- The Vancouver Canucks are again making a cap-related transaction on one of their off-days. Vancouver announced they’ve reassigned defenseman Guillaume Brisebois and forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki to their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. Lekkerimaki has been more oft-used by the club this season scoring two goals and one assist in 11 games this year averaging 13:47 of ice time per game.
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Canucks Rumors
Canucks’ J.T. Miller Trade Falls Through, Elias Pettersson Wants To Stay
The Vancouver Canucks are at an impasse with star forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. Both players are amidst deep cold spells, inspired by an off-ice rift and resulting in plenty of trade rumors. The team took one step forward in figuring out their plan with the duo on Saturday when Miller was nearly held out of Vancouver’s lineup to support a trade to the New York Rangers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The deal fell through and Miller ended up playing in Vancouver’s 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers. He contributed two primary points in the effort, his first scoring since he managed four points on January 6th.
Miller’s dwindling impact has become a focal point of Vancouver’s 4-6-0 skid. Head coach Rick Tocchet shared harsh words after benching the forward, insinuating that he had quit on his teammates amid another tough loss. Miller has seen his numbers crater since the calendar turned over. He has seven points in nine games – most among any Canucks forwards – but he only scored in three of those outings. Miller has also posted a 40% goals-for percentage (GF%), the third-lowest of Vancouver’s top-six forwards behind Pettersson (25%) and Jake DeBrusk (33.3%).
While theatrics surround him, Miller is still an incredibly impactful forward. He has 31 points in 35 games this season, putting him on an 82-game pace of 73 points. That would be the lowest scoring Miller has managed in a full season since the 2019-20 campaign when he notched 72 points in his first year with the Canucks. He’s since been red-hot – recording 99 points in 2021-22, 82 points in 2022-23, and a career-high 103 points in 2023-24. No other Canuck has come close to Miller’s 433 points in 399 games since he joined the team, with Quinn Hughes’ 380 points in 401 games and Pettersson’s 375 points in as many games the next closest.
That would be an invaluable impact for the Rangers to acquire. They’re in the midst of their own chaotic season, with similar rifts and trade rumors surrounding longtime Rangers Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. A swap for Miller would likely have to involve one of those two, though Vancouver would need substantially more behind them to warrant moving their team’s top-scoring forward. The Rangers have enticing prospects in the gritty Brennan Othmann and ever-improving Gabe Perreault, but their depth falls quickly thin behind them. Perhaps it was the challenge of figuring out complimentary pieces that ultimately pulled the rug from under the trade talks.
Nonetheless, this news is a sign of progress being made in moving Miller out of Vancouver. He’ll be one of the biggest names to watch as the NHL Trade Deadline approaches on March 7th. Meanwhile, Pettersson is leaning towards sticking with the program that bet on him so many years ago. Vancouver drafted Pettersson fifth-overall in the 2017 NHL Draft. He joined the team two seasons later, and won the Calder Trophy for ’Rookie of the Year’ with 28 goals and 66 points in 71 games. He matched the scoring in three fewer games in his following year, after improved on it slightly in year-four after year-three was limited by injuries.
That all set up Pettersson for a smash season in the 2022-23 campaign, when he scored a career-high 39 goals and 102 points. It was the fifth-most a Canucks player has scored since the turn of the century – behind the Sedin twins, Markus Naslund, and Miller. While Miller has taken to dazzling scoring, Pettersson has donned the role of face of the franchise next to Hughes. Vancouver seems poised to hold onto that duo, while trimming off negative impacts, with this latest update.
In one additional note, Friedman also shared that Vancouver sent a clear message to teams to not tamper with their players – and that any teams wishing to talk to Miller or Pettersson would need approval first. It is believed that a few teams have been granted permission to talk with Miller, but none are currently speaking with Pettersson. Both forwards are signed for the forseeable future – Petterson signed through 2031-32 with a $11.6MM cap hit, and Miller signed through 2029-30 with a surprisingly-cheap $8MM price tag.
