The Vancouver Canucks made a roster move on Wednesday, sending goaltender Nikita Tolopilo and defenceman Elias Pettersson down to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks. The club announced the moves on Wednesday morning.

It’s expected both players will be in the lineup for Abbotsford’s Wednesday night tilt with the Calgary Wranglers. In their first of back-to-back games against the Wranglers, the AHL Canucks lost by a final score of 3-2, and moved to 4-14-3 on the season with Tuesday night’s loss. Abbotsford has seen the best of their Calder Cup-winning roster graduate to the NHL, and has even dealt with injury issues of their own on top of that. DPetey and Tolopilo should certainly help things.

Now, it’s important to note that Wednesday is a team day off for the NHL Canucks, who have returned home from their road trip and are now getting set to take on the Utah Mammoth on Friday night. While Nils Höglander practiced in a non-contact jersey for the Canucks’ recent practice in Los Angeles, and Thatcher Demko is supposedly close-ish to returning, today’s moves don’t necessarily indicate that either player is ready to return. Rather, it’s a good chance for Abbotsford to get some reinforcements on a day off for the big club.

In fact, it’s a real possibility that both Tolopilo and Pettersson could be back at Vancouver Canucks practice tomorrow.

The Canucks concluded their most recent four-game road trip with a 1-2-1 record, and now return home for a four-game set that begins Friday against the Mammoth. The Canucks then take on the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, and the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

The Canucks currently sit 30th in the overall NHL standings, and are one point ahead of the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators for dead last in the league.