4 players the Canucks gave up on now thriving with other teams
The Vancouver Canucks didn’t have to risk losing Aatu Räty for nothing.
With Filip Chytil returning from injury, the Canucks could have made room on the roster by sending Victor Mancini, who is still exempt from waivers, to the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL.
Putting Räty on waivers instead sent a pretty clear message: Räty was not a key component of their rebuilding plans. It wasn’t the least bit surprising to see the Canucks trade Räty after he cleared waivers.
Räty is a month away from turning 24, so it’s not like the Canucks are giving up on the Finnish faceoff ace particularly early. He’s had plenty of time to prove he belongs in the NHL.
But there’s still a chance that Räty could find his game and become an impact player in the NHL. Will Räty make the Canucks regret giving up on him too soon like the following four players?
1. Vasily Podkolzin
The Canucks picked Vasily Podkolzin tenth overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Five years later, they traded him to the Edmonton Oilers for a fourth-round pick.
What choice did they have? They needed to make room on the roster for Daniel Sprong, who played a grand total of nine games with Vancouver.
Podkolzin has since made that trade look very, very bad for the Canucks. He’s found a home in the Oilers’ top six alongside either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl — sometimes both. This season, he has seven goals in the Oilers’ first six games.
Former Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau, at least, thinks the Canucks gave up on Podkolzin far too soon.
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To rub a little extra salt in the wound, the Canucks traded the fourth-round pick they received for Podkolzin back to the Oilers for Evander Kane.
2. Gustav Forsling
It’s been over a decade since the Canucks gave up on Gustav Forsling, but it still stings.
After Forsling’s outstanding performance at the 2015 World Junior Championships, the Canucks opted to “sell high” on the young defenceman, as general manager Jim Benning flipped him to the Chicago Blackhawks for an older player ready to jump into the NHL lineup.
That player was Adam Clendening, who appeared in all of 17 games for the Canucks.
Of course, the Canucks weren’t the only team who gave up on Forsling too soon. The Blackhawks traded him away to the Carolina Hurricanes a couple of years later, and the Hurricanes eventually put him on waivers.
That’s when the Florida Panthers stepped in. They plucked Forsling off waivers and turned him into a 40-point, two-way, shutdown defenceman who helped the Panthers win back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Now 30, Forsling is still a top-pairing defenceman for the Panthers, eating up major minutes for the Cup contenders.
3. Jalen Chatfield
The Canucks signed Jalen Chatfield as an undrafted free agent out of the OHL in 2017, and began developing him in the AHL with the Utica Comets.
One has to wonder if Chatfield would still be with the Canucks if not for the COVID pandemic.
Chatfield looked ready to break into the NHL lineup in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, but the Canucks had relatively few injuries on defence that season and too many veterans. Ultimately, Chatfield got into just 18 games with the Canucks and became an unrestricted free agent by virtue of too few NHL games played.
Chatfield signed with the Carolina Hurricanes and, after one more season split between the AHL and NHL, became an integral member of the Hurricanes’ defence corps.
When the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup last season, it was with Chatfield on their top pairing.
4. Arturs Silovs
The Canucks spent a long time developing Arturs Silovs after selecting the Latvian goaltender in the sixth round of the 2019 draft.
Silovs spent parts of four seasons in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks, gradually improving as a starter, while showing flashes of potential in his NHL stints. He was outstanding in international tournaments with Latvia and was named World Championship MVP in 2023 when he carried his country to their first bronze medal in IIHF competition.
Silovs was particularly good for the Abbotsford Canucks in the 2024-25 season, where he won the Calder Cup with a .931 save percentage in the AHL playoffs and was named playoff MVP.
The Canucks subsequently traded Silovs to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Chase Stillman and a fourth-round pick.
A trade was inevitable, because the Canucks committed to a goaltending tandem of Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen, and Silovs was no longer exempt from waivers.
Silovs is now the number-one goaltender in Pittsburgh, and he helped take the Penguins back to the playoffs after missing the cut for three straight seasons. In the playoffs, Silovs posted a .939 save percentage — he always seems to step up his game in clutch moments.
Honourable Mentions
There are a few other players who perhaps could be on this list. Or really, maybe just one: Nils Höglander.
The Canucks traded Höglander to the Nashville Predators for a third-round pick, and Höglander is off to a strong start with his new team. If he continues to excel, the Canucks could be kicking themselves.
Adam Gaudette, now on his fifth team since the Canucks traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks for Matthew Highmore, found a home on the San Jose Sharks, scoring 17 goals in 66 games last season.
Michael DiPietro had a rough ride with the Canucks, making his NHL debut on an emergency basis long before he was ready, and got shellacked 7-2 by the Sharks. He was sent to the Boston Bruins as part of the trade for Jack Studnicka in 2022.
Four years later, after some fantastic seasons in the AHL, DiPietro has finally made his first start with the Bruins. He looks like he’ll be the Bruins’ backup behind Jeremy Swayman all season.