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Elias Pettersson, Nils Höglander Out With Injuries

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The Vancouver Canucks lost a pair of forwards as the team shared Elias Pettersson and Nils Höglander were pulled from today’s game against the New York Rangers due to injuries.

Nobody in the organization could provide meaningful updates to Pettersson or Höglander’s status. Still, Sportsnet’s Brendan Batchelor relayed an idea from head coach Rick Tocchet indicating Vancouver may need to recall a center before their game against the New Jersey Devils on Monday. The hypothetical recall will likely come in the form of Aatu Räty or Max Sasson should the Canucks need some help.

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Canucks Showed Interest In Josh Norris Before Trade Deadline

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While Ottawa ultimately moved center Josh Norris within the division when they traded him to the Sabres on trade deadline day this month, that wasn’t the only team they had serious talks with.  Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reported earlier this week that the Sens held trade talks with the Canucks and Predators before the deadline but obviously, neither move materialized.  Nashville certainly had ample salary cap space to absorb his $7.95MM cap charge along with three first-round picks but didn’t have the young impact center to send that Buffalo did in Dylan Cozens.  Vancouver, meanwhile, would have been able to cover Norris’ cap charge as well (though longer term, it would have been a challenge) but also lacked the core center to go the other way with Elias Pettersson pulled out of trade talks before the deadline.

Canucks Notes: Tocchet, Boeser, Offseason Target, Celebrini

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Don’t expect to hear any news about a contract extension for Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet anytime soon.  Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre relays that the bench boss noted on local radio earlier this week that he has told management that he does not want to discuss a new deal at this time.  Instead, he wants to concentrate his focus on Vancouver’s playoff push.  The Canucks hold a club option on Tocchet’s contract for next season, one that’s expected to be exercised should a new deal not be reached in the meantime while Tocchet noted that his decision shouldn’t be construed as a lack of desire to remain behind the bench or a play for more leverage.

More from Vancouver:

  • The Canucks weren’t able to re-sign or find a suitable trade for Brock Boeser before the trade deadline earlier this month. Speaking with Pierre LeBrun in a piece for The Athletic (subscription link), GM Patrik Allvin wouldn’t rule out the possibility of further extension talks taking place even though the two sides weren’t close enough to hammer out a deal a couple of weeks ago, shifting them to focus toward a trade that didn’t materialize.  Boeser is having a bit of a quieter year, notching 20 goals and 21 assists through 61 games after potting 40 goals and 33 helpers just last season.  It’s believed that he turned down a five-year, roughly $40MM extension offer earlier in the season but it’s unclear what Vancouver’s most recent offer was.
  • While the Canucks picked up Filip Chytil as part of the J.T. Miller trade earlier this season, don’t be surprised if they add another center this summer. Allvin revealed in the same interview that “definitely we’ll do that in the offseason, whether that’s through trade or free-agent signing.”  Pius Suter is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer so if he departs, they will certainly have another opening down the middle to fill while Chytil’s concussion history will likely motivate them to get some more center depth as well.
  • Prospect Aiden Celebrini is expected to remain at Boston University next season, relays Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest. The 20-year-old defenseman was a sixth-round pick by Vancouver back in 2023, going 171st overall.  He’s close to wrapping up his sophomore year with the Terriers and has a goal and five assists through 26 games this season.  The Canucks hold Celebrini’s rights through August 15, 2027.

Canucks Sign Aku Koskenvuo To Entry-Level Contract

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The Vancouver Canucks have signed collegiate goaltender Aku Koskenvuo to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal comes after Koskenvuo’s junior year at Harvard University came to an end on Sunday. He was a strong goaltender until the very end of his collegiate career, making 47 saves on 49 shots in Harvard’s final game of the season. It was his fourth-consecutive start and second-consecutive overtime appearance. Koskenvuo made 138 saves on 147 shots in his last four games of the season.

