'Twitter' atwitter as Canucks send Podkolzin back to AHL

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'Twitter' atwitter as Canucks send Podkolzin back to AHL Back to video

If you weren’t already saying that, and it’s hard to imagine you weren’t, hockey fan, you’re certainly saying it Wednesday morning.

The Vancouver Canucks raised eyebrows as people were just making their coffee by sending winger Vasily Podkolzin back to the AHL.

Any move this time of year is scrutinized closely, with fans and reporters alike examining things from a wild series of angles.

Podkolzin, for his part, looked solid in his first two NHL games this season, showing off a more composed, comprehensive game, which he’s been building up this season with the Abbotsford Canucks.

He didn’t play a ton, but he was handy.

The Canucks aren’t exactly bursting at the seams with forwards on the NHL roster at the moment — they only had one extra before the Podkolzin move — so sending out a forward is obviously intriguing.

They’re now down to 12 healthy forwards, nominally the minimum you need to dress. (You could, of course, dress only 11 and then dress a seventh defenceman but head coach Rick Tocchet and his assistant Adam Foote have shown no signs of wanting to do so, at least not with the current mix of blueliners.)

According to CHEK-TV’s Rick Dhaliwal, the move has nothing to do with a potential return for Dakota Joshua, who is believed to be close to recovering from a suspected hand or shoulder injury suffered last month.

Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford later told Postmedia that sending Podkolzin back to the AHL was simply procedural, a “paperwork thing.”

They’re very happy with how he played in his two games this week with the NHL Canucks, he said.

In other words, they wanted to ensure he’s on the AHL roster after the deadline so he can play in the Calder Cup playoffs.

“He brings heaviness. We had meant to wait till the playoffs here, but we saw a chance to take a look. We wanted to give Bains a look too, so we can be prepared for when there’s an open roster (post deadline),” Rutherford said.

Abbotsford is in Ontario, California for a Wednesday night game against the Reign, the AHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings. Abby dressed only 11 forwards in their last game on Sunday, also versus Ontario, so they do need him as well.

pjohnston@postmedia.com