The Vancouver Canucks‘ search for a new general manager is dominating most headlines these days, and for good reason. It’s one of the most important hires in the history of the franchise, and we’ll be right on top of it as more and more names emerge.

But we thought we’d interrupt that programming to take care of a piece of business we try to address every April: which Canucks are going to lose their waivers exemption next season?

First, a reminder on waiver eligibility rules, courtesy of our friends over at Puck Pedia:

Note that only one of these criteria need to be met for a player to lose their exemption status, not all four.

Last season, seven Canucks lost their waiver eligibility. Aatu Räty, Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson, and Arturs Silovs were the most notable ones. Räty and Karlsson spent the entire season on the Canucks’ NHL roster, Bains passed through waivers without being claimed, and the Canucks elected to trade Silovs to the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of the season starting to avoid placing him on waivers.

In addition to those four players, Akito Hirose, Ty Glover, and Cole McWard were all set to lose waiver eligibility. Hirose and Glover both signed in Europe last offseason, while McWard signed with the New York Islanders in free agency, spending most of his season in the AHL and passing through waivers without any issues.

The Canucks have just one player losing their exemption that we think is at risk of a) being placed on waivers and b) being claimed off waivers. That player is goaltender Nikita Tolopilo.

Obviously, these aren’t unfamiliar waters for the Canucks, as they traded Arturs Silovs just last offseason. But what the Canucks soon found out once again is that you can’t comfortably rely on Thatcher Demko to stay healthy. Of course, the Canucks said the same thing about Demko’s health last offseason, only instead of citing surgery as the reason, Rutherford talked about Demko’s new trainer and training program as the reason.

Make no mistake about it: nothing would be better than all of Demko’s health issues finally being put in the rearview mirror for good. But the Canucks can’t really plan for that with confidence, and as a result, they likely need to think long and hard about carrying three goaltenders on their roster to begin next season.

After Tolopilo, the Canucks have pending RFAs Danila Klimovich, Chase Stillman, Jayden Grubbe, Jack Thompson, and Cole Clayton who will all gain waiver eligibility beginning next season. We’re not sure how many of these players will be back (like Hirose, Glover, and McWard a season ago), so we won’t spend much time focusing on them.

It is also worth noting that Max Sasson played in his 60th NHL game this past season, which made him eligible for waivers in the middle of the season. Had he not reached that threshold, he would have still been on this list because he’s heading into his third season.

Finally, it’s worth noting that there are two young Canucks who will lose their waiver exemption status next season.

Victor Mancini will lose his waiver exemption status after he plays in 15 more NHL games. This will be an interesting one to keep an eye on, as Mancini, originally acquired in the JT Miller trade, spent most of this past season in the AHL and didn’t exactly stand out in the 24 NHL games he got into. Could the Canucks start him out in the AHL next season? That depends largely on how the Canucks choose to flesh out their depth chart this offseason, and of course, how Mancini fares in training camp.

On top of Mancini, defenceman Elias Pettersson will lose his waiver exemption status after playing in 62 more NHL games, as he’s currently sitting at 98 out of 160. This one likely won’t matter, as Pettersson should be an NHL regular next season, but it’s still good to make note of.

This year’s crop doesn’t represent many players that the Canucks need to worry about, but it will be interesting to see how they navigate the situation with Tolopilo this offseason.