Koskenvuo earned Harvard’s starting role through the latter half of this season, after spending his freshman year as the third-string and last season splitting starts. He climbed to the full-time role on the back of an 8-9-1 record, .902 save percentage, and 2.81 goals-against-average in 20 games this season. The stat line was a slight lateral step from his sophomore totals last year, when Koskenvuo managed a 5-6-4 record, .910 Sv%, and 2.95 GAA.

The Canucks drafted Koskenvuo in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL Draft, after his first full season in Finland’s U20 SM-sarja. In what was a shortened 2020-21 season, Koskenvuo posted a .893 Sv% and 2.92 GAA in 13 games with HIFK’s U20 club. He followed it up with a .897 Sv% and 2.79 GAA in 27 U20 games in 2021-22. Through the mix, Koskenvuo also served as a go-to option for Team Finland’s international juniors clubs. He recorded a .874 Sv% and 3-3-0 record in six games of the 2021 World U18 Championship; but cratered at the 2023 World Junior Championships with a .842 Sv% an 4.47 GAA en route to an 0-2-0 record.

Koskenvuo will join a crowded goalie room in the Canucks organization. He’ll spar for minutes with players like Arturs Silovs, Nikita Tolopilo, and Ty Young at the AHL level. Tolopilo has served as the starter for the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks and has a .896 Sv% and 2.74 GAA in 30 appearances. Young leads the minor squad in save percentage, with a .905 in just nine AHL appearances.

Canucks Recall Linus Karlsson Under Emergency Conditions

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The Canucks announced today they’ve recalled forward Linus Karlsson from AHL Abbotsford under emergency conditions. Neither Filip Chytil nor Conor Garland are expected to play tonight against the Jets after missing the morning skate, per Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650, so Karlsson’s presence is necessary for them to have 12 healthy forwards.

Chytil’s absence is clear after the center entered concussion protocol over the weekend, but Garland didn’t miss a shift in Sunday’s outing against Utah. He hasn’t missed a game since the 2022-23 campaign. Head coach Rick Tocchet adds he’ll be a game-time decision with an undisclosed injury (via Harman Dayal of The Athletic).

Karlsson, fresh off a one-year extension, comes up to fill the void and will skate on the third line with Drew O’Connor and Teddy Blueger. The 25-year-old has nine NHL games under his belt this year, but tonight will be his first appearance since Feb. 4. He has one goal during that stretch – his first NHL point – while recording eight shots on net and averaging 9:59 per game.

The 6’1″ Swede continues to be a productive minor-leaguer for the Canucks. His 1.13 points per game (21-13–34 in 30 GP) rank third among AHL skaters with at least 25 games played, trailing only vets Vinnie Hinostroza and Andrew Poturalski. Outright, his 21 goals are tied for 15th in the league.

Karlsson remains waivers-exempt for the rest of the season, but that status will disappear in 2025-26. If he doesn’t make Vancouver’s opening night roster next season, he’ll be offered to the rest of the league before he can be returned to Abbotsford.

No Update From Canucks On Filip Chytil Injury

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Vancouver Canuck forward Filip Chytil was injured during the third period of last night’s game, leaving fans and the team uncertain about his condition, per Jim Cerny of Forever Blueshirts. As of now, there has been no official update on the severity of the injury, adding to the growing concern for a player with a troubled injury history.

During Saturday’s game against the Blackhawks, Chytil was helped off the ice following a blindside hit by forward Jason Dickinson with 4:42 remaining in the contest. Chytil was noticeably wobbled by the hit, falling to the ice after attempting to stand under his own power – a troubling site for a player with at least four known concussions in his career with the New York Rangers. Chytil, who spent eight seasons with New York, was traded to the Canucks as a part of the JT Miller deal in late January.

After the game, head coach Rick Tocchet did not provide an update on the injury but agreed that the optics didn’t look good. Tocchet called the hit “pretty ugly” in his post-game comments and added that he did not receive communication from the refs as to why Dickinson did not receive a penalty for the hit.

