The Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin announced on Saturday morning that forward Nils Åman has been placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to Abbotsford AHL.

Åman has suited up in four games for the Canucks this season, recording two assists, two shots, and a minus-one rating in 10:28 minutes of ice time. He has been up in the press box since the game against the Chicago Blackhawks on October 22, in a 6-3 victory for the Canucks. Åman added the secondary assist on Vancouver’s sixth goal of the game off the stick of Pius Suter.

The 24-year-old was originally a sixth-round selection by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2020 draft. After the draft, Åman spent the following two seasons in the Swedish Hockey League with Leksands IF. There, he scored eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points with a minus-three rating in 102 games played. Åman chose not to sign with the team that drafted him and instead elected to sign a two-year entry-level contract in Vancouver.

The Swede has spent the previous three seasons in Vancouver, appearing in 115 games, posting seven goals and 18 assists for 25 points with a minus-16 rating in 11:44 minutes of ice time. When in the lineup, Åman has been a trusted member of the teams’ penalty kill, averaging over one minute of average penalty kill time per game in every season, but has struggled in the faceoff dot, with a career 40.1 faceoff percentage.

His efforts earned him a two-year, $1.65 million extension worth $825k per season to keep him in Vancouver through 2026. With the Canucks signing four forwards this past offseason, Åman’s depth role he carved out for himself started to diminish. Now, with the emergence of Arshdeep Bains and Dakota Joshua’s return looming, the Canucks had to make the difficult decision and risk losing Åman on waivers.

The Canucks look to redeem themselves after Wednesday night’s 6-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils as they kick off their three-game California road trip Saturday night against the San Jose Sharks.