Canucks To Activate J.T. Miller From Non-Roster List
Canucks center J.T. Miller told reporters Thursday that he’ll return to the lineup tonight against the Panthers after missing the last 10 games while on personal leave (via Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650).
Vancouver announced over three weeks ago that Miller, who led the team in scoring last season with 103 points, was taking an indefinite leave of absence. Trade rumors immediately popped up regarding the 31-year-old pivot. While there may have been legitimate interest from some parties, including the Rangers, a move away from Vancouver was never something the player or the team even remotely considered, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said last week.
Miller was off to a semi-slow start offensively. He still managed six goals and 16 points in his first 17 games of the year, but he was tracking toward finishing under a point per game for the first time since the 2020-21 season, and his 18:24 ATOI was his lowest since arriving in Vancouver via trade in 2019. Elias Pettersson shifted up to center Vancouver’s top line between Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser in Miller’s absence, erupting for six multi-point games in his last 10 outings and compiling two goals and 13 assists for 15 points in total.
As such, head coach Rick Tocchet may very well opt to keep that red-hot trio together. DeBrusk has been scorching hot on Pettersson’s wing with 10 goals in 10 games without Miller, while Boeser has seven points in eight games since returning from a suspected concussion. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Miller take reps between Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland on the second line, bumping Pius Suter back down to a more comfortable third-line role.
The Canucks currently have two open slots on the active roster, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move to accommodate Miller’s return. They did, however, make one move earlier Thursday, reversing a paper transaction that sent defenseman Mark Friedman to AHL Abbotsford yesterday. He’s back up and will be available tonight versus Florida.
Friedman Assigned To Abbotsford
- The Canucks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned defenseman Mark Friedman to AHL Vancouver. The 28-year-old was recalled in late November but only got into one game while on recall. After clearing waivers in training camp, Friedman got into eight games with Abbotsford, notching a goal and three assists.
Sasson Recalled From Abbotsford
- A day after being sent down, Max Sasson has been recalled by the Canucks, the team announced (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has two assists in seven games in his first taste of NHL action this season. Sasson also has nine points in 16 games with AHL Abbotsford. His demotion allowed Vancouver to bank a tiny bit more cap space as they look to avoid dipping into using LTIR.
Evening Notes: Arvidsson, Allen, Whitecloud, Sasson
Edmonton Oilers winger Viktor Arvidsson has resumed skating for the first time since exiting the lineup last month with an undisclosed injury, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch shared with Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic. Knoblauch added that the hope is that Arvidsson will return to team practices next week. Little about the veteran winger’s injury has been revealed. He played through 14 minutes of ice time in his most recent game – an overtime win over the Islanders on November 12th. The Oilers announced Arvidsson as banged up shortly after that game, designating him as day-to-day. He was placed on injured reserve nine days later, and has since missed Edmonton’s last 11 games.
Arvidsson signed a two-year, $8MM contract with Edmonton this summer, but hasn’t found his footing in the new setting just yet. He’s played in 16 games and scored five points this season, though the bulk of that scoring came from a three-assist night against Pittsburgh on October 25th. Arvidsson has scored two goals in eight games since then, but still sits far away from the 31-goal season he managed in 2016-17. Repeated lower-body injuries held Arvidsson out of all but 18 games with the Los Angeles Kings last season, though he still managed an impressive 15 points. He’ll look to return to the lineup, and quickly rediscover his scoring kick, before the calendar turns over.
Other notes around the league:
- New Jersey Devils goaltender Jake Allen is questionable for the team’s Tuesday game against Toronto per a team announcement. No specifics were provided as to what may limit the veteran backup. Allen was on the wrong side of a shutout on Sunday, allowing three goals on 22 shots in the Devils’ 4-0 loss to Colorado. Despite the losing efforts, Allen’s season-long stat line has been more encouraging – with a 5-4-1 record and .904 save percentage through 10 games. New Jersey would need to recall a backup for Jacob Markstrom should Allen miss Tuesday’s game. Utica Comets starter Nico Daws would likely stand as the next man up. Daws has three wins and a .897 in 13 AHL games this season.
- Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud returned to full practices on Monday shares Jesse Granger of The Athletic. It’s the next step towards a return after Whitecloud returned to practices with a no-contact jersey on Friday. Head coach Bruce Cassidy told Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Whitecloud is expected to play at some point on Vegas’ upcoming three-game road trip. The 28-year-old defender has two points, 14 penalty minutes, and a +5 through 21 games this season; while operating out of a bottom-four role. He’ll be quickly slotted back into the lineup when back to full health, likely bumping Kaedan Korczak to the press box.
