The Vancouver Canucks have made a few roster moves to make room for Jett Woo’s return to the team.
Woo, 23, was recently recalled to Vancouver on February 12th but did not see any game action before being sent back to Abbotsford for the club’s two-game homestand against the Calgary Wranglers.
Dakota Joshua and Carson Soucy were both retroactively placed on injured reserve and LTIR, respectively, to give the Canucks enough flexibility to call up Woo. While Woo was down in Abbotsford, the club recalled forward Arshdeep Bains, who made his NHL debut Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche.
Joshua was ruled “week-to-week” last Friday after suffering a hand injury, presumably during his fight with Chicago Blackhawks forward MacKenzie Entwistle on February 13th. Soucy has been out of the lineup since sustaining a hand injury while blocking a shot in a game on January 20th.
The roster moves leave the Canucks with roughly $3.6-million in available cap space heading into their Thursday night game against the Seattle Kraken.
While it is certainly possible that Patrik Allvin might be cooking something up on the trade front, this move is more likely to give the Canucks more call-up flexibility in case some of their current defensemen aren’t ready to play on Thursday.
Nikita Zadorov and Noah Juulsen were both shaken up in Tuesday’s loss to the Avalanche but did finish the game. Zadorov left early in the first after a scary collision with a skate blade, and Juulsen blocked a slapshot point-blank with his hand. If either, or both, need a night off for recovery, Rick Tocchet would be able to slot in either Mark Friedman or Jett Woo in a pinch.
Should Woo get into the lineup, this would be the second straight game where a Canuck made his NHL debut. Woo would be doing so on the backs of two assists in two games after his brief return to Abbotsford.
The Winnipeg native has recorded 18 points (five goals and 13 assists) through 44 AHL games this season.
Vancouver will look to snap their three-game skid when they head to Seattle to conclude their road trip, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.
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