The Vancouver Canucks didn’t have to place Nils Aman on waivers today, not by any stretch of the imagination.
The move was presumably made with an eye to Dakota Joshua’s imminent return to the lineup, and while he’s not expected to be ready for tonight’s matchup with the San Jose Sharks, it’s believed that Joshua will play in at least one of the Canucks’ games against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings this week, if not both.
Aman, who last played a game on October 22nd and has gotten into the lineup for just four of the Canucks’ nine games this season, has lost the inside track on not only the NHL lineup, but now the roster as well.
And that says more about how much the Canucks believe in Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Räty than it does about what they think of Aman.
The Canucks signed Aman as a free agent after Aman’s draft club, the Colorado Avalanche, chose to relinquish the signing rights to their 2020 6th round pick. Aman played in 68 NHL games with the Canucks in 2022-23, tallying four goals and 12 assists in the process. The Canucks liked his progression enough to extend him on a one-way (paid the same salary in the minors as the NHL) two-year contract with a cap hit of $825,000 in November 2023. As the team improved that season, however, Aman became a scratch more often, appearing in 43 NHL games and 15 AHL games.
To start this season, Aman hasn’t shown signs of improvement, and it’s become clear that at 24, he is what he is: a defensively responsible forward with limited offensive capabilities and not a ton of strength or size.
For that reason, Aman has lost his spot in the lineup to the hungry and motivated Arshdeep Bains, who has appeared in six games with the Canucks this season. Bains has brought energy to the Canucks’ bottom six and has even gotten extended looks in the Canucks’ top six. While top six deployment likely isn’t the best role for Bains, it still shows how much the coaching staff trusts and believes in his abilities. The key here is that Bains basically brings everything Aman does and more, and has a chance to continue developing his game the same way he has since turning pro with the Canucks back in 2022.
With Joshua coming back, the Canucks could have easily sent the waiver-exempt Bains down to the AHL to make room, but instead, they felt they could risk losing Aman on waivers in order to keep Bains around. Which really, brings us to the Aatu Räty angle of all of this.
As mentioned, Aman’s one-way contract structure could discourage teams from putting in a claim on him. But at the end of the day, he is a 24-year-old centre with a solid baseline defensive game with some real AHL scoring chops. There’s certainly a chance he gets claimed, and the Canucks are well aware of that.
This move likely doesn’t happen if Aatu Räty comes into camp and looks years away from being a part of the Canucks’ NHL roster, rather than knocking right on the door and still improving.
Räty came into camp with relatively low expectations surrounding him and knocked down the door, earning the spot as the Canucks’ third line centre to start the 2024-25 campaign. He managed to not look out of place alongside Conor Garland and Nils Höglander, and that says a lot about the progression he’s made, specifically to his skating. After three games, however, the Canucks decided that the 21-year-old would be better off playing top line minutes in Abbotsford, and come back to the NHL a stronger player next time he’s called upon as a result.
While Räty’s AHL numbers thorugh six games this season don’t necessarily jump off the page, he’s been doing plenty of things right, and improving in the areas the Canucks want to see him improve in. Read more about Räty’s progression in the latest edition of Blackfish — the most in-depth weekly Canucks prospect report out there — by clicking here.
Today’s news of Aman hitting waivers are a clear indication of just how highly the Canucks rate Räty. In the event Aman is claimed by another team, the Canucks will have a contract off the books, and a more offensively gifted player in Räty waiting in the wings to take the role the Canucks have used Aman in since signing him in 2022.
And at 21, there’s reason to believe he’s only going to get better, too.
