Canucks News: Tom Willander expected to make NHL debut vs Rangers, Mancini placed on IR, Forbort on LTIR

The Vancouver Canucks‘ roster continues to shuffle. Ahead of Tuesday’s morning skate, the Canucks made a trio of roster moves as they prepare to take on JT Miller and the New York Rangers.

General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today the following roster moves:

– D Victor Mancini has been placed on injured reserve (retroactive to Oct 26).

– D Derek Forbort has been placed on LTIR (retroactive to Oct 11).

– D Tom Willander has been recalled from Abbotsford

First and foremost, the Canucks recalled rookie defenceman Tom Willander from the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks. It is believed that the 2023 11th overall pick will make his NHL debut tonight. We will have a better idea of who he’ll be paired up with after morning skate, so stick around for today’s edition of Scenes from morning skate, courtesy of Jeff Paterson, later today. Willander, 20, has appeared in five games with AHL Abbotsford after being one of the Canucks’ final preseason roster cuts. He has tallied one goal and one assist through those five games. A smooth skating defenceman, Willander didn’t exactly stand out during his opportunities to get into NHL preseason action, but he did show plenty of flashes, and has a solid set of tools that make him an interesting prospect for fans to keep track of.

Willander’s call up comes on the heels of an injury to defenceman Victor Mancini, who left with just over five minutes remaining in the second period of the Canucks’ 4-3 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night. Adam Foote didn’t have an update on Mancini post game, but with the young defenceman hitting injured reserve today, we’re expecting an update from the head coach later this morning when it comes to a potential timeline for Mancini’s return.

Finally, the Canucks have placed defenceman Derek Forbort on long-term injured reserve retroactive to October 26th. Forbort has appeared in just two games this season, and is week-to-week according to Canucks GM Patrik Allvin, who said that Fobort suffered a setback in his recovery.

“Forbort had a little bit of a setback here,” Allvin told reporters last week. “So, I would say he’s week-to-week. Probably the problem here is that, you know, with a condensed schedule, it’s so hard to get the practice time in. So, for some of those guys that are injured, just finding the rhythm and finding the ice time, it’s been a challenge for us up to this point. But I would probably have Forbort more as week-to-week.”We’ll have additional lineup information and so much more in today’s edition of Scenes from morning skate, so keep it locked on CanucksArmy.com all day long!

Sponsored by bet365