The Vancouver Canucks have announced the recall of defenseman Akito Hirose to the NHL lineup. Hirose has appeared in 11 AHL games so far this season, going without a point while also accruing four penalty minutes and a +2. Hirose made his NHL debut with the Canucks last season, signing with the team after the conclusion of the Minnesota State University-Mankato season.
Hirose was one of three players from last year’s Mankato lineup to sign NHL contracts, joining Nashville’s Jake Livingston and Colorado’s Ondrej Pavel. All three players were undrafted free agents at the time of their signing and all three have since made their NHL debut. Hirose has played in the most NHL action of the bunch, with nine games under his belt. He also leads the group in scoring, with three points in those nine games topping the one point Livingston has scored through five games. Pavel has yet to score his first NHL point.
Hirose has already appeared in two games with Vancouver’s NHL lineup through the early season, going without any changes to his stat line. He also recorded a 39.39 CF% (Corsi-For Percentage) and 43.87 xGF% (expected-goals-for percentage) in the pair of games – both modest tallies that are certainly influenced by a small sample size, although both numbers are an improvement from the CF% and xGF% he recorded in his seven NHL games last season.
Carson Soucy was announced with injury on November 12th and the team has yet to provide an update on his status. Hirose will provide some depth to the Canucks’ blue-line while Soucy works his way back into the lineup.