Wake With Elias- Oct 5, 2021: Abbotsford Roster Taking Shape As Canucks Make Cuts

Coming off a better performance over the Winnipeg Jets Sunday afternoon than they showed Friday night in Calgary, the Vancouver Canucks have another preseason tilt tonight as their new rivals to the south make their first appearance at Rogers Arena.

The Canucks, icing a largely AHL lineup, dropped a 5-3 decision to the Seattle Kraken last Sunday in Spokane, WA. They’re going to look far more like an NHL ready squad tonight, due in part to the cuts made to the training camp roster on Sunday.

“The following players have been released from their professional tryout contract and will be joining the Abbotsford Canucks (AHL):

Lukosevicius, Jarid

Arseneau, Vincent

Sautner, Ashton

The following players have been released from their amateur tryout contract and will be joining the Abbotsford Canucks (AHL):

Nielsen, Tristen

Keppen, Ethan

Wouters, Chase

Kannok-Leipert, Alex

The following players have been loaned to the Abbotsford Canucks (AHL):

Plasek, Karel

Silovs, Arturs

Woo, Jett

The following players have been designated for assignment to the Abbotsford Canucks (AHL):

Stevens, John

Stephens, Devante

Rempal, Sheldon

Martin, Spencer

The following players have been assigned to their junior teams:

Persson, Viktor (Kamloops, WHL)

Lockhart, Connor (Erie, OHL)”

No real surprises here, and we’ll likely see more cuts after tonight’s contest as the Canucks prepare for the first of three straight contests against the Edmonton Oilers beginning on Thursday night, the last one being their season opener in Edmonton, part of a six game road trip to start the season, one that takes them to the East Coast and back to Seattle before the home opener Oct 26 against the Minnesota Wild.

CANUCKS NEWS

- One guy on the bubble right now is Zack MacEwan, who’d really like to start the year in Vancouver on the 4th line...

- You may have seen Robin Lehner’s accusations about former Canucks coach Alain Vigneault pushing medications on players over the weekend, and now former Canucks “player” Tom Sestito has added his voice to this. I’m not trying to say Lehner’s lying, but if he doesn’t have actual evidence here, then he should probably lay off this. Then again, the NHL is most likely going to sweep anything under the rug, so we’ll see what comes of Sestito coming out with this (while keeping a healthy awareness of Sestito’s history and relationship with truthful matters)...

- Thomas Drance on the Pettersson and Hughes contracts and how they affect the future of the club...

We’ll have our game preview coming up later today along with any breaking news.