Vancouver Canucks recall Aatu Räty and Guillaume Brisebois, send Phil Di Giuseppe down to Abbotsford

Räty has struggled since arriving in Abbotsford, tallying just one assist through eight games. On Monday, Räty was very honest when talking about his game, saying he’s “played horrible” since arriving to the Canucks. The transition to a new city has been tough for Räty so far, but hopefully he’s able to find his groove a bit being around the NHL club. The 20-year-old centre has scored two goals through 12 games at the NHL level so far this season.

The club also recalled Brisebois, as they clearly weren’t pleased with the defensive effort last night in Nashville — how could they be? Brisebois is a defence-first defenceman and has appeared in 13 NHL games with the Canucks over the course of six seasons with the organization. The Canucks drafted Brisebois in the third round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft at 66th overall.

Di Giuseppe being the player sent down may come as a bit of a surprise, as head coach Rick Tocchet called Di Giuseppe one of his best players not all that long ago. After spending all of last season in the AHL before re-signing with the Canucks this season, Di Giuseppe finally got his shot with the NHL Canucks and appeared to be making good on it, but clearly, the club wants to get a look at Räty at the NHL level down the stretch. Di Giuseppe tallied two goals and one assist through his nine games with Vancouver.

In the AHL this season, PDG has been a near point per game player, registering 13 goals and 17 assists through 33 games. The demotion likely has far more to do with the fact that the Canucks want to prevent Di Giuseppe from being waiver eligible, and more importantly, make sure he’s able to play int he AHL playoffs for Abbotsford. If Di Giuseppe played just one more NHL game, he would have needed to pass through waivers in order to be sent down.