Photo credit: HockeyAllsvenskan
The Vancouver Canucks organization is reportedly close to signing a 26-year-old forward who recently made a one-year stop overseas in Sweden’s second division, HockeyAllsvenskan.
However, the team still have some holes they need to fill throughout the organization, including with their American Hockey League affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, who are coming off their first-ever Calder Cup and have lost a few players from their championship-winning roster.
Last night, a report came out on social media saying the Vancouver Canucks organization are close to signing a new centerman for their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford.
Vancouver Canucks organization reportedly close to signing 26-year-old forward
In a post on social media on Tuesday, Ben Lypka of Abbotsford News revealed that the Abbotsford Canucks are reportedly getting close to announcing a contract for 26-year-old forward Nolan Walker.
“Hearing that the Abbotsford #Canucks are close to announcing a deal with forward Nolan Walker. He spent last season in Sweden and put up some big numbers in the @ECHL before that.
He could end up here or Kalamazoo #canucks” Lypka said.
Walker, a native of Anchorage, Alaska, doesn’t have a ton of experience at the AHL level in his professional hockey career, appearing in just four games for the Cleveland Monsters during the 2023-24 campaign.
Last summer, Walker decided to head overseas where he signed with IK Oskarshamn, a team in the Swedish second division, HockeyAllsvenskan and it ended up being a pretty good fit for both the team and player.
In 51 games, Walker registered 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists) – good for fourth on his team, along with ten penalty minutes and was a plus-seven.
Given what he’s done in the ECHL during his first two seasons of professional hockey, along with the production in Sweden last year and the fact the Vancouver Canucks didn’t issue qualifying offers to Ty Glover and Tristen Nielsen, there’s a good chance we could see Nolan Walker in a bottom-six role with the Abbotsford Canucks to start the 2025-26 campaign.
Previously on CanucksDaily