Abbotsford Canucks' extended Calder Cup ring delay may soon be over
The Abbotsford Canucks Calder Cup win feels like a lifetime ago.
After winning the first Calder Cup championship in the entire AHL affiliate history of the Vancouver Canucks, Abbotsford is now a shell of its championship squad. They currently have the third-worst record in the AHL with a 12-22-3-3 record, with the majority of key contributors from that squad either with the Canucks or other teams around the globe.
That makes it even more baffling that players from the Cup-winning squad have yet to receive their rings.
Thankfully, it sounds like they won’t have to wait much longer.
CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal recently reported that members of the 2024-25 Abbotsford Canucks squad will receive their Calder Cup rings on Thursday.
He went on to mention that, since Vancouver and Abbotsford both have the day off, everyone up in the NHL should be able to partake in the long-awaited moment.
Currently, the Canucks have four players on their team who played games for last year’s Calder Cup-winning squad: Linus Karlsson, Max Sasson, Aatu RĂ€ty, and Arshdeep Bains.
Other players, such as Jonathan LekkerimĂ€ki, Victor Mancini, and Nikita Tolopilo, have spent time in Vancouver this season, but they’re currently in Abbotsford.
Several key contributors from Abbotsford’s Cup-winning team have found other homes. Most notably, Calder Cup MVP ArtĆ«rs Ć ilovs is in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tristan Nielsen (Colorado Avalanche) and Cole McWard (New York Islanders) have worked their way up from the AHL to play NHL games this season.
Some guys, such as Akito Hirose, are now playing overseas.
Those guys will have to wait even longer to receive their rings.
As we detailed back in December, waiting this long to receive Calder Cup rings is a relatively rare event.
Over the past handful of AHL seasons, championship-winning squads have often received their rings at the beginning of the season. For the teams that went through elongated waits, they got their rings in early December.
But hey, better late than never.