Canucks recall Kirill Kudryavtsev, assign Joseph LaBate

The Vancouver Canucks have recalled defenseman Kirill Kudryavtsev and assigned forward Joseph LaBate. The move once again shifts around roles near the bottom of the Canucks’ lineup, as they try to bear through seven different injuries.

Kudryavtsev’s recall will reward his impressive start to the Abbotsford Canucks season. He has points in four of the team’s five games so far, with five assists total. Kudryavtsev has looked strong and confident. He’s made plays on both ends of the ice, and excelled at creating plays off of the blue line. His performance has been a sure step forward from the 26 points and plus-18 he posted in 65 games as an AHL rookie last season.

It’s not yet clear if he’ll have a chance to crack into the NHL lineup. Vancouver also recently recalled Victor Mancini, who served as the extra defender in Saturday’s loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Kudryavtsev would seemingly need to leap over Mancini and Pierre-Olivier Joseph for a role on the team’s bottom-pair. Neither Joseph nor Mancini have scored in their NHL appearances so far – through three and four games respectively. Mancini also went  without a point in one AHL game. That lack of production could be the need that earns Kudryavtsev his NHL debut, should Vancouver need a spark plug at the bottom of their lineup. Kudryavtsev would most likely play on his off-side as the team’s third-pair right-defenseman, partnered with Marcus Pettersson or Elias N. Pettersson, sohuld he step into the lineup.

On the other side of this deal, LaBate will return to the minors after serving as a healthy scratch on Saturday. He made his NHL season debut in Tuesday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and didn’t manage any notable stat changes. LaBate has recorded three points, eight penalty minutes, and six shots in four AHL games this season. He’s continued to be a chippy veteran in the minor-leagues, coming off 21 points and 81 penalty minutes in 51 games with the Cleveland Monsters last season.

LaBate returned to the Canucks organization on a one-year, two-way, league-minimum contract this summer. The team originally drafted him in the fourth-round of the 2011 NHL Draft, and awarded him with the first 13 games of his NHL career in 2016-17. Across his career, LaBate has totaled one assists and 31 penalty minutes in 20 NHL games; and 157 points and 781 penalty minutes in 460 AHL games.