He was a very tough player and used to play for the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League (AHL), who were the Canucks partner in the AHL. Rypien played four seasons with the Regina Pats, a junior team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) before going to the Moose in 2005. The following season he started playing for the Canucks. He has been injured a lot in the NHL and has missed many games because of that. 