On Thursday, as reported by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Jett Woo and Guillaume Brisebois were both placed on waivers by the Vancouver Canucks. In fact, they were the first NHL training camp cuts who were not waiver-exempt.
This led to a stressful 24 hours for the Canucks, as they waited to see if either player would be claimed off waivers. In the end however, both of them cleared waivers and they have subsequently been assigned to the organisation's AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.
Keeping Woo is a particular relief
Of the two, Woo would have been the bigger loss, even though he has yet to quite fulfill the potential which saw his selected 37th overall in the 2018 entry draft. In fact, as we've previously written, he's one of 12 second rounders from that year's draft who has yet to make their NHL debut.
Woo was actually called up twice by the Canucks last season, but ultimately didn't get the opportunity to play. Of note, this is the second straight year he was placed on waivers as a training camp.
Regardless, the Canucks still have high hopes for the defenceman. Consider that last season was his best yet in the AHL, as he set personal-bests with 24 assists and 31 overall points, with the 31 points being first among all blue-liners on the team.
A new deal
As a result, Woo signed a a one-year, two-way contract extension, with a cap hit of $775,000 at the NHL level. Interestingly, this is less than the $860,833 NHL cap hit on his previous deal, but regardless of what you take away from this, the 2024-25 campaign is an extremely important one for his development.
In truth, it's going to be extremely tough for the 24-year-old to finally make his NHL debut this coming season. With him being a right-shot defencemen, the Canucks already have an abundance of options at this position.
As for Brisebois, he has been with the Canucks organisation ever since they selected him 66th overall in the 2015 entry draft. He has only made 27 appearances for them at the NHL level, although 17 of these did come as recently as the 2022-23 campaign.
Last season was a lost one for the 27-year-old, as his season was compromised by an upper-body injury (speculated to be a concussion). He ended up only playing eight games in Abbotsford, and will be hoping for a bounce-back year this time around.