Canucks make 21 cuts and Podkolzin is one of them

Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports

The Vancouver Canucks roster continues to slim down ahead of the team’s season opener in just 10 days.

Today, the Canucks announced a series of 20 roster cuts, headlined by Vasily Podkolzin, the team’s 10th overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft.

Podkolzin has struggled to find a regular roster spot with the big club during his time with the franchise, playing just 39 games last year while scoring four goals and adding three assists.

The 22-year old Russian winger was part of a group of 12 players announced today as directly sent to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.

Danila Klimovich
Aatu Raty
Vasily Podkolzin
Max Sasson
Linus Karlsson
Arshdeep Bains
Tristen Nielsen
Josh Bloom
Aidan Mcdonough
Akito Hirose
Filip Johansson
Nikita Tolopilo

Five more players were placed on waivers, with the intention of being sent to Abbotsford, though they could also be claimed by another team:

Jett Woo
Matt Irwin
Sheldon Dries
Jack Rathbone
Zach Sawchenko

Meanwhile, three players were released from professional tryout contracts and will be sent to Abbotsford.

Chase Wouters
Quinn Schmeimann
John Stevens

Vancouver has compiled a 1-2-1 record through four preseason games, winning 5-2 against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night at home. While this latest stretch of cuts is the most major change to Vancouver’s roster so far, there’s still expected to be a few more tweaks to the lineup before the season gets going.

The team has two more preseason games on this Wednesday and Friday, respectively, before their season opener on October 11 against the Oilers at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.

Edit: the team also added goalie Arturs Silovs to their cut list later in the day, sending him to Abbotsford as well.

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