The Vancouver Canucks have placed four players on waivers in order to send them down to the Abbotsford Canucks. The four players are goaltender Jiří Patera, defenceman Jimmy Schuldt, as well as forwards Joseph LaBate and MacKenzie MacEachern. In total, 22 players were placed on waivers across the NHL, including former Canucks forward Phillip Di Giuseppe, who was signed this off-season by the Winnipeg Jets. 

LaBate, MacEachern and Schuldt were all signed by Vancouver this past off-season. As for Patera, he joined the organization during the 2024 off-season. All four players were projected to be sent to the AHL and should play big roles for Abbotsford this season. 

Sending these four players down on Monday also ensures that they will be ready for the AHL Canucks' Training Camp. This year, Abbotsford will hold practices at the Abbotsford Centre from October 1 to 3, while a scrimmage will be played at the Chilliwack Coliseum on October 4. According to the Canucks, all Abbotsford Training Camp events will be open to the public.

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As for the NHL club, Vancouver has two more pre-season games before they kick off the 2025-26 season on October 9. The Canucks will take on the Calgary Flames on October 1 before playing their final pre-season game against the Edmonton Oilers on October 3. Game time for Wednesday is scheduled for 6:00 pm PT from the Scotiabank Saddledome. 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

Guessing what's gonna happen in the NHL is a precarious business but we do it every year because it's fan-type fun.

What makes it even more fun is when we're in a position to compare last year's genius picks with the ones our heavily-admired pollsters say this time around.

Here's what The Hockey News Yearbook forecasters wrote about our Met Area teams  at this time last year.

The Devils would finish on top of the Met Division with the Rangers right behind. The Islanders were tabbed for fourth in the Met.

The Panthers were tabbed to lead the Atlantic Division but not to win the 2025 Stanley Cup.

Edmonton and Dallas got the nods in the Pacific and Central Divisions. And The Hockey News projected a New Jersey-Dallas Final with a Stars Cup win.

Nice try all around, guys, and now we go to this season: Of the trio of Met teams, The Devils are placed second, Rangers fourth and Islanders – Yikes! – seventh!  Florida gets top billing again in the Atlantic while the Canes lead the Met. 

The Never Ending Issue of Officiating, What Else Is New?Altogether now – one, two, three – WE LOVE THE REFEREES! Dead silence. That's not fair.

On the other side, Dallas is slotted first in the Central Division with Edmonton rulers of the Pacific.

The Hockey News Yearbook has Vegas defeating Carolina in the Cup Final. The Maven's Off-The-Wall Predictions Come In The Adjoining Column: (Hint: You may not like all of them; neither do I!)

The Philadelphia Flyers have placed defenseman Helge Grans on waivers, NHL insider Frank Seravalli reports. 

Grans was one of the Flyers' prospects looking to earn a spot on the NHL roster out of training camp. However, now that Grans has been put on waivers, the rest of the league has the opportunity to claim him if they wish to. 

If Grans clears waivers, the Flyers will be able to assign him to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. However, with Grans being a big and still young right-shot defenseman, it is fair to wonder if another team could claim him. 

Grans played in his first six NHL games this past season with the Flyers, where he recorded one assist and two penalty minutes. In 66 games during the 2024-25 season with the Phantoms, he recorded eight goals, 15 assists, 23 points, and 42 penalty minutes. 

St. Louis Blues defensemen Cam Fowler and Colton Parayko played just over half of the NHL season together. Although their time together has been limited, they've shown excellent results and have the potential to be among the best defensive pairings in the NHL. 

Parayko, standing 6-foot-6, 228 pounds, is one of the best defensive defenseman in the NHL, but he quietly moves around the ice with efficiency, and is more than a capable puck-mover. The 32-year-old set a career-high in goals with 16 and points with 36, despite playing just 64 games.

The full package of Parayko was on display last year, averaging 23:45 while affecting the game on both sides of the puck. 

While Parayko's play was stellar even before Fowler joined the team, it skyrocketed when he began playing alongside the smooth-skating, offensive-minded Fowler. 

Fowler played 51 games with the Blues last year after he was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jeremie Biakabutuka and a second-round pick in 2027. In those 51 games, the 33-year-old notched nine goals and 36 points, including two goals and 10 points in seven playoff games, a Blues franchise record. 

Fowler and Parayko are both all-around defenseman, without many glaring weaknesses in their game, but their strengths improve their partners' game. 

Fowler stands 6-foot-2, 213 pounds; by no means is he small, but the physical aspect of his game isn't something he is looking to show all that frequently. Parayko, on the other hand, loves to be engaged physically, using his weight to move opponents away from his net and in puck battles around the boards.

Although Parayko showed more initiative to jump into the play, Fowler excels at it. He can kick-start transition opportunities or sneak in as the third or fourth player, firing a shot on goal or making a pass for a better chance. 

The duo quickly gelled, and the results followed. In 484 minutes together, the Blues' top pairing recorded an expected goals percentage of 55.5 percent, according to MoneyPuck.com. In the post-season, they clicked at 60.4 percent, playing 113 minutes together.

After Fowler's three-year, $6.1 million average annual value contract extension that he signed on Saturday, Fowler and Parayko will have four more seasons to continue to build chemistry and improve on their already very positive results. With youngsters like Logan Mailloux, Tyler Tucker, Adam Jiricek and Theo Lindstein all in the lineup or looking to crack through within the next couple of seasons, the duo might see their minutes diminish, but their value to the team won't.

“I’m going to have to give that (credit) to the coaches,” GM Doug Armstrong said of the Fowler Parayko pairing. “What I like about them is they both have excellent feet, they can both skate, they have a massive wind span, so they kill a lot of plays down low with their stick and then they have the ability to get to loose pucks. And then again, moving forward, you have the size of Broberg that can do that, and Mailloux can do that. I think having reach and skating ability is an asset, and now I think we have four guys, some of them under contract, and some of them restricted free agents, so we’re in a good spot.”