- The Vancouver Canucks are taking advantage of their off-days, assigning waiver-exempt forward Max Sasson to the minor leagues to help accrue cap space ahead of their Tuesday night game. Sasson made his NHL debut earlier this season and has since recorded two assists and a +2 in seven games. The 24-year-old has operated from Vancouver’s fourth-line, and is likely to return with a call-up before the Canucks’ next game. If he does stay in the minors, he’ll be returning to an AHL stat line featuring four goals, nine points, and six penalty minutes through nine games.
Vancouver Canucks Reassign Arturs Silovs To AHL
Thatcher Demko is officially back for the Vancouver Canucks and with that came the expectation that the Canucks would reassign one of their other two netminders. That time has come as the organization announced they have reassigned goaltender Arturs Silovs to their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.
Silovs became the obvious man-out in Vancouver on the heels of an abysmal start to the 2024-25 NHL season. There was some optimism that Silovs was a potential breakout candidate this year after backstopping the Canucks to Game Seven of their Round Two matchup against the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.
He finished the 2024 postseason with a 5-5-0 record in 10 starts with a .898 save percentage and a 2.91 goals-against average. It was the longest chain of starts for Silovs in his young NHL career and he proved relatively reliable in Demko’s absence.
That optimism and confidence have evaporated with Silovs starting the 2024-25 NHL season with a 1-4-1 record in six starts, a .847 SV%, and a 4.11 GAA. It’s quickly become necessary for Silovs to continue his development in AHL Abbotsford.
It’ll be a familiar environment for the Riga, Latvia native. He’s been exceptionally consistent throughout his time in Abbotsford boasting a career record of 46-30-11, a .906 SV%, 2.62 GAA, and nine shutouts in 90 career AHL contests.
Silovs will look to regain his confidence in the AHL barring any more injuries at the NHL level. The Canucks, who are in third place in the Pacific Division, should be more than fine staying competitive with their current duo.
Canucks Activate Thatcher Demko
The Canucks are about to get a key player back in their lineup. The team announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Thatcher Demko has been activated from Injured Non-Roster status. He’s expected to serve as the backup goaltender tonight against Columbus.
It has been a long road back for the 28-year-old. Demko last played in the opening round of the playoffs where he suffered a popliteal muscle injury. Since then, there have been multiple times when they hoped Demko was nearing a return but instead, his ramp-up had to be slowed down. Now, it appears he’s in good enough condition to at least serve in the second-string role against Columbus.
Demko had his best season in 2023-24, posting a 2.45 GAA, a .918 SV%, and five shutouts in 51 starts for Vancouver. That performance made him the Vezina Trophy runner-up to Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck. However, he only suited up once in the postseason before being unable to play through the injury. His return will certainly be a welcome one with the Canucks sitting in the middle of the pack in the Pacific Division.
For the moment, at least, Vancouver has three goalies on its active roster with Kevin Lankinen (starting tonight) and Arturs Silovs (who eventually became the starter in the playoffs once Demko was injured) being the other two. Silovs is off to a particularly rough start (he has a 4.11 GAA and a .847 SV%) in his first seven outings and is waiver-exempt, making him an easy choice to send down to AHL Abbotsford at some point.
That said, if the Canucks want to ease Demko in, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Silovs stay up for the time being to dress as the backup at times or to lighten the workload at practice. With the team recently moving Filip Hronek to LTIR and sending Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Cole McWard down after doing so, Vancouver has ample roster and cap space to keep all three on the active roster if they decide that’s the route they want to take.
Canucks Recall Three, Place Filip Hronek On LTIR
The Canucks announced a series of transactions Thursday, most notably placing defenseman Filip Hronek on long-term injured reserve. They’d already announced Tuesday that he’ll miss the next eight weeks after undergoing a lower-body procedure, so it’s purely a roster move to gain flexibility and cap space for the time being.
Before doing so, they recalled winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki and defenseman Cole McWard from AHL Abbotsford to maximize their LTIR capture. After placing Hronek on LTIR, they also recalled center Max Sasson. They got within $12,138 of the cap, per PuckPedia, setting their LTIR pool at roughly $7.24MM. Their active roster now has a full 23 players, and they have roughly $6.37MM in current cap space after Sasson’s recall.
It’s unclear if Lekkerimaki and McWard will remain on the roster for an extended period of time or if they were purely paper call-ups for cap purposes. Lekkerimaki, Vancouver’s first-round pick in 2022, scored one goal in five games last month in his first NHL recall but has been in the minors since Nov. 21. He has six goals and two assists for eight points in 12 games with Abbotsford this season with a -10 rating that’s tied for the worst on the team.
