Ahead of Thursday’s practice, the Vancouver Canucks made a few roster transactions. On Thursday morning, the club announced that they had recalled defenceman Elias Pettersson and goaltender Nikita Tolopilo (emergency conditions) from AHL Abbotsford. Goaltender Jiri Patera has been returned to Abbotsford.

The Canucks sent both Pettersson and Tolopilo down to the AHL on Wednesday, as it was a team day off for the big club, and Abbotsford played at home last night. Abbotsford’s struggles have been well-documented this season, as much of their Calder Cup-winning roster from last year has graduated to becoming full-time NHLers.

Playing in the second leg of a back-to-back against the Calgary Wranglers after dropping the first contest on Tuesday night, Abbotsford eeked out its fifth win of the season to move to 5-14-1 on the year. Tolopilo stopped 23 of 24 shots, holding down the fort long enough for Danila Klimovich to score the late tying goal in the final minute of the game with Abbotsford on the power play. Abbotsford went on to win the game in a shootout.

Pettersson spent most of the night on a defence pairing with Victor Mancini and finished the night with one shot on goal while being a -1.

Pettersson and Tolopilo now return to the NHL, where it will be interesting to see how much playing time they’ll actually get. Pettersson has been a healthy scratch as of late, and while this demotion to the AHL was a chance for him to get into some game action, perhaps the Canucks also hope it serves as a reminder that his spot on the NHL roster isn’t guaranteed and that they expect more from him. For Tolopilo, he figures to start in either Friday night’s or Saturday night’s game, as the Canucks prepare to play home back-to-backs against the Utah Mammoth and Minnesota Wild, respectively. Thatcher Demko could be nearing a return soon, however, so this could end up being Tolopilo’s final NHL start for the forseeable future.