Trouble for the Canucks as defenseman refuses to report to the AHL.

The Vancouver Canucks are in a bit of pickle.

The Canucks have reportedly attempted to send big defenseman Nikita Tryamkin down to the American Hockey League but that's not going to happen. According to multiple reports Tryamkin and his agent have informed the team that they have no intention of reporting to the AHL, and appear to be threatening a move to the KHL instead. General manager Jim Benning confirmed the news.

“There is no possibility that he will play in the American Hockey League,” Benning said as per the Vancouver Sun. “We’ve explored that. We’ve talked to him and his agent and he has said no. In a perfect world, we’d like him to get some games (in the minors). But it is what it is. He is working hard in practice and doing extra work.”

[pub]

The Canucks have scratched him several times this season, and it's clear they feel he belongs in the AHL for the time being, but they aren't going to be able to send him down and the threat of the KHL is a very real one, leaving no obvious solution to this problem for the team.