Monday’s trade of Kiefer Sherwood to the San Jose Sharks means more help for the defending Calder Cup champion Abbotsford Canucks as well.
San Jose acquired veteran defensive tackle Cole Clayton, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2027 second-round pick. Clayton, 25, was assigned to Abbotsford. On a busy day for the Sharks, they also traded veteran defenseman Nick Leddy to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, after clearing waivers.
Clayton played 257 AHL games with the Cleveland Monsters and Barracuda. After signing with the Sharks as a free agent, he spent the season with the Barracuda and went 2-3-5 in 33 games. He went to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024 with Cleveland.
Battered early in the season and promoted to Vancouver, a 3-12-0-2 start put Abbotsford in trouble early in late November. Abbotsford’s blue line took a bit of a hit last summer with the likes of Christian Wolanin, Akito Hirose, and Cole McWard all leaving. Jett Woo missed the first two months of the season following offseason surgery, while Guillaume Brisebois missed the rest of the season.
Vancouver is coming off a 6-0 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers this past Saturday night and is at the bottom of the NHL standings. Abbotsford saw defenseman Victor Mancini return from Vancouver on Monday, but Elias Pettersson was released from the AHL blue line and promoted to the NHL club. In net, Nikita Tolopilo returned to Abbotsford while Jiří Patera moved up to Vancouver.
Leddy is 34 years old and last played in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs in 2012-13. He played 1,061 NHL games between the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, and the Sharks. He had four assists in 19 games this season for the Sharks, who added him on waivers last July from St. Louis.
Abbotsford remains last in the Pacific Division at 12-21-3-3, 10 points out of the playoffs, and is coming off weekend road losses at San Diego and Coachella Valley. The team returned home on Tuesday night when the North Division leader Laval Rocket came to Rogers Forum.
The Barracuda are in fifth place in the Pacific Division at 21-12-1-2 and will return to action Wednesday night in the Coachella Valley.
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