Trade Activity Heating Up Regarding J.T. Miller
J.T. Miller and the Vancouver Canucks could be nearing a resolution to the speculated rift between himself and Elias Pettersson. Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reported earlier that although the Canucks haven’t officially asked Miller to waive his no-movement clause, they’ve been involved in plenty of trade activity today regarding Miller.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added that despite the increased trade chatter surrounding Miller today, he’s still expected to suit up for Vancouver tonight as they’re set to take on the Edmonton Oilers. Neither report mentions any specific teams engaged in these trade talks with the Canucks indicating a deal is still in the very early stages.
Still, it now stands to reason, that absent any additional reporting regarding Pettersson, Miller will be the odd man out in Vancouver. Only time will tell if moving Miller is the best choice moving forward for the Canucks but it’s the easiest one. He’s making $3.6MM less than Pettersson, has less time left on his contract, is more physical, and has recently shown the capability to amass more than 100 points in a given season. Miller is the prototypical forward, so to speak, that any playoff-destined team would love on their roster.
Vancouver Canucks, Brock Boeser Not Making Progress On Extension Negotiations
Outside of the rampant speculation and drama surrounding the Vancouver Canucks this season, Brock Boeser’s impending unrestricted free agency would otherwise make for a lot of headlines in British Columbia. In a recent article from Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, it appears the longest-tenured member of the Canucks will have his career with the organization come to an unceremonious end.
Part of the unnoteworthiness of Boeser’s contract status is due to his unnoteworthiness play this season. He got off to a quick start, as did Vancouver, scoring six goals and 11 points through the first 12 contests before an elbow to the head from Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Jeannot cost Boeser three weeks of the season due to a concussion.
Since returning from his concussion shortly before American Thanksgiving, Boeser has scored nine goals and 16 points in 25 games albeit with a -10 rating. Outside of some poor play on the defensive side of the puck, this would normally be fine production from a top-six winger in nearly any team’s arsenal. However, most top-six wingers aren’t coming off a career year like Boeser.
He scored 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games during the 2023-24 NHL season and was setting himself up for a handsome payday, with the Canucks or elsewhere, should he have continued putting the pucks in the net with such efficiency. Instead, Boeser has typically mirrored the center of whichever line he’s been on which has usually been next to the disengaged and lethargic Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller.
According to the report from MacIntyre, the Canucks have decided upon a soft deadline with Boeser indicating he’ll be extended or traded by the trade deadline on March 7th. It would be uncommon for a team only one point removed from the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference to move one of their top goal-scorers and longest-tenured players at the deadline but it would follow in line with the lack of normalcy in Vancouver this year.
Boeser should command a formidable trade market given his recent goal-scoring capabilities, his mild 10-team modified no-trade clause, and his status as an impending unrestricted free agent. He makes the most sense for the Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and St. Louis Blues as playoff-hungry teams who could use more goal-scoring but none of them strike as teams with much appetite for the rental market this season.
Teams that are clear contenders, such as the Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets, Vegas Golden Knights, or even his hometown Minnesota Wild would likely have the most interest should Boeser ultimately get moved. Still, the deadline proposed by the Canucks’ brass doesn’t point to an immediate trade, but it certainly seems to be heading in that direction.
Vancouver Canucks Recall Three Players
Jan. 16: As expected, the team announced all three players have been recalled from Abbotsford again.
Jan. 15: The Vancouver Canucks have sent three players back to their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, in a transaction likely categorized as a paper move. Defenseman Guillaume Brisebois and forwards Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Max Sasson are included in the transaction but will likely be recalled tomorrow.
Brisebois, Lekkerimaki, and Sasson are the only three waiver-exempt players on the active roster for the Canucks giving context to today’s move. Brisebois normally wouldn’t be exempt from waivers but has already cleared the waiver wire in late September and hasn’t played in 10 or more games with Vancouver nor has he spent more than 30 days on the active roster.
The 27-year-old defenseman has spent his entire eight-year professional career in the Canucks organization and played in his first NHL action since the 2022-23 season this year. Injuries limited him to only eight AHL contests last year but he’s already accrued 23 this season scoring one goal overall. He has been quite limited in his time on ice in Vancouver, averaging 15:48 of ice time throughout just three games this year.
