Arturs Sirovs, Filip Johansson, Max Sasson, Artu Leti, Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Bains were called up ahead of the Canucks’ preseason game in Abbotsford.
During the NHL preseason, dozens of players are removed from NHL teams and sent to the AHL. It’s a little unusual then to see a player recalled from the AHL during the preseason.
But the Vancouver Canucks did just that on Wednesday, acquiring Arturs Sirovs, Filip Johansson, Max Sasson, Artu Leti, Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks, who were just released earlier this week. Six players were called up.
The call-up comes ahead of the Canucks’ preseason game against the Seattle Kraken in Abbotsford and suggests they want to add an AHL star to the lineup for local fans.
That means some NHL stars will not be on the road. Elias Pettersson, who missed two days of practice with a cold, was on the ice Wednesday morning with a group of non-travelers that included star players Quinn Hughes, JT Miller and Thatcher Demko. The remaining members of the group are Ian Cole, Noah Juulsen, Teddy Blueger, Phil Di Giuseppe, Conor Garland and Ilya Mikheyev, who is still not cleared to play after undergoing knee surgery earlier this year. Ta.
That means the team heading to Abbotsford will lack star power, but Andrei Kuzmenko, Anthony Beauvillier, Pius Suter, Nils Häglander, Carson Soucy and Filip Hronek will likely be in the lineup.
As for the players called up, it’s an interesting collection. That doesn’t include Vasily Podkolzin, but calling him up for another preseason game could make his injury even worse after he clearly wasn’t on the opening day roster.
Johansson has yet to play in a preseason game with the Canucks, so this will be the first opportunity for fans and management alike to see him in an NHL right-field scenario. The former first-round pick of the Minnesota Wild is in his first professional season in North America and hopes to re-establish himself as a legitimate NHL prospect.
Sasson, Leighty, Karlsson and Baynes will all be important components of Abbotsford’s offense, and one or more of them could potentially play in NHL games against the Canucks this season. Sasson has been skating alongside Danila Klimovic and Aidan McDonough since the Young Stars prospect tournament began, so this will be an opportunity to see what he can do with different linemates.
Wednesday’s game will not be televised, but the Canucks plan to stream the game. Canucks.com.
