Canucks prospect McDonough leaves organization to join another team

The Aidan McDonough era has come to an unceremonious end with the Vancouver Canucks.

The former Canucks prospect has joined the American Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers via the Checkers’ own release on the news. The deal is a one-way AHL contract, meaning the Checkers’ parent club in the Carolina Hurricanes would have to sign him to an NHL contract in order to call him up to the big leagues.

McDonough, a 24-year-old American left winger, had been in the Vancouver organization for the last five years after originally being taken in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

This past year, McDonough put up 11 goals and eight assists in 58 games for Vancouver’s AHL affiliate in Abbotsford.

It seemed like the Canucks were quite fine to move on from the once-promising asset, given that they did not tend him to a qualifying offer ahead of the June 30 deadline last week. Whether McDonough had any interest in staying with the organization is unknown, but their decision offered McDonough a chance at unrestricted free agency.

McDonough had a storied college career but never earned any consistent playing time at the NHL level while part of the Vancouver organization. He picked up the NCAA First All-American Team and the Hockey East First All-Star Team in his junior and senior years with the Northeastern Huskies.

McDonough had a goal and no assists in just six regular season games for the Canucks, all of which came in the 2022-23 season following the conclusion of his NCAA career. He averaged a little over nine minutes per game during his NHL stint with the team.

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