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Canucks couldn’t ‘pull back’ Volpatti from waivers after Kesler diagnosis

Mike Gillis

By the time the Vancouver Canucks found out Ryan Kesler had a broken foot, it was too late for them to “pull back” Aaron Volpatti from waivers, said general manager Mike Gillis today.

The Canucks put Volpatti on waivers Wednesday. Hours later, they got the bad news from Kesler’s CT scan. The next day, Volpatti was claimed by Washington.

In hindsight, if they’d known Kesler had a broken foot, they could have put him on injured reserve, thus freeing up a roster spot to keep Volpatti, who’d been waived in part to free up a roster spot for Steve Pinizzotto.

“We didn’t know [Kesler] had the broken foot (when we put Volpatti on waivers),” Gillis said, per The Province. “We knew it was sore.

“We didn’t have a chance to pull [Volpatti] back.”

Gillis maintains the Canucks wanted Volpatti to work on his game down in the minors anyway, but clearly they weren’t happy to see him claimed by the Capitals.

“We were hoping to get him through because we saw some upside with Aaron,” said Gillis. “We like him as a player and as a person.”

In response to losing Volpatti, the Canucks claimed forward Tom Sestito off waivers from Philadelphia today.

“He’s a big guy,” said Gillis. “He plays aggressively. He has upside. And, so, when we lost Aaron, we wanted to find that as quickly as possible.”

The Canucks host Los Angeles tomorrow having won just twice in their last seven games. They were smoked, 8-3, in Detroit on Sunday and lost, 4-2, at home to Phoenix Tuesday.

All of a sudden, Vancouver’s lead in the Northwest Division is a slim two points over second-place Minnesota.

Injured Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa (groin) will decide tomorrow if he can play against the Kings.