McWard, 23, is almost certainly a short-term recall. The Canucks already had an extra healthy defenseman on hand in Hronek’s absence after recalling Mark Friedman.
An undrafted free agent signing out of Ohio State in 2023, McWard has yet to see a recall this season and has only six NHL games to his name over the previous two years. In those contests, he has a goal on seven shots while averaging 13:22 per game and controlling 48.9% of shot attempts at even strength. A stay-at-home defender by trade, he has six points and a -2 rating in 21 appearances for Abbotsford in 2024-25.
Meanwhile, Sasson was sent down just yesterday for cap purposes and should stick on the roster for a while yet. Signed as an undrafted free agent along with McWard in 2023, he received his first NHL recall last month and has stuck around with two assists in his first five contests, averaging 8:45 per game. The 24-year-old had nine points in 16 games with Abbotsford before his recall.
Canucks Reassign Max Sasson To Abbotsford
The Minnesota Wild made a pair of recalls today bringing up forwards Travis Boyd and Reese Johnson from Iowa of the American Hockey League. Boyd has already dressed in two games this season for Minnesota, while Johnson has spent this entire season in the AHL.
The 31-year-old Boyd has gone scoreless in the NHL this season but has put up decent offensive numbers with Iowa, posting two goals and nine assists in 13 AHL games. The Hopkins, Minnesota native is just two years removed from providing several seasons of solid depth scoring, eclipsing 30 points a season from 2021-23.
Johnson on the other hand spent the last two years in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks but has found himself returning to the AHL this season. The 25-year-old has registered three goals and six assists in 18 AHL games this year. At the NHL level, the Regina, Saskatchewan native has posted just 17 points in 141 career NHL games.
In other Western Conference notes:
- The Vancouver Canucks have reassigned Max Sasson to the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL. The move is likely just a paper transaction as the Canucks attempt to accrue additional cap space to have more flexibility at the NHL trade deadline. Vancouver has done this earlier in the season with Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Räty, and might be making the same move here, although they could be keeping room for a different transaction. The 24-year-old Sasson had two assists in five games with Vancouver and averaged just 8:45 of ice time per game. His possession numbers weren’t great, with a CF% of 40.8% at even strength, but given that he was an undrafted free agent signing, he has likely exceeded expectations thus far.
- The Utah Hockey Club has assigned defenseman Maksymilian Szuber to the American Hockey League’s Tucson Roadrunners. The 22-year-old was recalled four days ago but didn’t see any NHL action and hasn’t since a single appearance back in April that remains the lone game he’s played in the NHL. The former sixth-round pick isn’t a big point producer but has used his strong passing to post four assists and a goal in 11 AHL games this season.
Canucks Won’t Trade J.T. Miller, He Has Not Requested A Trade
Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali tweeted today that Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford has said publicly that the team will not trade forward J.T. Miller, and he has not requested a trade out of Vancouver. Rutherford added that the Canucks are standing by Miller and that he believes it is fair to speculate on the situation, but people need to be realistic about what is going on.
Patrick Johnson of The Province writes that Miller is looking to get himself right while he is away on personal leave, and there is no date determined yet for when he will return. Ultimately, that date will be decided by Miller, according to Rutherford. Miller’s focus is on getting back to where he was mentally, and hopefully, he can do so.
Since being traded to Vancouver in June of 2019, all Miller has done is put up stellar offensive numbers, averaging over a point a game with 418 points in 381 games. Miller’s numbers have improved during his time with the Canucks, and he hit several career highs last season, posting a career-best 103 points (37 goals and 66 assists) in 81 games. He has also eclipsed 30 goals in each of the last three seasons.
This year, Miller started the year with six goals and 10 assists in 17 games.
Filip Hronek Set To Miss Eight Weeks
It’s already been public knowledge for a week that the Vancouver Canucks would be without defenseman Filip Hronek for the foreseeable future. We now have a more concrete timeline for Hronek as the Canucks announced he’s expected to miss the next eight weeks after undergoing a lower-body procedure. On a positive note, the team shared in the same announcement that Hronek avoided surgery for his upper-body injury.
Vancouver has won two games in a row without Hronek on the top defensive-pairing but will have a much more difficult matchup tonight against the Minnesota Wild. The Kralove, Czechia native had one goal and nine points for the Canucks in 21 games and will look to build upon that when he returns in late January or early February. Tyler Myers has filled the void left by Hronek over the last two games but Vancouver would do well to add a better right-handed option on defense from the trade market.