The Vancouver Canucks are continuing to make cuts to their roster.
Earlier today, the club announced that they will not be extending qualifying offers to five of their restricted free-agents: forwards Jayden Grubbe, Nils Åman, Danila Klimovich, and Chase Stillman, and defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph. All five players will now become free-agents.
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The only player on this list to log semi-consistent NHL minutes through the 2025–26 season was Joseph, who skated in 31 games for Vancouver and scored a goal and six assists. The former first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft had his best NHL season as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, scoring 21 points in 75 games, but has yet to regain similar form.
Aside from Joseph, the only other player to actually spend time at the NHL level this season was Åman. While he once played in 68 NHL games for the Canucks in 2022–23, the forward’s NHL time has dwindled since then. He skated in two games for the Canucks this season — a season-low throughout the past four years.
Another interesting name on this list is none-other than Klimovich. A second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, the forward made the leap to the Abbotsford Canucks immediately after his draft year, spending a total of five seasons in the AHL. Throughout this time, he ended up tying the franchise’s lead in career goals scored with 70, but was unable to crack Vancouver’s lineup.
Both Grubbe and Stillman were acquired via trade during the past year, with Grubbe heading to Vancouver in exchange for Josh Bloom back in March. The former 2021 third-round pick spent two games with Abbotsford during the 2025–26 season, scoring one goal. Stillman was one of two pieces acquired in the trade that sent 2025 AHL Playoff MVP Artūrs Šilovs to the Penguins, with the other piece a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. Stillman spent a good chunk of the 2025–26 season injured, producing three goals and nine assists in 24 games with the AHL Canucks.
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These are not the only moves the Canucks made on Monday, as Vancouver also traded forward Nils Höglander to the Nashville Predators and acquired Brendan Gallagher from the Montréal Canadiens.
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