Lekkerimaki likely has the highest name recognition of the three players reassigned as the first-round pick of the Canucks in the 2022 NHL Draft. He’s scored 12 goals and 17 points in 21 games for AHL Abbotsford this season but hasn’t been able to translate the goal-scoring to the NHL level yet. Still, he’s scored two goals and one assist in 10 games for Vancouver while being limited to only 13:52 of ice time per game. Should the Canucks trade any top-six forwards off the active roster leading up to the trade deadline, Lekkerimaki may get an expanded look down the stretch.
Sasson is the only member of the trio to register more than 10 games for the Canucks this season. He’s been an effective bottom-six winger during his rookie campaign scoring two goals and six points in 19 games. He hasn’t produced the best possession numbers, which isn’t uncommon for a rookie, but he’s quickly become one of the better defensive forwards on the team with a 94.7% on-ice save percentage while at even strength.
Joshua Has Skated Since Suffering Leg Injury Earlier This Month
- Canucks forward Dakota Joshua has skated a couple of times as he starts to work his way back from a leg injury suffered earlier this month, notes Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston. However, they’ve been light skates and he’s still not particularly close to returning as he remains listed as week-to-week. After a breakout showing last season, this year hasn’t gone as well for Joshua (who missed the start of it while recovering from testicular cancer) as he has just four points along with 83 hits in 24 games.
Canucks To Activate Filip Hronek From Long-Term Injured Reserve
Jan. 14: Hronek will indeed come off LTIR and enter the lineup tonight against the Jets, Tocchet told Dan Murphy of Sportsnet. He’ll play in his usual spot alongside Hughes but will have his minutes “monitored.” Depth defender Guillaume Brisebois, who skated 16:56 and had two shots on goal in Saturday’s win over the Maple Leafs, comes out of the lineup. Vancouver has an open roster spot and won’t need to make a corresponding transaction to formally activate Hronek.
Jan. 13: The Vancouver Canucks are potentially only one day away from a fully healthy blue line. As expected, the team has recalled defenseman Filip Hronek from his LTIR conditioning loan without him having played a game for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.
Hronek practiced with the team but there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready to suit up tomorrow night. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman passed along a note from head coach Rick Tocchet indicating Hronek is being listed as a game-time decision for tomorrow’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.
Vancouver hasn’t had their entire defensive core intact since American Thanksgiving since Hronek went down with a lower-body injury on November 27th. In Hronek’s absence, and a brief four-game absence of captain Quinn Hughes, the Canucks have produced an 8-6-7 record and have fallen to the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference with the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, and Utah Hockey Club breathing down their necks.
Hronek’s return is perfectly timed for Vancouver for a few reasons. First, the organization is dangerously close to falling out of the playoff race and Hronek should help stabilize the back end for the most part. He’s only scored one goal and nine points in 21 games this season but he’s still second on the team in CorsiFor% at even strength and third in on-ice save percentage at even strength.
Secondly, the Canucks are expected to be one of the increasingly active teams leading up to the trade deadline and have already been linked to Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Marcus Pettersson. The team should still be in the market for a left-handed shooting defenseman but a fully healthy blue line should give them a better vision of who they should ultimately target.
Canucks’ Erik Brännström Clears Waivers
Jan. 13: Brännström cleared waivers on Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He may now be assigned to AHL Abbotsford at will.
Jan. 12: The Vancouver Canucks have placed defenseman Erik Brännström on waivers, per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK. Brännström hasn’t appeared in Vancouver’s lineup since Dec. 31.
Vancouver successfully waived Brännström before the start of the regular season and moved him between the NHL and AHL four times during the month of the waiver exemption he received. He became waiver-eligible once more in early November and has served as Vancouver’s seventh defenseman ever since.
Brännström has been under scrutiny for the past few seasons. The Golden Knights drafted him 15th overall in 2017, taking him just a few picks before players like Joshua Norris, Robert Thomas, and Jake Oettinger, and quickly flipped him to Ottawa in a deal for Mark Stone.
Brännström played one more year in Sweden’s SHL after his draft selection, posting 15 points in 44 games – impressive for a 19-year-old defender – and moved to the AHL in 2018-19. He continued to score well in North America, posting a collective 53 points in 77 games between his first two years in the AHL.
But he’s struggled to carry that productivity to the top flight. It took Brännström 40 career games before he managed his first NHL goal and five full seasons before he reached 20 points.
