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Highway One Canucks: The Path From Abbotsford’s Calder Cup To Full-Time NHL Roles In Vancouver
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- Highway One Canucks: The Path From Abbotsford’s Calder Cup To Full-Time NHL Roles In Vancouver
In June of 2025, the Abbotsford Canucks won their first Calder Cup in franchise history. Nine of the players on this championship roster played for the Vancouver Canucks during the 2025–26 season, with three of them skating in more than 60 games. For many, if not all of these players, the jump from the AHL to the NHL has been in the making for much longer than just one calendar year.
Linus Karlsson is one of these players. Acquired by the Canucks via trade in February 2019, the forward spent three seasons with Abbotsford before finding himself a full-time role at the NHL level this year. He finished the 2025–26 season tied for the fifth-most points on the team with 35 and the fourth-most goals with 15. On April 4 against the Utah Mammoth , Karlsson also played in his 100th career NHL game.
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While this season was undoubtedly a breakout year for Karlsson, the forward's success extends past just the start of this season.
"I've been here for four years now, and finally, I took the step to play in the NHL, something I worked hard for," Karlsson said at the end of the season. "I'm really proud of that."
Aatu Räty first made his NHL debut with his former team, the New York Islanders , in December of 2022. The 2025–26 season was the first time that Räty did not play in a game with Abbotsford since joining the Canucks in 2022–23, with the forward putting up four goals and 10 assists in 66 games this season. While he has seen NHL time in three of his past four seasons since making his debut, heading into this season, making the full-time jump was a key goal of Räty's.
"I think going into the year, I really wanted to make myself an NHL player, and I feel like I did accomplish that, being up all year. But I think the next step is just to become a good player."
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Still, Räty recognizes that there are parts of his game that he still wants to work on. Last off-season, the forward missed most of Abbotsford's Calder Cup run due to a couple of injuries, resulting in him not being entirely healthy through the summer. This off-season, he's hoping a full slate of time off will help him focus more on his plans for training.
"I feel like the last couple off-seasons, I've had a good thing going. I feel like I've definitely gotten faster and made my skating better. But obviously now, even just to ramp it up, but going back home and [I'll] have my skating coach there, and then might have something set up in Sweden hopefully to work out with the skating coach that the Sedins had too. So I think that'd be a good opportunity."
Apr 1, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Vancouver Canucks center Max Sasson (63) celebrates his goal with center Linus Karlsson (94) during the first period against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
For some players, however, the jump from Abbotsford to Vancouver came about rather quickly. Changes in the Canucks' goaltending department over the off-season and through regular season injuries resulted in Nikita Tolopilo going from Abbotsford's primary starting goaltender to a 20-game player for Vancouver. The experience is important, but for Tolopilo, taking that step towards the NHL makes the biggest impression on confidence.
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"I think I showed people that I could play here. And, of course, there are some more steps to do, like some more progress in my game. But I've kind of given me confidence for myself too, that I've seen that I can play against top teams, against top players, and I can handle that. So just focus on the next steps, have a great summer, get better and become a full-time NHLer."
Karlsson, Räty, and Tolopilo are just three of nine other players who won the Calder Cup with Abbotsford and went on to skate in NHL games the season after. Max Sasson , Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Arshdeep Bains , Ty Mueller , Victor Mancini , and Kirill Kudryavtsev also played for Vancouver this year, with many of them expected to push for bigger-minute NHL roles in 2026–27. Even players like Tom Willander and Liam Öhgren, who didn't win the Calder Cup with Abbotsford but still spent a little time in the AHL, ended up in the NHL on a full-time basis this year.
Given the fact that Vancouver is now officially rebuilding, more and more of these younger players will likely see more time in the NHL. Sawyer Mynio had himself a solid rookie season in the AHL, while Riley Patterson scored his first career AHL goal in the four games he spent with the team at the end of this season. The highway-one connection from Abbotsford to Vancouver was prominent this year, though with Vancouver's emphasis on playing their youth and more young talent on the rise, it's only bound to get more noticeable.
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News .
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