Jack Thompson’s time on NHL waivers was brief. After being placed there on Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks defenceman cleared and will head to AHL Abbotsford.
Thompson, 24, was hurt before Canucks training camp and never skated with the main group. He stayed on Vancouver’s NHL roster while recovering, but that stay is over now as he joins an Abbotsford blue line that has been chipping in offensively under new head coach Ryan Papaioannou.
The group in Abbotsford has been getting production from all over. Assistant captain Jimmy Schuldt and second-year prospect Sawyer Mynio are tied for the team lead with five points each.
Schuldt has two goals and three assists in eight games, while Mynio has one goal and four assists in seven. Veteran Cole Clayton has one goal and four points in four games.
Gavin White, rookie Tim Rego and top defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev all sit on three points. White has two goals and one assist in eight games, Rego has one goal and two assists in five, and Kudryavtsev has three assists in three.
Joe Arntsen has two assists in seven games, and Isaac Belliveau is still looking for his first point through two appearances.
That could make for a good landing spot for Thompson. He’s an offensive blueliner who averaged better than a point per game on a struggling Abbotsford club last season, and there’s a path for him to fit in quickly under Papaioannou.
Abbotsford had a rough start, dropping its first three games, but the team has steadied fast and is now riding a five-game winning streak. The next test comes Wednesday, October 28, on the road against Thompson’s old team, the San Jose Barracuda.
It won’t be the first time Thompson has faced that kind of reunion. Last season, he played in a back-to-back set against the Barracuda and scored one goal while firing five shots on goal.
Across 217 career AHL games, Thompson has 23 goals and 81 assists for 104 points with a minus-two rating, split between the Syracuse Crunch, San Jose Barracuda and Abbotsford Canucks. He also has two assists in 11 AHL postseason games, both coming during Syracuse’s 2023 playoff run. In 2025, he was held off the scoresheet in five postseason games with the Barracuda, the same year Abbotsford won the Calder Cup.
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