The Vancouver Canucks are getting a look at another one of their young players as the regular season winds down. On Monday morning, general manager Patrik Allvin announced that the club had recalled defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev from AHL Abbotsford under emergency conditions.

The Canucks are unexpectedly shorthanded on defence after Derek Forbort suffered a broken orbital bone following a cheap shot from Minnesota’s Yakov Trenin. Forbort will miss the Canucks’ final two regular season games. After Sunday practice, head coach Rick Tocchet hinted to the fact that the Canucks would be calling another defenceman up from Abbotsford, and the fact it’s Kudryavtsev getting the call — ahead of players like Cole McWard, Jett Woo, or Christian Wolanin — speaks volumes to how highly the organization values what he’s accomplished in Abbotsford this season.

With Tyler Myers already done for the year, the Canucks could ice a defence group that looks like this tonight when they take on the San Jose Sharks:

Quinn Hughes-Elias Pettersson
Marcus Pettersson-Filip Hronek
Kirill Kudryavtsev-Victor Mancini

Kudryavtsev, who the Canucks selected in the 7th round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, has greatly exceeded his draft pedigree to this point in his NHL career. After a strong finish to his OHL career, Kudryavtsev’s first AHL season has gone as well as anyone could have hoped for.

Through 63 games, the 21-year-old left shot defenceman has tallied 26 points and has become one of head coach Manny Malhotra’s most trusted players.

We chatted with Malhotra back in February on Canucks Conversation, and you can watch that interview below!

It wasn’t all bad news for the Canucks on the injury front on Sunday, however, as Filip Chytil took part in practice in a non-contact jersey. Chytil is recovering from a concussion, another in a long list for him in his young career. You can read about yesterday’s practice by clicking here.