Is it a Calder Cup hangover when most of the roster is entirely new?
Probably not. Regardless, some relief for the Abbotsford Canucks finally came Wednesday night.
Their 4-3 shootout win against the visiting San Jose Barracuda ended the defending Calder Cup champion Canucks’ 11-game losing streak (0-9-0-2), gave them their first win since the regular season’s opening weekend, and it marked their first win in eight home games this season.
Joseph LaBate’s tying power-play goal came with 1:16 to go in regulation as the Canucks broke San Jose leads of 2-0 and 3-2 to put the game into overtime. Canucks goaltender Aku Koskenvuo took it from there, holding them in through overtime, and then shutting down shootout attempts from Igor Chernyshov, Filip Bystedt, and Luca Cagnoni. Meanwhile Ben Berard’s shootout tally then finished off San Jose for a 4-3 victory.
After celebrating the first Calder Cup championship for a Vancouver Canucks affiliate four-and-a-half months ago, Abbotsford has been on one of the wildest rides in recent AHL history. Wednesday’s win marked their first home victory since taking Game 4 of the Calder Cup Finals from the Charlotte Checkers last June.
The first month of their regular season has brought a championship banner-raising ceremony that opened up an 0-6-0-0 homestand, a parade of recalls to Vancouver, relentless injuries for both the NHL and AHL clubs, an emergency back-up goaltender, multiple in-season signings for reinforcements, and two AHL goaltending debuts.
Nothing is strange about a defending Calder Cup champion struggling the following season. Winning the Calder Cup tends to bring an onslaught of change. Some players earn promotions to the NHL parent team. Other NHL teams want winners, and they pounce each summer to lure those Calder Cup champions away with new contracts. In just three to four months, that championship roster can look markedly different.
But this fight has gone far beyond that. After celebrating that championship on a hot, humid night in Charlotte back on June 23, the team saw a significant exodus of talent shortly thereafter.
Goaltender Artūrs Šilovs, the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy winner as the most valuable player of the playoffs, went to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade. Forwards Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson, Aatu Raty, and Max Sasson all have jobs in Vancouver now. Forward Jonathan Lekkerimäki just came back to Abbotsford this week after spending time with Vancouver; Abbotsford certainly misses someone who produced 19 goals in 36 regular-season games last season. Sammy Blais, Phil Di Giuseppe, Cole McWard, and Tristen Nielsen all took deals with other NHL organizations. Akito Hirose went overseas. The blue line has been particularly battered, too. Defenseman Kirill Kudryavtsev missed time. Victor Mancini has been limited to one AHL game. Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo have yet to play at all as they deal with injuries. Top defensive prospect Tom Willander is with Vancouver. Top veteran Christian Wolanin, named the AHL’s top defenseman in 2022-23, did not return, either and remains a free agent. Steady forward Mackenzie MacEachern, an offseason signing, went up to the NHL club as well after seven games with Abbotsford.
Management has recognized that this roster needed some immediate upgrades. After splitting a season-opening four-game road trip, the team signed forward Arnaud Durandeau and then brought back more help up front with Jujhar Khaira in the week leading up to their home opener Oct. 24.
But injuries have continued to pound Abbotsford mercilessly. Khaira has been held to five games since signing. Expected to take the number-one job in net from Šilovs, Nikita Tolopilo went down in the home opener against the Ontario Reign and has not played since. That injury put Jiří Patera into action after he played just seven games last season.
But Patera ended up getting a last-minute emergency recall last weekend when the AHL club was on the road in Colorado. That pushed Ty Young, who only had 11 AHL games coming into this season, into the Abbotsford starting job. But then he left after 40 minutes last Friday night. So in came CJ Kier, signed as an emergency back-up just before the game. Kier finished up that 4-1 loss as Abbotsford scrambled to bring in even more help.
