The book on Nils Aman is a decent read, but it’s missing a couple of chapters.
The next one will be written in the AHL at Abbotsford — although it could have been somewhere else, had an NHL team claimed the versatile Canucks centre off waivers to add roster depth or address a number of injuries.
When Aman cleared waivers on Sunday morning, it spoke to what works and what doesn’t for the big Swedish pivot. He relies on size to gain position, but isn’t a crasher and banger or a finisher, and he’s also quiet and unassuming. Not the normal pedigree for a fourth-liner.
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Aman skates well and makes smart decisions — which makes make him valuable on the penalty kill — but the 6-foot-2, 185 pound forward been squeezed out by better bottom-six options down the middle in Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter, who scored twice Saturday in a 3-2 win at San Jose.
With a roster spot needed for the eventual return of Dakota Joshua from testicular cancer, the Canucks were hoping Aman would clear to get games with the farm team and regain confidence.
He has been a healthy scratch the last four NHL games and six overall this season, so getting more ice time in AHL and being a recall option — whether through injury or indifferent play — is the option head coach Rick Tocchet likes to possess. Aman can also play wing.
In Abbotsford, the affiliate club is deploying Aatu Raty and Max Sasson as its top-two centres, so Aman would slot into a support role at centre or on the flank. He has 24 points (12-12) in 32 games the past two AHL seasons.
Aman, a 2020 sixth-round pick of the Colorado Avalanche who never played for that club, has two shots and two assists in four NHL games this season and is averaging 10:28. In 120 games with the Canucks, he has 25 points (7-18).