The Vancouver Canucks have made a roster move ahead of tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. On Saturday morning, the club announced that they had recalled defenceman Victor Mancini from AHL Abbotsford, while sending Tom Willander back down.

The Canucks recalled Willander, along with centre Nils Aman, earlier this week after losing multiple bodies during the back half of their most recent road trip. The Canucks sent Victor Mancini earlier this week, and while the club requested special permission from the NHL to allow them to call Mancini back up before he played a game in Abbotsford — a new rule to limit team’s ability to execute paper transactions — that request was denied. Because Mancini played last night in Abbotsford however, he was eligible for a recall today.

Mancini turned in a strong training camp and preseason, but was among the final cuts from the Canucks’ opening night NHL roster. It didn’t take long for Mancini to earn his first call up however, as the Canucks have been dealing with the absence of Derek Forbort, who has appeared in just two games this season. Mancini should get a solid chance to play, as PO Joseph didn’t exactly run with his opportunity in the lineup, and Forbort is still expected to be out for a while. Canucks GM Patrik Allvin provided the following update on Forbort yesterday:

“Forbort had a little bit of a setback here. So, I would say he’s week-to-week. Probably the problem here is that, you know, with a condensed schedule, it’s so hard to get the practice time in. So, for some of those guys that are injured, just finding the rhythm and finding the ice time, it’s been a challenge for us up to this point. But I would probably have Forbort more as week-to-week.”

Mancini has appeared in four games with the Canucks this season, and has yet to record a point.