The Vancouver Canucks have the top spot on the waiver wire, and that puts them in position to make a straightforward depth move if they want one. With three players available Monday, the two names that line up best with Vancouver’s needs are defensemen Brayden Pachal and Matthew Robertson.
Pachal, 27, is the more rugged option. Calgary placed the right-shot defender on waivers, and his profile is built around size, physicality, and experience.
He’s listed at 6'2", 202 lbs and has played 177 NHL games between the Flames and the Vegas Golden Knights. In that stretch, he has 28 points and 194 penalty minutes.
The hit total stands out, too. Pachal has 406 career hits, which would give Vancouver some extra bite on the back end.
A claim would also create roster flexibility, since it would allow the Canucks to send Victor Mancini down to the Abbotsford Canucks without worrying about losing development time for a defender who would otherwise be sitting as a healthy scratch. There’s also a local angle here: Pachal spent his first two seasons in the WHL with the Victoria Royals, so a claim would amount to something of a homecoming.
Robertson brings a different appeal. At 25, he’s younger than Pachal and comes with a stronger draft pedigree as a second-round pick in 2019.
He’s also already been used in a top-four role at the NHL level, averaging 17:24 of ice time per night in 2025-26. That kind of workload suggests he can handle more than just emergency depth.
For Ryan Johnson, the choice is less about splash and more about fit. Either defender would deepen Vancouver’s blue line, and that’s the kind of help every team can use.
Even if the Canucks only view the player as a seventh or eighth defenseman, the claim would still make sense. Vancouver will stay at the top of the waiver wire until the end of the month, giving the club a clear window to act.
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