Three Canucks forwards are on the bubble as final cuts loom
Final cuts are around the corner, and so is the start of the regular season for the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks cut 13 players on Tuesday and rolled out lines at practice that look close to what we should see on opening night, which is set for October 9.
But with 23 to 24 healthy bodies still left in camp, more cuts are sure to come.
The Canucks can keep a maximum of 23 players on their roster, but they could go with as few as 20 — depending on what type of salary-cap gymnastics they opt for.
That’s the big unknown right now. The Canucks want to keep Tucker Poolman off LTIR on the opening-day roster, which gets submitted to the NHL, thus maximizing the amount of cap space they can accrue throughout the season.
That may prove difficult, given the number of injuries they’ve accumulated already. Thatcher Demko and Dakota Joshua are recovering from their ailments, while Pius Suter has missed two consecutive practices with an apparent injury. He’s day-to-day, according to Canucks coach Rick Tocchet.
Tocchet seemed to indicate that Phil Di Giuseppe’s demotion was related to the salary cap and/or LTIR. The 30-year-old forward, who cleared waivers on Wednesday, has been a favourite of Tocchet’s for the way he plays.
“He’s had a really good camp,” Tocchet told reporters on Tuesday. “There’s numbers involved; there’s a lot more to it. The cap, and this and that. There’s a lot, LTIR, [that’s] over my head. I hope he doesn’t get picked up to be honest with you. If he doesn’t get picked up, he’s in the mix. He’s just an unreal guy.”
The Canucks have 15 forwards left on their NHL roster, including Joshua and Suter.
Three forwards appear to be on the bubble, notably Nils Åman, Arshdeep Bains, and Aatu Räty.
Åman is the only one of those three that requires waivers to be sent to the AHL, giving him an edge. Räty, however, appears to have impressed his head coach.
“He’s making it a hard decision,” Tocchet said. “Two years ago, there wasn’t really hard decisions. Now there are. You gotta credit Jim and Patrik, and Ryan Johnson, for creating more depth, and harder decisions. Two years ago I don’t think there was many hard decisions.”
While Tocchet didn’t want to tip his hand, he did mention that the team might have to put another player on waivers. Might that be Åman? He could mean Noah Juulsen or Mark Friedman on defence, too.
Or perhaps Bains is the odd man out, given this next quote from Tocchet: “You always want to be strong at defence and centremen, then you gotta go from there. That’s what I’ve always felt.”
We could try reading into today’s practice lines, shown below by Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650.
Wednesday #Canucks practice lines
Heinen. Miller. Boeser.
DeBrusk. Pettersson. Sprong.
Höglander. Räty. Garland.
Åman. Blueger. Sherwood.
Bains.Hughes. Hronek.
Soucy. Myers.
Forbort. Desharnais.
Friedman. Juulsen.@Sportsnet650 pic.twitter.com/Jr9LqD81Sf— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) October 2, 2024
It’s probably a good sign for Åman that he’s on the fourth line, ahead of Bains. Then there’s Räty, who is in a prime spot between Nils Höglander and Conor Garland — but is he just a placeholder for Suter?
The speculation will continue until after Friday’s preseason finale.