The Vancouver Canucks wasted no time paring down their roster after the final scrimmage of training camp. According to head coach Rick Tocchet, the team wanted a smaller roster compared to the three groups that skated in Penticton.
"I don't know the exact number but we'll have some junior guys go back and try to get down to two teams," said Tocchet after the scrimmage. "The typical 8 D, 8 D, because we have five games in seven nights, so we're going to need some bodies around."
Sure enough, on Sunday, Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin cut 17 players from the roster that they brought to camp. None of them were particularly surprising — the first cuts rarely are — but we will break them down nonetheless.
Romani, Patterson, Alcos, and Sansonnens head to junior
All four of the Canucks' 2024 draft picks who were at camp were cut on Sunday, with all four heading to their major junior teams in the CHL.
It makes sense to send the junior players back as soon as possible, as the regular season has already begun for the WHL and QMJHL, while the OHL kicks off their season this week. While attending an NHL training camp is a big deal for these four prospects, it's important that they get off to a good start in their seasons to apply what they've learned.
Anthony Romani had a strong performance at the Young Stars Classic and will be looking to be one of the leading scorers in the OHL for the North Bay Battalion after leading the league in goals last season.
Riley Patterson stood out during Sunday's scrimmage with his speed and willingness to get to the middle of the ice. He had 62 points in 68 games in the OHL last season for the Barrie Colts. He has the tools to significantly improve on those numbers this season.
Parker Alcos will be looking to step up his offensive game after the defenceman had just 15 points in 67 games in his draft year and he showed flashes at camp that he has the capability to do so. He'll head back to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL aiming to play some significant minutes, though he'll have plenty of competition on the Oil Kings' right side.
Basile Sansonnens will be playing his rookie season in North America, taking the ice with the Rimouski Oceanic in the QMJHL. This will be a major test of his abilities with the puck, as he adapts to the smaller ice surface from his time in Switzerland.
Those puck skills are the biggest question for Sansonnens, who otherwise checks a lot of boxes for what you want in a defenceman: size, skating, and a bit of a mean streak. None of that will matter if he can't learn to move the puck better.
Bloom and Glover are Abbotsford-bound
While several prospects are sticking with the Canucks for the preseason, two are heading straight to the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL.
Josh Bloom was supposed to play his rookie year in the AHL last season but he struggled with the pace of play and ended up in the ECHL. Even there, things were going poorly, so he was reassigned to the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL and got his game back on track.
This season will be an important one for the 21-year-old winger, as he'll look to stick in the AHL and work his way up the depth chart. He's under contract through the 2025-26 season, so he's still got time, but he'll need to significantly improve on last season's performance or he could find himself getting traded to keep the Canucks from bumping up against the 50-contract limit.
Likewise, this is an important season for 23-year-old Ty Glover, who has just one year remaining on his entry-level contract. He couldn't stick in the AHL after getting traded to the Canucks, though he was dominant down in the ECHL, putting up 12 goals and 23 points in 15 games with the Kalamazoo Wings.
Like Bloom, Glover could find himself on the chopping block if he can't take a step forward in his game.
AHL-signed players report to Abbotsford
Eight of the players cut on Sunday are signed to AHL contracts with Abbotsford. They'll be playing in Abbotsford this season or in the ECHL with the Kalamazoo Wings.
Those eight players are forwards Dino Kambeitz, John Stevens, Carsen Twarynski, and Cooper Walker, defencemen Layton Ahac, Joe Arntsen, and Zach Berzolla, and goaltender Jonathan Lemieux.
Of that group, Arntsen is the most intriguing. The 21-year-old defenceman stood out at the Young Stars Classic with his poise and intelligence. While he might have a tough task earning ice time on Abbotsford's left side, he could develop into a dependable defensive defenceman.
Halaburda, McMillan, and Ferguson released from tryout deal
The final three cuts were to players at camp without contracts with either the Vancouver or Abbotsford Canucks.
Ty Halaburda and Deagan McMillan were invitees to Young Stars aiming to impress the Canucks brass and potentially earn a contract. Both were fine at Young Stars but still have a lot to prove and will head back to their respective teams in the WHL.
Meanwhile, the dream of Dylan Ferguson to play for his hometown team ended on Sunday, though it arguably ended as soon as the Canucks signed Kevin Lankinen. The Vancouver-born goaltender was a longshot to earn an NHL contract with the Canucks when he signed his PTO but he still got a chance to skate at a Canucks training camp.
His future is up in the air after playing last season in the KHL.
The Canucks' current roster
So, who's left on the roster after those 17 cuts? That leaves 26 forwards, 17 defencemen, and 5 goaltenders, though that includes a few players who are currently out with injuries or rehab.
There are a couple of notable players who remain on the roster. Vilmer Alriksson and Sawyer Mynio are both going to be heading back to junior eventually but it looks like the two prospects will get at least one preseason game first. Alriksson, in particular, has impressed at Young Stars and camp with how he's improved his physical game to more effectively take advantage of his size and reach.
Chase Wouters and Sammy Blais are the lone players on a PTO still on the roster. Wouters, the Abbotsford Canucks' captain will surely be heading down the AHL before long, but it seems like he might get into an NHL preseason game first.
Blais, on the other hand, feels like injury insurance. The veteran winger has 257 games of NHL experience in a bottom-six role but is currently only on an AHL contract. If injuries strike or if Teddy Blueger and Dakota Joshua are out longer than expected, Blais could be bumped up to an NHL deal and make the Canucks' roster out of camp.
Here's the remaining roster arranged into some semblance of lines and pairings, primarily based on how they skated at camp:
FORWARDS
Danton Heinen - J.T. Miller - Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk - Elias Pettersson - Jonathan Lekkerimäki
Nils Höglander - Aatu Räty - Conor Garland
Arshdeep Bains - Pius Suter - Daniel Sprong
Phil Di Giuseppe - Max Sasson - Kiefer Sherwood
Sammy Blais - Nils Åman - Linus Karlsson
Vilmer Alriksson - Nate Smith - Danila Klimovich
Tristen Nielsen - Ty Mueller - Chase Wouters
IR
Teddy Blueger
Dakota Joshua
DEFENCEMEN
Quinn Hughes - Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy - Vincent Desharnais
Christian Wolanin - Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort - Mark Friedman
Sawyer Mynio - Noah Juulsen
Elias Pettersson - Kirill Kudryavtsev
Akito Hirose - Jett Woo
Christian Felton - Guillaume Brisebois
IR
Cole McWard
GOALTENDERS
Arturs Silovs
Nikita Tolopilo
Jiri Patera
Ty Young
IR
Thatcher Demko
