Canucks place Arshdeep Bains on waivers

The Vancouver Canucks are at risk of losing one of their local talents, placing Surrey, BC’s Arsheep Bains on waivers on Tuesday afternoon, offering the forward to the NHL’s other 31 teams. 

The 24-year-old left winger has played 26 games with the Canucks this season, scoring one goal and six points, as he floated throughout the top and bottom six under head coach Adam Foote. However, he was unable to match the play he showed in his NHL stints in 2024-25 and 2023-24. 

Last season, he played 13 NHL games. Still, he spent most of the year with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, where he scored 11 goals and 43 points in 50 regular-season minor league games, before playing a significant role throughout the Calder Cup Playoffs en route to the organization’s first AHL title. 

In 47 NHL games, Bains has scored two goals and four assists for six points. 

One of the few British Columbia-raised players on the Canucks, Bains joined the organization as an undrafted free agent in 2022 after playing five seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels. 

Should Bains make his way through waivers and back to Abbotsford, he would join a struggling side in the AHL’s Pacific Division. As of Tuesday, the Abbotsford Canucks sat last in the division with a record of 6-15-3, given several key players from last year’s title-winning season have moved up to the NHL squad or left the organization entirely. 

The NHL Canucks, meanwhile, have been in flux amid struggles and are finding their feet with Zeev Buim, Liam Öhgren and Marco Rossi, after securing the three young talents in exchange for elite blueliner Quinn Hughes in last Friday’s trade with the Minnesota Wild. 

While President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford admitted that the club is in a rebuilding phase, the season continues at the NHL level with a game against J.T. Miller and the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.