The Canucks have placed centre Nils Åman on NHL waivers for the purposes of assigning him to Abbotsford in the AHL, general manager Patrik Allvin announced Friday morning.

Åman, 25, is on the last season of a two-year contract that carries an $825,000 cap hit, and will be a restricted free agent in the summer. That control and decent NHL experience might be enough for a team with injuries at forward to put in a claim, though we won’t know until 11 AM Pacific on Saturday.

Åman played in three preseason games for the Canucks, picking up a goal in the team’s preseason opener against the Seattle Kraken. But Åman struggled to stand out compared to his bottom six counterparts, especially compared to previous preseasons.

As younger and newer players like Braeden Cootes and Aatu Räty have risen through the ranks and been making a clear impact, Åman just hasn’t been able to give the coaches a good enough reason to keep him. The Canucks still have a number of cuts to make, and players on the bubble like Max Sasson and Arshdeep Bains have simply shone brighter in their preseason opportunities.

Åman has gone from a regular in the Canucks lineup in 2022-23, when he played in 68 games and notched 16 points, to playing just 19 games with the big club in 2024-25 before a shoulder injury ended his season prematurely. While he struggled to keep his spot in Vancouver, the centre was a big help to the AHL Canucks last year, posting 30 points in 36 games on the farm.

Should Åman clear waivers, he’ll rejoin his Abbotsford teammates at their training camp. For a team dealing with a lot of turnover after last season’s Calder Cup championship, a player as familiar with the system like Åman would inject a huge boost of roster stability for Manny Malhotra and his coaching staff.