They got Koskenvuo and Jonathan Lemieux to Colorado the following night from their ECHL affiliate, the Kalamazoo Wings. Lemieux made his AHL debut and secured a point for the Canucks in a 3-2 shootout loss. But this past Tuesday night brought perhaps the season’s lowest point back home in Abbotsford. Young returned to action and started against San Jose. Forty minutes and five goals later, his night ended, leaving Lemieux to mop up an eventual 7-0 loss. They dressed just four players in that game who had also been in the line-up for their Calder Cup clincher in Charlotte.
So Wednesday night it was Koskenvuo’s turn, and he served up 33 saves in his own AHL debut. With Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko out of action, Patera is still on the NHL roster. Koskenvuo’s play Wednesday night may well have given him an edge for more work with Abbotsford as this month unfolds.
But this is a team that must grind for every single goal. Their 1.71 goals per game rank them 31st in the AHL. Their power play does sit tied for fourth in the league at 26.2 percent. The problem with that, though, is that 11 of their 24 goals this season have come through that power play. That’s a tough – and unreliable – path when 5-on-5 production fails to come through.
A good portion of the roster – past and present – has not been coming through offensively. After coming back to North America and failing to make the Vancouver roster out of training camp, Vitali Kravtsov played 10 games with Abbotsford before deciding to go back to the KHL. Not that Kravtsov managed to produce much regardless. After putting up 27 goals with Traktor Chelyabinsk last season, he managed all of one goal in those 10 games with Abbotsford before leaving town. Nils Åman has yet to hit the goal column through 11 games. Danila Klimovich broke out with 25 goals last season; he has gone scoreless in 12 games so far.
They need answers quickly. This weekend they hit the road for a season-high six-game road trip. That trek opens Saturday night when they visit the San Diego Gulls in the FloHockey AHL Game of the Week (9 pm ET/6 pm PT). It will also take them through Coachella Valley before they stop in both San Jose and Tucson for two-game visits. The Canucks are not back at the newly renamed Rogers Forum until Dec. 2 when the Calgary Wranglers return for a pair of games. Those home dates will open a stretch in which they see the archrival Wranglers four times in six games across a 13-day stretch. Wranglers goaltender Ivan Prosvetov held the Canucks to one goal in two games last month in Abbotsford. They have been shutout three times already and held to one goal in three other contests this season.
2025 Abbotsford Canucks vs San Diego Gulls
For all of Abbotsford’s problems, though, the standings remain rather kind to them. Even in sinking to 30th in the AHL with a .286 point percentage, they remain just four points below the Bakersfield Condors and the Pacific Division playoff line. With seven Pacific Division teams making the postseason cut, plus ample opportunities for head-to-head divisional play, the Canucks still own plenty of time to undo the damage that this first month has caused.
Abbotsford forward Ty Mueller, a member of last season’s championship team, put it succinctly after Wednesday night’s comeback win from down two goals.
“I think that shows that we’ve got more than what we’ve shown so far,” Mueller said. “We have an awesome fan base. They showed it last playoffs, and we want to give them something to come watch.”
How To Watch The AHL
The AHL is streaming globally on FloHockey. Watch every single game from the regular season through the Calder Cup Playoffs, as well as key events like the AHL All-Star Classic and AHL Outdoor Classic. Subscribe to FloHockey today so you never miss a moment. All games will be available on FloHockey.tv or via the FloSports mobile and connected TV apps.
NHL Prospect Coverage On FloHockey
The best, and most complete, coverage of the NHL minor league hockey and NHL Draft is found on FloHockey. Don’t miss the latest new prospect guides, rankings and more from Chris Peters and the FloHockey staff.
Hockey Hits Harder On Flo
Every game. Every goal. Every hit. All Season Long. FloHockey gives you access to the most live hockey anywhere, including leagues like the AHL, ECHL, OHL and QMJHL. Watch your team, follow top prospects and stay on top of all the action. Subscribe to an annual plan now and get 7 months free.
Watch the AHL, ECHL, QMJHL, OHL And More On FloHockey
FloHockey is the streaming home to some of the best hockey leagues in North America, including the ECHL and more. Check out the broadcast schedule to watch more hockey.