On Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks did their waive of accruing cap space as they sent down young forwards Arshdeep Bains, Aatu Räty and Jonathan Lekkerimäki after his NHL debut.

But ahead of their match on Thursday night against the New York Islanders, the wave of call-ups was a tad bit different, as just Räty and Lekkerimäki were summoned to Vancouver for this matchup. This leaves winger Arshdeep Bains still down in Abbotsford, opening up the door for Dakota Joshua to make his season debut.

Chek TV’s Rick Dhaliwal made mention of it today on X today as well:

Joshua has missed the first 14 games of this season as he recovers from successful testicular cancer surgery in the offseason. However, he started skating with the team ahead of their fifth game of the season against the Philadelphia Flyers. There had been some belief that the Michigan native would make his season debut in the final game of their California road trip; however, a few missed practices in a row have held him out an extra week. Head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed Joshua did not suffer any setbacks.

The power forward broke out last season with the Canucks, setting career highs in goals (18), assists (14), points (32), plus-minus rating (plus-19), shots (84), hits (244), and ice time (14:23). The efforts from the 6’3″ 28-year-old earned him a four-year, $12 million extension in Vancouver, that pays him three million per season.

Here’s what Joshua had to say regarding his surgery and what level of play he wants to be at before making his return in his media availability:

“That’s kind of how I’ve looked at it, people get surgery on anything, whether it’s an arm or a leg, like, the same kind of process, just getting your body back to full health. And obviously, like I said, you got to be at a high level to go out there and perform. So that’s, that’s what I’m aiming for.

“Yeah, it’s about jumping in when I can, not so much just seeing if I can get through the games. I want to go out there and I want to make stuff happen and be an impact and help this team win games. Not sure when that’ll be, but I’m getting close and better every day.”

While the team has yet to confirm an official return, with Bains not being recalled today, all signs indicate that Joshua will make his season debut on Thursday against the Islanders.

Here are the morning skate lines ahead of tonight’s game, per Sportsnet’s 650’s Brendan Batchelor. It looks promising that Joshua will be making his season debut tonight.