Vancouver Canucks cut 15 players in major roster trim

Trey Fix-Wolansky and head coach Manny Malhotra saw Vancouver's roster picture tighten sharply Wednesday as the Canucks made a major camp cut.

Vancouver assigned 11 players to Abbotsford, sending a large group out of NHL camp as the club moves closer to its opening-night roster.

Ty Mueller, Riley Patterson, Ilya Safonov, Chase Wouters, Kirill Kudryavtsev and Sawyer Mynio were among the players ticketed for the AHL.

Fix-Wolansky, Cole Clayton and Jimmy Schuldt were also assigned to Abbotsford, but each must first clear waivers before reporting to the Canucks' affiliate.

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Ben Berard and Isaac Belliveau completed the Abbotsford group. That leaves fewer bodies fighting for the remaining depth jobs under Malhotra.

Vancouver also returned Yaroslav Bryzgalov, Adam Novotny, Brooks Rogowski and Aleksei Medvedev to their respective junior clubs.

Canucks roster battle enters its final stage

The scale of the move matters. Vancouver removed 15 players from its camp group in one announcement, creating a much clearer picture of who remains in the NHL conversation.

For Fix-Wolansky, the waiver process adds another layer. The forward now becomes available to the rest of the league before Vancouver can place him in Abbotsford.

Clayton and Schuldt face the same process, giving other NHL teams an opportunity to claim either player as clubs continue making their own late-camp decisions.

The Canucks aren't just trimming prospects. Sending several experienced depth options toward Abbotsford shows that management is getting closer to settling the extra-forward and extra-defenceman jobs.

Mynio and Kudryavtsev will now get significant development time on Abbotsford's blue line rather than sitting around the NHL roster in limited roles.

The junior assignments carry a different message. Bryzgalov, Novotny, Rogowski and Medvedev can return to larger minutes and development roles rather than remaining in camp without a realistic NHL path.

Malhotra's remaining group now has far less room for passengers. Every preseason shift carries more weight with Vancouver moving into one of its final evaluation windows.

The next Canucks transaction could be even more revealing. With 15 names cleared from camp at once, the competition for the final roster spots has entered its sharpest stage.

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34 players placed on NHL waivers on Wednesday including 6 goaltenders