The Vancouver Canucks have opened up a roster spot for the newly signed David Kämpf. Earlier today, Vancouver announced that they’ve reassigned defenseman Victor Mancini to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.
Mancini’s reassignment is expected to serve as a form of a conditioning loan. He had missed the Canucks last eight games due to an undisclosed injury and was only recently activated from the injured reserve a few days ago.
Since Vancouver already has seven healthy defensemen on its active roster, it stands to reason that it’ll allow Mancini as much time as he needs to ramp back up and eventually rejoin the lineup. He’s skated in five games for the Canucks this season and one with AHL Abbotsford, going scoreless on both teams with a -2 rating on each.
Assuming Mancini returns to form in the AHL, it’ll be interesting to see how the Canucks rework their defensive core to recall him. Tom Willander and Elias N. Pettersson are the only two defensemen on the roster outside of Mancini who wouldn’t require waivers to be reassigned. However, each has played more games than Mancini and has played better up to this point.
Additionally, the team could risk sending Pierre-Olivier Joseph on waivers to open up a roster spot for Mancini. Joseph has tallied one assist in nine games throughout his first season in Vancouver, though he doesn’t hold as much long-term value to the organization like Mancini does.