The Vancouver Canucks are gearing up to announce their opening night roster for the 2024-25 NHL season. The team has made a few transactions in that effort announcing Arshdeep Bains, Erik Brannstrom, and Jiri Patera have been assigned to their AHL affiliate with Thatcher Demko and Dakota Joshua being placed on the season-opening injured reserve.
None of the moves are surprising with Vancouver trading for, and waiving, Brannstrom yesterday in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche. Patera was also placed on waivers yesterday by the Boston Bruins and the Canucks can send him down without waivers since they were the only team to place a claim.
Bains played eight games for Vancouver last year but came away scoreless. He should be a relatively frequent call-up depending on the Canucks’ injury outlook with Bains scoring 16 goals and 55 points in 56 games for AHL Abbotsford last year.
The two injured reserve assignments, Demko and Joshua, are the most unsurprising designations among the transactions. Demko continues to work his way back from an injury suffered in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs without any concrete timeline for his return.
According to The Athletic’s Rick Dhaliwal, there is more positivity with Joshua, who has returned to the ice and is only a few weeks away from joining the team. Joshua missed all of training camp for the Canucks after undergoing surgery for his testicular cancer diagnosis. He’s expected to fully recover and join Vancouver’s roster in a few weeks.
RIP Demko’s career.