Canucks avoid losing forward Nils Aman as he clears waivers

As reported by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Nils Alman has cleared waivers for the Vancouver Canucks. (The news has since been confirmed by the team themselves.) As a result, he will now be assigned to Abbotsford in the AHL.

There had been some speculation that another team would claim Alman, with centres often in high demand around the NHL. In addition, he's in the first season of a two-year deal, with an attractive looking, i.e. team-friendly average annual cap hit of $825,000.

In the end however, the Canucks avoided losing the 24-year-old who is in his third NHL season, all of which he has played in Vancouver. He has 115 games to his credit at the time of writing, in the process producing 25 points, a -16 rating, 80 hits and 63 blocks while averaging 11:44 of ice time.

Why Alman instead of Bains?

What's interesting, is that Alman was even on waivers in the first place. It would have been far simpler to assign Arshdeep Bains to Abbotsford -- which they already have done a few times this season -- with him being waiver exempt.

Instead though, the Cancucks decided to take the risk of potentially losing Alman. This alludes to him seemingly having fallen down the pecking order in terms of importance to the roster.

This is not to say the 2020 sixth round draft pick has no value at all. He has a decent two-way game, an excellent work ethic, and can certainly do a job in the bottom six at the NHL level.

As for why a spare roster spot was even needed in the first place, this only adds to the rumblings that Dakota Joshua is set to return to the lineup anytime now. He is finally back in full practice for the Canucks sans a non-contact jersey, following surgery related to a diagnosis of testicular cancer.

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