Vancouver Canucks place Jack Studnicka on waivers

The Vancouver Canucks have placed forward Jack Studnicka on waivers. The depth forward has one point in five games this year.

Studnicka is in his second season with the Canucks after he finished with eight points in 47 games last year with them. He was dealt from the Boston Bruins to the Canucks early last season in exchange for Michael DePietro and Jonathan Myrenberg.

The Windsor, Ontario native was originally selected in the second-round of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Bruins. He was drafted during his tenure with the Oshawa Generals in the OHL and played there for most of his junior years, ultimately ending his junior career with the Niagara IceDogs.

Over the last four seasons, Studnicka has been up and down between the NHL and the AHL. Between 2020-2022, he played 112 games with the Providence Bruins, the AHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins. In that span, he scored 33 goals and 91 points. He only ended up playing 38 games with the NHL Bruins over those years as they were contending for the Stanley Cup and he wasn’t quite good enough to crack the roster permanently.

Studnicka is 24 years old and has a lot left in the tank but it remains to be seen whether he’ll ever be a solid NHL contributor or simply an AHL journeyman who gets called up to the NHL when injuries occur. He’s played 90 NHL games so far and scored six goals and 16 points.

There is a chance another team will pick him up today and give Studnicka an opportunity for a bigger role but most likely he’ll be on his way to the Abbortsford Canucks for a stint in the AHL. The Abbotsford Canucks are having a good start to the season so it will be a quality conditioning stint for Studnicka as he gets to play alongside Arshdeep Bains, Nils Aman, Christian Wolanin, and Sheldon Dries.