Abbotsford Canucks vie for Calder Cup
Posted June 13, 2025 7:55 am.
Last Updated June 13, 2025 8:02 am.
It’s been more than a decade since Lower Mainland hockey fans have been able to watch a team in June, but the Abbotsford Canucks are doing just that.
The AHL team has been on an incredible run and on Friday afternoon will begin its final journey to capture the Calder Cup.
“It’s at least a bit of positivity on what was a very difficult season for the big club, the Vancouver Canucks,” said Sportsnet 650 host Dan Riccio. “At the same time, if there was a positive story about the big club, it’s that over 10 players had come up from Abbotsford and made their rookie debuts, and now you’re seeing those players are having success at the AHL level.”
“It’s a pretty special story considering this is an Abbotsford team that isn’t made up of a lot of top prospects that were drafted in the first round that are highly touted. They’re a group of guys the Canucks have collected from different areas, so they’ve done a good job of sourcing talent to help this group out.”
One player who has stood out is netminder Arturs Silovs. He played well for the Vancouver Canucks during last year’s two-round playoff run, but last fall struggled to find his confidence and was soon sent back to Abbotsford.
However, so far on this Calder Cup run, he has collected 12 wins, five shutouts, and a .929 save percentage.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!“It’s hard to say Silovs has fixed everything, and he is going to be ready to get another NHL chance next year, but only positive things come out of this,” Riccio explained. “He’s rebuilding his confidence. He’s maybe restoring some value around the league if the Canucks explore a trade, and it gives them a third option that they can go to, assuming they still have Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen within the organization.”
The Vancouver Canucks farm team was moved to Abbotsford in 2021 after shifting away from Utica, N.Y., and has never won a Calder Cup. The 2015 squad, led by former Canucks head coach Travis Green, lost in the final that year.
Riccio says disgruntled and frustrated fans of the main team should soak this in, but also temper their expectations.
“Enjoy this. It doesn’t have to mean great things are coming next season for the Vancouver Canucks but enjoy what is a cup run for a team that hasn’t had it,” he said.
“Now, given the team is here and is local, you can be more attached to it, you can get more excited. It is really good hockey … but try not to make it anything more than it is, than a really cool run and don’t try to draw that line that it’s going to lead to immediate success for the big club.”
He explains that as quickly as Canucks brass are trying to figure out things at the NHL level, the Abbotsford team has always been a key focus.
“Jim Rutherford, when he first came in as Canucks president a few years ago, said, ‘We got to figure out Abbotsford. We’ve got to develop players better.’ And they’ve really worked on that.
“This is the culmination of the work they’ve put in under the hood to have some success down there. It might not mean immediate success for the NHL team, but this is part of building a winning culture in an organization and ultimately, you’re building players who are going to help the Vancouver Canucks, but what’s going to help the Vancouver Canucks the most is finding more top six talent … but that doesn’t take away from everything they’ve built with Abbotsford.”
Riccio is clear, Rutherford’s focus is on the Vancouver Canucks but creating a foundation in Abbotsford is a stepping stone to seeing more wins at Rogers Arena. It also gives the team more options to call up players who have shown they have what it takes.
“You’re always having to go and pay a few cents to get that player out of free agency and it effects your salary cap, so this is a way for the Canucks to get cheaper talent into the organization and potentially have more success because you’re building success from within.”
For the NHLers in Vancouver, Riccio says they are likely noticing what’s happening in Abbotsford, including captain Quinn Hughes, who has two years left on his current contract.
“Quinn Hughes is smart enough guy that he can see there are some good things going on within the organization, but he needs to see it more immediately at the NHL level because he is starting to get into his mid-20s, he’s in the thick of the prime of his career … and he needs some help around him, as he knows.”
Riccio says the summer will be busy for the Vancouver Canucks as they to rebound from a dismal regular season that saw them miss the playoffs, again. He suggests fans wait until the Calder Cup is over to see if any of those players are involved in trades to beef up the line-up of the main team.
The puck drops against the Charlotte Checkers in North Carolina, the Florida Panthers’ farm team, just after 4 p.m. PT.
