With the Vancouver Canucks down to their final few cuts before the regular season, it’s time for the really hard decisions to be made. One of those decisions will likely involve Russian defenseman Nikita Tryamkin.
Tryamkin is an interesting case because of a European assignment clause that allows him to go back to the KHL if he isn’t playing in the NHL. That clause did not seem like a huge deal at the time because the Canucks were lacking in defensive depth and Tryamkin would be in the NHL. Several months later, the Canucks have a logjam on defense and have to decide relatively quickly what they’re going to do.