When healthy, Chytil has been a solid supporting cast member throughout his 393 career NHL games. He has eclipsed the 10-goal mark in four seasons, including 13 this year combined between the Rangers and Canucks. Originally a first rounder of the Rangers in the 2017 draft (21st overall), Chytil saw game action in nine NHL games during his age 18 season, before becoming a regular fixture in their bottom six the following season. In 378 career games in New York, he registered 75 goals and 164 points. He added an additional 13 points in 36 career playoff contests.

At just 25 years of age, there is still time for Chytil to flash his first-round pedigree. However, injuries continue to play a factor in his career’s trajectory. The Canucks will likely provide more information in the coming days, but for now, Chytil’s status remains unclear.

Demko Returns To Practice

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The Canucks could be getting closer to getting their regular starting goaltender back as Sportsnet 650’s Brendan Batchelor relays (Twitter link) that Thatcher Demko skated today for the second straight day.  He has missed more than a month as he continues to battle a groin injury, not the knee issue that sidelined him in the playoffs last year and caused him to miss the first three months of this season.  Demko has underperformed when he has been available, posting a 2.87 GAA with a .891 SV% in 17 games.  But with Arturs Silovs also struggling and Kevin Lankinen blowing past his career high in games played already, even having Demko back in a secondary capacity for the stretch run should help boost Vancouver’s chances as they battle for a playoff spot in the West.

Canucks Sign Linus Karlsson To One-Year Extension

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The Canucks have signed winger/center Linus Karlsson to a one-year, one-way extension carrying the league-minimum $775K salary, per a team announcement. He was set to be a Group VI unrestricted free agent if not re-signed by July 1.

A third-round pick by the Sharks in the 2018 draft, the Canucks picked up his signing rights the following year in exchange for Jonathan Dahlén. The 6’1″ forward was in the Karlskrona HK organization in his native Sweden at the time, and after slowly climbing up the European ladder to top-flight minutes with the SHL’s Skellefteå AIK in 2021-22, he inked his entry-level deal with Vancouver the following summer and arrived in North America for the 2022-23 campaign.

While Karlsson was a decent top-six AHL piece in his first season for Vancouver’s affiliate in Abbotsford, he’s exploded for over a point per game since the beginning of 2023-24. After posting 23-37–60 in 60 AHL contests last year, he’s topped that pace with 19-13–32 in 28 showings this year. Injuries have limited his availability at the minor-league level, but so have a few NHL call-ups. He’s skated in nine games for Vancouver in the regular season, scoring his first NHL goal in the process back on Jan. 29 against the Predators.

That remains his only career NHL point across 13 regular-season games dating back to his debut last season, also going without a point in two postseason appearances for the Canucks last year. The one-way structure of his extension is intriguing – perhaps signaling the Canucks plan on the 25-year-old cracking the opening night roster next fall. That would make sense, considering he’s in his last season of waiver-exempt status and would need to clear them on his way down to the minors in 2025-26.

If Karlsson doesn’t reach the 80-game mark for his career by the end of 2025-26, he’ll be eligible for Group VI UFA status again. If not, the Canucks will retain team control for one more summer before he’s eligible for standard UFA status in 2027. Vancouver still has just 27 of 50 contract slots filled for next season, per PuckPedia.

Flames’ Connor Zary Suspended Two Games

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Flames forward Connor Zary has been suspended two games for elbowing Canucks defenseman Elias Pettersson in last night’s game, the league’s Department of Player Safety announced.

In their video statement, DoPS described the incident as follows:

Wednesday night in Calgary, Flames forward Connor Zary was penalized for extending his elbow to deliver a late, high retaliatory hit against Canucks defenseman Elias Pettersson. As the video shows, the Flames skate the puck through the neutral zone with Pettersson defending and Zary on the rush in support. The puck is flipped towards the net and Pettersson finishes a clean, hard check on a Flames player. Then, after the hit and disregarding the rest of the play, Zary tracks Pettersson, raises his elbow and forearm, and elevates upward into a check, striking Pettersson with the extended arm and making significant contact with Pettersson’s head. This is elbowing.