“Once it went together, the way they are able to shut down top lines and contribute offensively, I think both of them had almost career years in the sense of that,” assistant coach Steve Ott said. “The rebirth of ‘Fowls’ basically since he came on the trade and ‘Pary,’ he scored 15-16 goals last year, and they became a duo that played a 200-foot game. The trust level that we have as a coaching staff, we know when they go over the ice, the job gets done."

Fowler and Parayko will be a staple on the blueline for the Blues, and the organization is in great hands with those two at the helm. 

If he’s being honest, Ottawa Senators goalie Linus Ullmark probably would have preferred a tougher workload in his second preseason game. Ullmark and the Senators defeated the New Jersey Devils 2–0 on Sunday afternoon in Quebec City, and if you just looked at the scoreboard, you might assume Ullmark is already in mid-season form.

But you could almost place an asterisk beside this result. Ullmark faced only 14 shots from a Devils squad that, at a glance, barely met the league's preseason rule requiring a minimum of eight NHL veterans on the roster. Most of New Jersey’s opening-night roster was back home in Newark, playing the Capitals at the same time.

Still, Ullmark won’t ever complain about a shutout.

“I thought we did a pretty good job. Speaking about me, there are some things to clean up, but I’m not surprised that it’s like that as well. First (full) game of the season, you’re playing a team away, and here in Quebec as well. There were a lot of variables. But I’m always happy when I don’t have to look behind me and grab a puck and throw it up into the middle. And on top of that, you get a win.”

Ullmark admits it can be tough to stay sharp when he isn’t seeing much rubber, but he’s learned over the years how to handle it.

“Now I have a little bit easier time of relaxing when the play is not really in our zone. I’m better at dialling it in when things are actually coming my way. Because that’s something as well. You can’t just stand there and be on and on and on for 60 minutes. You have to find times to relax, breathe, and just kind of dial it in when it’s needed. And it’s easier when you get 30, 35 shots because you kind of constantly have a feel for it, you know all the pucks are.”

Halliday's Late Power Play Goal Leads Ottawa Senators Past Devils 2-0The Ottawa Senators improved their preseason record to 2–1 on Sunday afternoon with a 2–0 victory over a New Jersey Devils split-squad at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.

Ulmark admits that his training camp has been a struggle, but he also says, surprisingly, he enjoys the struggle.

“It’s not fun to be struggling in a way, but the satisfaction of understanding yourself and getting to know yourself, and also realizing, 'Oh, this is what I’m doing wrong now, and this is not how I was supposed to do it.' When that clicks, it’s so satisfying.

"And we had one of those days on Saturday where I was not happy really with the practice. I just stayed out there and we just kept shooting, shooting, shooting. And then all of a sudden a light bulb turned on and you start feeling good about it. You get a little bit more swagger into your game and I kind of brought it into (Sunday’s game) as well.”

It was a much different feeling than Ullmark’s first preseason appearance, when he allowed three goals on eight shots in a 4–3 loss to Toronto. The Senators dominated the Leafs in shots, 35–20, but, as in last spring’s playoffs, they couldn’t recover from an early 3-0 hole.

Ullmark, as he does with most things in his life, has kept all of it in perspective.

Shifting Goaltending Picture

Ottawa’s goaltending setup will look a little different this season. Last year, Ullmark split duties with Anton Forsberg. Both are Swedes, both are 32, and both battled injuries last season. That opened the door for 22-year-old Finn, Leevi Meriläinen, to step in and impress. Meriläinen went 8-3-1 with three shutouts, a 1.99 goals-against average, and a .925 save percentage.

While nothing has been made official, Meriläinen is expected to be the full-time backup after Forsberg departed in free agency to sign with the Los Angeles Kings.

Much has been made of Ullmark never playing more than 49 games in a season, but most number one NHL goalies, on average, play roughly 55 games, and no one played more than 63. So he's really not that far off the pace.

Would a platoon situation, or something close to it, provide the best-case scenario? Ullmark thrived in Boston in a three-year timeshare with Jeremy Swayman, winning the 2023 Vezina Trophy in the process. Could a similar partnership with another promising young goaltender bring out the best in him again? Possibly, but at the same time, with Ullmark's new pay grade, you'd like to think you could rely on him to be mostly studly for 55-60 games a season.

Ullmark had stretches of brilliance last season, winning seven games in a row in December and going 9-2-1 in March. But he also dealt with stretches of inconsistency, which may have been influenced by a few bouts with injury. He finished 25-14-3 with a .910 save percentage and 2.70 GAA. Now that he's Ottawa’s second-highest paid player, the expectations are higher than ever. 

If the Senators are going to take another step forward this season, they’ll need Ullmark to do the same.

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Drake Batherson Joins Ottawa Senators List Of Preseason Injury Concerns
Pinto Plays Hero In Senators Preseason Overtime Win Over Leafs
After Two Broken Clavicles, Kaliyev Targets Capital Comeback

One of the most controversial coaches in hockey might be looking for a comeback.  

Mike Babcock, who was hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets on July 1, 2023, and then handed in his resignation on September 17, is rumored to be making a possible comeback. 

According to Russian Hockey Insider Artur Khairullin, Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL has listed Babcock as a candidate for their head coaching job. Ak Bars, which is based in Kazan, Russia, is located 519 miles east of Moscow. 

Mike Babcock has an all-time coaching record of 700-418-19-164 coaching for the Ducks, Red Wings, and Maple Leafs. 

Would you support a return of Mike Babcock to the coaching ranks? Many think he's done coaching in the NHL, which is probably true. 

Let us know what you think below.

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