, the club announced a massive wave of 13 players being re-assigned to the teams American Hockey League affiliate Abbotsford Canucks.
The club placed forwards Philip Di Giuseppe, Nate Smith, defencemen Christian Wolanin and goaltender Jiri Patera on waivers for the purpose of assignment to Abbotsford. They also assigned forwards Linus Karlsson, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Ty Mueller, Max Sasson, defencemen Christian Felton, Cole McWard, Kirill Kudryavtsev, Elias Pettersson and goaltender Nikita Tolopilo.
General Manager Patrik Allvin has announced that the #Canucks have made the following roster updates: pic.twitter.com/7HYH94iWzF
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 1, 2024
Di Giuseppe, Smith, Lekkerimäki, Mueller, Sasson, Wolanin and Kudryavtsev all suited up in last night’s game. Smith and Kudryavtsev were the only two to connect on a scoring play as Smith tipped Kudryavtsev’s wrist shot through the five-hole of Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner.
Lekkerimäki led the Canucks in preseason points, finishing with one goal and two assists. He spent most of his time playing in the top six, especially alongside Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. The trio showed some chemistry through training camp, but ultimately, the club valued time in Abbotsford. There, he can be the focal point of an offence to further his development.
Among those cut today, only Lekkerimäki (3), Karlsson (1), Sasson (1), Smith (1) and Kudryavtsev (1) tallied a point during the preseason.
This wave of cuts leaves forwards Nils Åman, Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Räty battling for one or two roster spots with Dakota Joshua and Teddy Blueger’s status in question. Meanwhile, defencemen Akito Hirose, Mark Friedman, and Noah Juulsen battle it out to become the seventh defenceman.
Räty has been impressing and pushing hard for a roster spot this preseason. He has looked defensively sound while showing poise for a 21-year-old. His faceoff strategy of flipping his stick over has him with a 57% winning percentage in the dot. Bains also buried a crisp pass from Kiefer Sherwood on the powerplay in last night’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Oilers, which earns him an extra night with the big club. While defensively, Noah Juulsen looks to be the front-runner for the seventh defenceman role he had last year after playing alongside Quinn Hughes for most of the preseason.
There will likely be another wave of roster cuts coming before the Canucks kick off their season on October 9th against the Calgary Flames.