The Vancouver Canucks have some decisions to make ahead of October 7's deadline to submit opening-day rosters.
On Friday, Arshdeep Bains made those decisions a little bit harder with his best game of the preseason. He's competing for a spot with Nils Åman, who has quietly had a strong preseason, and Aatu Räty, who has consistently been one of the Canucks' best players all preseason but stumbled on Friday with a shaky performance and a glaring error on a goal against.
While that final cut will have to come before the deadline on Monday, the Canucks made one more cut on Saturday that could affect their decision-making, as Akito Hirose was sent down to the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL.
As always, Pass it to Bulis is here to break down every cut.
Akito Hirose gets the all clear
Hirose getting sent down is actually good news for him. It means that he's been cleared from the NHL's concussion protocol.
The 25-year-old defenceman took a heavy hit from the Calgary Flames' Adam Klapka a week ago that saw his head whiplash back into the boards. He left the game and head coach Rick Tocchet later confirmed that he was going through the protocol.
That was tough news for Hirose, who dealt with significant injuries last season that kept him out of the Abbotsford lineup, derailing a season that saw him play three NHL games.
It was also tough news for the Canucks, as the injury meant that Hirose had to go on the Injured Reserve (IR) list and stay up with the Canucks, meaning his contract counted against the Canucks' salary cap. That complicated the Canucks' efforts to start the season without using the cap relief from long-term injured reserve (LTIR).
Hirose was at the Canucks' morning skate on Friday in a regular jersey, rather than a differently-coloured non-contact jersey. Apparently that skate went well because if Hirose has been sent down, then he's been medically cleared.
That also means there's a path to avoiding LTIR for the Canucks, though it would involve sending down one of Arshdeep Bains or Aatu Räty and waiving both Nils Åman and Mark Friedman and going with a 21-man roster. If the Canucks want to have a 23-man roster and keep up more of those players, they'll have to put Tucker Poolman and his cap hit on LTIR.
From a hockey perspective, Hirose didn't have much of a chance of making the Canucks out of camp. The Canucks' defence corps was set going into camp and Hirose has a lot to prove after his injury-riddled season last year.
While he didn't have a great Young Stars or preseason, there's still a chance that Hirose can find his calm and poised game again in the AHL again, though he'll be battling with some younger defencemen in Kirill Kudryavtsev and Elias Pettersson, not to mention veteran Christian Wolanin.
