The Vancouver Canucks have officially assigned Travis Hamonic to the AHL as they head out on a three-game road trip to the U.S. As Ben Kuzma of Postmedia points out on Twitter, Hamonic is not considered fully vaccinated, so if he traveled with the team, he would face quarantine restrictions upon his return to Canada. Instead, the team has recalled Jack Rathbone for the trip and placed Luke Schenn on injured reserve.
In this case, Hamonic had already cleared waivers before the season began so won’t need to go through that process again until he plays in 10 games at the NHL level or spends 30 days on the active roster. The veteran defenseman has been in the lineup four times so far, playing a season-high 19:50 in Tuesday night’s overtime loss against the Anaheim Ducks.
Rathbone, meanwhile, isn’t just some last-minute call-up. The 22-year-old defenseman has already played eight games for Vancouver this season and appears to be a big part of their future on the back end. He recorded one point in two games for Abbotsford, but will get back on the road with the big club and receive another opportunity to show what he can do at the NHL level.
One thing to remember about the Hamonic demotion is that while in the AHL, only $1.125M of his $3M cap hit is buried. The team has Tyler Motte traveling with them as he approaches a return from LTIR, meaning the salary cap dance will get even more complicated in the coming weeks for Vancouver.
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