Stunning developments on waivers on Wednesday!

Change has been good lately for the Vancouver Canucks after the blocbuster trade of captain and star defenseman Quinn Hughes, but what happened on Wednesday on the waiver wire caught many off guard.

Because the change that was expected did not take place. On Tuesday, the Canucks placed forward Arshdeep Bains on waivers and almost immediately, team insider Rick Dhaliwal announced that he was sure Bains would be claimed by a rival team.

“A few weeks ago, I had somebody tell me that they didn’t think he will clear waivers..”

But then came Wednesday’s deadline and surprisingly Bains was not claimed and was therefore assigned to Abbotsford (AHL).

Some will say the Canucks got lucky, while others believe other contenders missed their chance.

Bains has spent the entirety of the season in the NHL but has struggled to produce, registering only one goal and four assists in 26 games while logging an average of 9:09 per night. Over his three-year career with Vancouver, Bains has two goals and four assists in 47 games.

He spent the majority of the three prior seasons in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks, winning the Calder Cup earlier this year. He has 40 goals and 96 assists in 175 games at the AHL level.

I can see why, like Dhaliwal thought, teams would go after the forward, but Bains remains with the Canucks’ organization and will work hard again at getting called up later in the season.