The Vancouver Canucks moved on from five players on Monday, including Nils Åman and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, after neither received a qualifying offer.
The club announced that Åman, Joseph, Jayden Grubbe, Danila Klimovich, and Chase Stillman were not tendered offers before the 2 p.m. PDT deadline for restricted free agents. Without a qualifying offer, each player becomes an unrestricted free agent and can sign elsewhere on July 1.
Åman was the most familiar face of the group in Vancouver. The Swedish centre played 132 games over four seasons with the Canucks and finished with 29 points, scoring eight goals and adding 21 assists.
Joseph was the only other player on the list to appear in a Canucks sweater. The defenceman played 31 games last season and put up six points, with one goal and five assists.
Klimovich’s run in the organization closes after five seasons with the Abbotsford Canucks. The 2021 second-round pick never topped 38 points in an AHL season, and he reached that mark in 2024-25.
Stillman logged 24 games for Abbotsford last season and posted nine points, scoring three goals and six assists. A first-round pick by the New Jersey Devils in 2021, he joined the Canucks in the Arturs Silovs trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year.
Grubbe’s stint in the organization was even shorter. Acquired in March from the Edmonton Oilers for Josh Bloom, the 2021 third-round pick by the New York Rangers played only two games for Abbotsford and scored once.
It was a busy Monday for new Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson, who also made his first two trades of the job. He sent Nils Höglander to the Nashville Predators and from the Montreal Canadiens.
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There is also a roster wrinkle building around Pierre-Olivier Joseph, with Vancouver expected not to issue him a qualifying offer, which would push him toward free agency. Put together, the two moves hint at a blue-line reset that favors experience and familiarity, even if the debate in Vancouver will come down to whether that is the right mix for a team trying to stay competitive while reshaping its defense. [Read more 🡒]
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For a Predators front office that has already added Ross Colton, Jack Drury and Adam Edstrom, the deal fits the broader pattern of stacking depth while keeping plenty of flexibility. Nashville still has nearly $17 million in cap space heading toward free agency, so the move raises the question of whether this is another incremental piece or just the latest step in a much bigger offensive shuffle. [Read more 🡒]
