The Vancouver Canucks haven’t had an AHL affiliate advance to the league final since the Utica Comets in 2015. Now they have two.
The Abbotsford Canucks skated past the Texas Stars on Sunday to make the AHL’s championship round, which begins Friday in Charlotte, N.C., against the Checkers, the top affiliate of the Florida Panthers. Yes, those same Florida Panthers who are now battling the Edmonton Oilers for the Stanley Cup.
Talk about a strong organization.
For the Canucks, this season has been about growth and about the coach. Manny Malhotra had a good reputation as an assistant coach coming into the season but he’d never run a bench as the head coach. Clearly he was more than ready.
This Abbotsford team plays smart, hard-working hockey. It’s not filled with stars, AHL squads rarely are, but the guys leading the way may yet have an NHL future.
Malhotra has seen Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson top the scoring table and it’s not accident: both have shown promise as hard-working checkers at the NHL level, the very essence of players who “play the right way.”
AHL games can be chaotic — it’s the reality of a league with a broad range of skill quality — so players like when players like Bains and Karlsson, who bring efficiency and focus to the ice, thrive in this environment, it’s a good sign for them. They’re unlikely to be stars at the NHL level but they could prove to be dependable NHL depth forwards.
Abbotsford Canucks (Arshdeep Bains) vs Texas Stars round 4 on June 8, 2025. Abbotsford Centre, BC, Canada. Darren Francis Photography
You also don’t get this far without standout performances on the blue-line and both Vincent Mancini and Kirill Kudryavtsev have shown why they remain on the NHL club’s radar: to make the NHL you have to be able to play quicker and smarter than your AHL peers and both have done so. The trick is converting that to the even faster NHL game.
Charlotte, on the other hand, are led by a quintet of veteran players, some of whom are familiar: John Leonard is an AHL veteran, but Jesse Puljujärvi is a busted NHL prospect. Will Lockwood came up with the Canucks but has been in the Florida system for the past two seasons. Rasmus Asplund is another AHL veteran with lots of NHL experience. Defenceman Mike Benning, is Jim Benning’s son and at 23 may yet make an impact at the NHL level but is obviously playing for an organization that’s deep on the blue-line.
FloHockey is offering a free stream on YouTube for Game 1, you can watch below:
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Live updates
Watch this space for updates when the game starts at 4 p.m.
More to come …