Report: Canucks calling up defenceman Victor Mancini

The news comes two days before the Canucks are set to make their regular season debut against the Calgary Flames.

Seven Canucks defencemen were listed on the opening night roster: Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson, Tyler Myers, Derek Forbort, Elias Pettersson, and PO Joseph. As of Sunday’s scenes from practice, Forbort and Joseph have missed three straight days of Canucks practice. With Mancini being called up, their statuses for Thursday night would appear in question.

According to the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), when players are assigned to the AHL, they are required to play at least one game before being summoned back to their NHL team. However, this rule does not kick in until October 10, which allows the Canucks to recall Mancini without playing his mandatory one game – we covered more on that here.

Mancini, 23, was acquired from the New York Rangers, along with Filip Chytil and a 2025 first-round pick (12th overall pick, Jack Nesbitt), in exchange for JT Miller, Erik Brannstrom and the rights to Jackson Dorrington.

The right-shot defenceman suited up in 16 regular season games for Vancouver last season, scoring one goal and three points, finishing with a minus-6 rating in 15:30 minutes of average ice time. Once Vancouver’s regular season ended, Mancini joined the Abbotsford Canucks in what became a Championship-winning postseason run.

In Abbotsford, Mancini scored three goals and eight points in 24 games, playing top-pairing minutes and in all situations. The 6’3″ blueliner has translated that into a strong preseason, where his two goals have certainly caught the attention of the new Canucks coaching staff. We will have more information from today’s practice later, but with this move, Mancini will likely be on the opening night roster on Thursday night.