He finally hit that mark in 76 games with Ottawa last season, the most he’s played in one NHL campaign. That boost in scoring suggested that Brännström was a bright gem in a muddy role, sparking the Colorado Avalanche to sign him to a one-year, $900K contract this summer – and then trade him to the Canucks for a fourth-round pick in October.
Brännström worked his way up from Vancouver’s bottom pair to start the season and even managed a few games on the top pair in November and December. But he’s again struggled to score, with just eight points in 28 games this season.
Having already cleared waivers once this season, Brännström doesn’t seem a likely candidate to land somewhere new with this move. Instead, he’ll likely pass through clean and return to bouncing between the major and minor rosters.
He has three assists in two AHL games this season. Maybe returning to that hot scoring could be enough to help the 25-year-old defender finally find his footing as an NHL hopeful.
Canucks Activate Elias Pettersson From Injured Reserve
The Canucks activated center Elias Pettersson from injured reserve on Friday, according to general manager Patrik Allvin. He’ll return to the lineup tonight against the Hurricanes after missing six games with an undisclosed injury.
Pettersson’s stint on IR came amid a spike in trade rumors regarding the 26-year-old pivot, whose speculated rift with teammate J.T. Miller has caused Vancouver to at least start examining the trade market for both players. He was nearly dealt to the Hurricanes last season before opting to reengage with the Canucks on a contract extension, signing an eight-year, $92.8MM pact in March.
Now back to full health, Pettersson will look to build on what’s been a disappointing campaign in the first season of his contract with an $11.6MM cap hit. He’d been limited to 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points in 34 games before the injury, tracking for his worst points-per-game pace since his injury-plagued 2020-21 campaign.
Somewhat ironically, the 2017 fifth-overall pick played his best hockey this season when Miller was out of the lineup on a personal leave for much of November and December. In 10 games without Miller, he exploded for 13 assists and added a pair of goals for 15 points.
Upon Miller’s return, Pettersson went on a six-game pointless streak. He got back on the score sheet with a pair of goals against the Sharks on Dec. 23 before leaving that contest with the ailment that landed him on IR.
The Canucks have an open roster spot after assigning goaltender Arturs Silovs to AHL Abbotsford on Thursday, so no corresponding transaction is needed for him to re-enter the lineup. Pettersson has had a rotating cast of wingers this season, spending significant time with Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Conor Garland, Nils Höglander, and Kiefer Sherwood, and since the Canucks didn’t take a morning skate today, it’s hard to project where he’ll slot in the lineup.
Canucks Reassign Arturs Silovs
The Canucks reassigned goaltender Arturs Silovs to AHL Abbotsford on Thursday, general manager Patrik Allvin said in a team announcement. The move signals Thatcher Demko, who’s missed Vancouver’s last three games with back spasms, should be available Friday against the Hurricanes. Head coach Rick Tocchet told Dan Murphy of Sportsnet before Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Capitals that the latter was close to returning.
Silovs, 23, had been on the Canucks’ roster since Friday, the day after Demko left his start against the Kraken due to a collision with teammate Noah Juulsen. He backed up Kevin Lankinen while Demko was unavailable and didn’t get into any game action.
Vancouver has shuffled the Latvian native between leagues a handful of times this season. However, he hasn’t played an NHL contest since Demko returned from the lingering knee injury that ended his 2024 playoff run after one game in late November.
Starting the season as Lankinen’s backup while Demko was unavailable, Silovs made it clear he needs more development time in the minors. The 2019 sixth-round pick posted a 1-4-1 record in six starts and one relief appearance, underwhelming with a .847 SV% and 4.11 GAA and just one quality start.
Silovs burst onto the scene in the 2024 playoffs after Demko and then-backup Casey DeSmith exited their first-round series against the Predators with injuries. He started 10 straight contests, carrying them to a series win over Nashville and a Game 7 loss to the Oilers in the second round, posting a .898 SV%, 2.91 GAA, and one shutout.
In five games with Abbotsford this season, Silovs has a .900 SV% and 2.44 GAA with a 2-3-0 record. The 2023 World Championship MVP signed a two-year, $1.7MM contract to return to the Canucks in July after a couple of weeks on the restricted free agent market.