These five former Vancouver Canucks are available for free on waivers
NHL rosters around the league are beginning to take shape.
While the Vancouver Canucks have made just one noteworthy cut, other teams around the league are actually shrinking their rosters.
During the last two rounds of waiver cuts, some familiar faces for Canucks fans popped up, including two younger defencemen who recently played games for the club.
The most recent of those was Cole McWard, who was just waived by the New York Islanders.
Vancouver signed the young defenceman as a free agent out of the NCAA in the spring of 2023. He suited up for five games in Vancouver to end the 2022-23 campaign. McWard even buried his first NHL goal against the Calgary Flames.
The youngster generated some buzz about making the Canucks in 2023, after he skated alongside Quinn Hughes during training camp.
However, he’s played just one NHL game since his five-game cameo in 2022-23, spending most of the last two years with the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL before signing a one-year deal with the Islanders on July 1.
Unlike McWard, who wasn’t much more than a dark horse roster candidate, defenceman Jack Rathbone once looked like he was legitimately part of the Canucks future.
That seems like a distant memory, as Rathbone was just cut by the Buffalo Sabres.
Rathbone played 28 games for the Canucks across three seasons between 2021 and 2023. He was traded by Patrik Allvin in October of 2023 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a deal that saw depth defenceman Mark Friedman join the Canucks.
The slick, puck-moving defenceman looked like a good bet to become an NHL regular during the 2021-22 season, where he posted an eye-popping 40 points in 39 AHL games.
However, the 26-year-old has only registered 47 points in his last 130 AHL appearances, split between minor league affiliates for Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
Kevin Connauton was just waived by the Utah Mammoth. Originally drafted 83rd overall by the Canucks in 2009, the 35-year-old defenceman never played a game in Vancouver. However, he was a part of an ill-sighted trade deadline deal in 2012, which saw centre Derek Roy join the Canucks.
Travis Boyd celebrates one of his two goals with the Canucks in 2020-21. (Perry Nelson/Imagn Images)
Travis Boyd was waived by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. The 32-year-old played 19 forgettable games for the Canucks during the 2020-21 season. However, he did go on to have three productive seasons with the Arizona Coyotes before signing with the Minnesota Wild last season. He played just three NHL games for them last year before inking another one-year deal with the Leafs this offseason.
Finally, goaltender Zach Sawchenko was waived by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He spent some time with the Abbotsford Canucks in 2023-24, stepping into six playoff games following Arturs Silovs’ ascension to the NHL playoffs.