Canucks assign former first-round pick to AHL, recall Akito Hirose

The Vancouver Canucks assigned forward Vasily Podkolzin to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks and recalled defenseman Akito Hirose in corresponding transactions, a team release states Wednesday.

This signals that 26-year-old Guillaume Brisebois may not play tonight in the team’s season opener against the Edmonton Oilers. Brisebois is dealing with a lower-body injury, and his unavailability would leave the Canucks with just five healthy defensemen at their disposal. Free-agent addition Carson Soucy is listed as week-to-week with an undisclosed injury, although he remains on the active roster for now.

If Brisebois cannot play, Hirose will suit up on the team’s third pair alongside Noah Juulsen Wednesday. Vancouver signed Hirose, 24, to a two-year, $1.575M contract in July. An undrafted free agent, the Canucks initially acquired Hirose’s rights by extending him an entry-level contract in March after he concluded his junior season at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

Playing in seven games down the stretch of the 2022-23 NHL season, Hirose notched three assists and a -1 rating while averaging 17:27 per game. He does not require waivers for assignment to AHL Abbotsford and will likely be returned to the minors once one or both of Brisebois and Soucy are ready to return.

Podkolzin, meanwhile, finds himself on the outside looking in on Vancouver’s roster for their first game of the season. Selected 10th overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, the Russian winger is entering his third season in North America. He managed to avoid designation to the AHL in his rookie season in 2021-22, notching 14 goals, 12 assists and 26 points in 79 contests for the Canucks before joining Abbotsford in the postseason. 2022-23, meanwhile, saw Podkolzin appear in just 39 games for Vancouver while suiting up in 28 for AHL Abbotsford. There, he scored seven goals and added 11 assists for 18 points.

Like Hirose, Podkolzin does not require waivers to head to Abbotsford. With his $925K cap hit being slightly higher than most of his fringe NHLer teammates, Podkolzin will likely need a strong start to the season in the minors to find his way back to Vancouver.

Vancouver had $0 in cap space before making this transaction, as the team had not made any moves since turning in their opening night roster on Monday evening. Replacing Podkolzin with Hirose on the active roster now leaves the Canucks with $137.5K in space in their LTIR salary pool created by defenseman Tucker Poolman and his $2.5M cap hit.