Regarding their rationale for supplemental discipline:

It is important to note that this is not a case where a player’s sudden movements cause a hitter to reflexively extend an elbow in a way that turns a legal hit into an illegal one. On this play, Zary sees a teammate take a hard but legal check and responds intentionally in retribution by delivering a hit with his extended elbow that makes significant head contact and is delivered with reckless force for supplemental discipline. 

Zary has never been fined or suspended before, something the league undoubtedly took into consideration during his hearing this morning. The 23-year-old, whom Calgary selected in the first round in 2020, is in just his second NHL season with 112 career games under his belt.

After finishing eighth in Calder Trophy voting last season, Zary has cemented himself as an important middle-six contributor for the Flames. He ranks sixth on the team among qualified skaters in points per game (0.49) and has averaged nearly 16 minutes per game, including regular second-unit power play deployment. His absence, plus injury concerns surrounding captain Mikael Backlund after he left last night’s game, will likely force Calgary to recall a forward from the AHL before tomorrow’s game against the Avalanche. If Backlund is out, they’d be able to recall someone under emergency conditions and not use their second of four post-deadline standard recalls. They already burned one on Adam Klapka this week.

That’s tough news for a Flames squad that already lost some ground in the wild-card race by dropping last night’s contest to their chief competitors for the spot in a shootout. They’re tied with the Canucks at 71 points but have a game in hand, so they remain in playoff position for now. The Blues and Utah are each two points back of Calgary as well, but like Vancouver, have played one more game than the Flames.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Hurricanes Believed To Have Shown Interest In Brock Boeser Before Trade Deadline

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When it was known that the Hurricanes would be acquiring a pair of first-round picks as part of their return for Mikko Rantanen, the fact the deal wasn’t officially finalized until close to the trade deadline complicated Carolina’s efforts on that front.

However, it appears as if they made an effort to flip one of those picks to get some win-now help as Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic recently reported (Twitter link) that the Hurricanes are believed to have tried to make a run at adding Canucks winger Brock Boeser just before the deadline with one of those newly-acquired first rounders potentially in the offer.

The idea of adding Boeser certainly would have made a lot of sense from Carolina’s standpoint to help fill the void vacated by Rantanen and Martin Necas before the initial swap with Colorado.  While the 28-year-old isn’t necessarily as offensively gifted as Rantanen or Necas, he has been a pretty reliable scorer throughout his career.  Boeser isn’t on his way to his second straight 40-goal season but he has 18 goals and 20 helpers through 57 games which would have made him a good fit on the second line for the Hurricanes.

Of course, with Vancouver still squarely in the mix for a playoff spot in the West, it’s understandable why a futures-based return for one of their top wingers wouldn’t have been appealing to GM Patrik Allvin.  Even when they moved J.T. Miller, they quickly flipped the first-round pick to Pittsburgh for two players who were quickly signed to contract extensions as they continued to operate with a win-now mindset.  With that in mind, it’s reasonable to infer that if Boeser were to be moved, Allvin’s preference would have been a player-for-player type of swap over a futures-based offer like Carolina’s.

Dhaliwal also notes that the Canucks took a late run at trying to get Boeser signed to a contract extension.  The only reported offer that’s out there was a five-year, $40MM proposal from earlier in the season; it’s unclear how much their new offer differed from their original but with a big jump coming in the salary cap, Boeser’s camp likely feels that they’ll be able to beat that on the open market this summer if a new deal with Vancouver isn’t reached by then.  And if that doesn’t happen, there’s probably a good chance that the Hurricanes will be among the teams calling on July 1st.

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